Pastor Steve's Recent Weekly Letter
Pastor Steve's Weekly Letter for Wednesday, October 17, 2019
Your imagination shapes the way you live your life. Kevin Vanhoozer claims that images and stories “indirectly indoctrinate us.” His outstanding book, Hearers and Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine, reminds us that stories “guide and govern a people’s way of life.” It is important, then, to identify how this happens. Vanhoozer observes: “People become secular not by taking classes in Secularity 101 but simply by participating in a society that no longer refers to God the way it used to.” God has been pushed to the margins—or out of the story altogether. Some of the stories or images by which people live include the following:
1. Solving my personal problems means finding the good inside me because the source of my problems are external.
2. I need to work on my image or outward appearance if I hope to find acceptance.
3. The key to happiness is to follow my heart.
4. I can do what I want as long as it does not hurt anyone else.
5. The only hope for our nation is to elect the right political leader—the one from the right party.
We buy into these stories because our culture is relentless in communicating them to us. This communication happens through media, but it also happens through the example of our friends and neighbor. So how can we expose false narratives? The answer is theology. Vanhoozer writes: “Think of theology as critical reflection on the stories by which the church lives and which it lives out.” Theology helps us sort out which stories are true, half-true, or downright false. It does so “by pointing us to the gospel message at the heart of the master story that unifies Scripture.” Vanhoozer says: “Disciples [of Jesus] need to learn to inhabit the story of the Bible.” We need “to understand how it all fits together and culminates in what the Father was doing in the Son through the Spirit to renew and reconcile humanity and all things” (2 Cor. 4:16; 5:17-19). To put it another way, “Scripture alone should provide the images and metaphors by which God’s people live.” This is why we are devoting this school year to exploring the storyline of the Bible. The only way we can resist false stories is to immerse ourselves in God’s story.
So then, we will continue our journey through the storyline of the Bible this Sunday, October 20. Brad Thomas, our Pastor of Worship Arts, will preach Exodus 15. It is a praise song celebrating God’s rescue of his people out of slavery in Egypt. The title of Brad’s sermon is “The Lord is My Salvation.”
This week, I have been teaching a doctoral class at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. The students are all pastors who come from California, Oregon, Montana, and Minnesota. The focus of my class is on how the gospel of Jesus Christ transforms our lives. We have had some rich discussions, and I have learned as much from them as they have learned from me. A couple days ago, I took them to The Bible Project studio to meet Tim Mackie (the co-founder) and to get a tour. It was a treat to hear Tim talk about all God is doing through The Bible Project and to see Tim’s team at work producing their next video.
We would appreciate your prayers for our daughter-in-law, Janzyn. She has experienced excruciating pain for several weeks. Priscilla flew to Denver on Tuesday to be with her and Luke. A few hours after she arrived, Priscilla and Luke took Janzyn to the ER. After a second ER visit yesterday, the hospital finally admitted Janzyn last night. We’re praying for relief and that the doctors can figure out the problem. Janzyn had a tentative diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis, but there are other possibilities. Luke and Janzyn’s church family has been so supportive. We are also thankful for medical doctors in our CrossLife family who have provided Luke and Janzyn with a lot of helpful counsel. We’re grateful, too, that God’s mercies are new every morning and that his faithfulness is great—even in our pain. Meanwhile, I’m going to stop in Bozeman, Montana on my way home from Portland and meet a member of our church (Greg Herman) to fly fish this weekend. I also look forward to worshipping at the Evangelical Free Church of Bozeman on Sunday where one of the students in my class this week is the senior pastor.
Finally, my granddaughter Halle (2 and a half) asked her brother Blake (9) to tuck her in bed the other night. So he did. When Blake came out of Halle’s bedroom, he said to his mom: “That girl has a lot of attitude!” He is not the first one to notice this. Alright, thanks for reading. I’ll see you soon!