Jesus the Singer

I’ve been thinking a bit lately about how the christology of early Christianity appears to have been given shape by the singing of early Christianity: Homes and communities that customarily sang the Davidic psalsms, thereby entering into the story of David’s suffering and vindication, came to hear Jesus as the central voice of this liturgy…

the canonical psalms, as the prayer-book of the local Jewish communities, were also part of that living culture.  In fact, it is likely that the psalms played a role in the emerging communal rituals of the followers of Jesus after his death….

If the reading, singing, or chanting of the psalms was part of the communal worship of the followers of Jesus from the time of his death onward, these oral performances of the psalms, perhaps associated with homilies or other forms of teaching, may have been the occasion for the re-reading of the psalms of individual lament with reference to the death of Jesus.  (A.Y. Collins, ‘The Appropriation of the Psalms of Individual Lament by Mark’)

Listen to Paul in Romans 15:8-10: “For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.  As it is written, ‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name’; and again he says, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’“

Approaching God like a child

On Saturday we visited a fun park for children.  When we entered, we found ourselves in front of the “Snow Queen”, who asked 3yo Cara what she would like Father Christmas to give her for Christmas.  Cara’s eyes widened and she shyly said she would like a pink suitcase.  The Snow Queen nodded knowingly and said she was sure Santa would look into it.  We went on to go on the rides and play in the play areas…

Later on in the day we joined a queue to see Father Christmas.  After about 15mins of waiting, Cara casually mentioned, “When we get to the front, Father Christmas will give me a pink suitcase.  I’m looking forward to my pink suitcase!”  I gulped… It had never entered my head that Cara might actually believe the promise of the Snow Queen. 

As it turned out, Cara fell asleep while we were still waiting in the queue, so we got out of there quicksmart.  But it strikes me that perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he said you need to approach God as a child: Children are somehow willing to humbly assume that God is both approachable and believable… just a thought

Enterprising Drug Dealer

I was pleased to see that my work has finally received some long overdue recognition in the website, “Nottingham is Crap” – I’m particularly pleased because this has pointed me to an example of the enterprising mindset that Nottingham produces:

Unfortunately I generally take the number 5 or the number 36, so I’m still paying outrageous prices for my smak and crack… I guess the grass is always greener on the other side…

What’s the mystery denomination???

The New York Times reported today that there is a major split occurring in the Episcopal Church in America, with conservatives forming a rival denomination, with their own archbishop/primate: “The Anglican Church in North America.”  As interesting as this is, the thing that most struck me was this sentence:

The move threatens the fragile unity of the Anglican Communion, the world’s third-largest Christian body, made up of 38 provinces around the world that trace their roots to the Church of England and its spiritual leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

What the heck is in the number two position then???

1. Roman Catholicism
2. ???
3. Anglican Communion

My money’s on Quakers

1 Corinthians 4 Wordle

“What do you have that you didn’t receive?”

Mark’s Rhetoric of Reticence

Why does Mark appear so restrained in his presentation of Jesus?  He holds back on Messianic references, hints opaquely at divinity, constantly emphasises the failure of Jesus’ disciples, and refuses to actually show readers the resurrected Jesus, ending on a note of disappointing uncertainty.

Two recent approaches I’ve encountered to this issue are worthy of consideration:

Firstly, a few weeks ago I heard Richard Hays speak about the flow of Mark’s Gospel.  He suggested that Mark takes as his key rhetorical principle the explanation of Jesus’ use of parables in chapter 4: To those who are followers, the parables invite further understanding; to those who are proud challengers, the parables resist capture and explanation.  Similarly, Hays suggests, the Gospel of Mark itself prefers to suggest and allude, inviting the follower into the path of the cross, rather than to spell things out in bold polemical claims.

Secondly, the theological reading of Mark by Craig Hovey (which I have now finished and highly recommend) suggests that Mark is attempting to shape the church’s expectations of its Messiah with the quiet shame of the cross: A church that longs for the type of glory that is exemplified in the world’s rulers needs to be kept from justifying its own pursuit of this glory by appealing to the visible certainty of resurrection appearances – as if the resurrection simply serves to confirm that, after all, we CAN seek worldly honour and esteem and power and glory.

Indeed, the question of why Mark is so reticent in his presentation of the resurrection in ch.16 is perhaps parallel to the question of why Paul defers discussion of the resurrection to the end of 1 Corinthians: The resurrection cannot be seen or grasped in the present, without pursuing the way of the cross, which is its necessary pre-requisite.