bald man blogging

OK, so in the Midday Office yesterday, I came across this reading:

Our homeland is in heaven and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

~Philippians 3

I’d always read these words like this: While on earth the church is away from home, and Jesus, who’s back home in heaven, is coming back to the world at some point. A perfectly reasonable reading, I’m sure.

But for some reason, my brain turned the whole thing upside down this time: The church only seems to be living in the world; in reality the church is living in heaven, the Kingdom of God come to earth; and it is from the Kingdom that the church awaits Jesus’ return.

The difference between the two interpretations seems pretty significant to me. I ran through a bunch of translations, and they either favor the former reading, or are ambiguous. (The skeptic in me notes that a futurist approach with a literal heaven and hell has been the dominant model during the period when most translations were commissioned; I wouldn’t expect to find something contradictory to that.

Context isn’t helping me either.

So, here’s my question for you NT scholars: Am I totally off base with this second interpretation?

Looks like a much needed update is coming to the Beavercreek Christian website!

The old one was some sort of website-in-a-box… but at least it wasn’t updated very often. This one still has a fair dinkum of work to be done, but attention is being paid.

I suppose this brings up the interesting issue of what purpose should a ministry’s website serve? Informational? Inspirational? Are they speaking primarily to the curious outsider or the connected participant?

Having been a part of building a website for the last ministry we served with, I’ll offer this: Most ministry websites lack the focus appropriate to their resources. The web is not a level playing field. Self-publication is awesome, and the individual is probably permitted a certain amount of rawness to their online presence. Not so with organizations. The small business or non-profit with a volunteer staff is held up to the same standard as the biggest of the big boys with multi-million dollar budgets.

The web is not a level playing field.

Do I think local ministries should have a web presence? Absolutely! It’s 2007 and people are increasingly turning to Google when they want to check you out or find additional information. (Case in point: I’m signed up for that Men’s Retreat shown in the photo and went to the website for details on when to be where… details that are unfortunately not there.) But, a local ministry needs to make an honest assessment regarding the resources they can devote to their own personal Internet; hone in on an appropriate number of goals given those resources; and then avoid the temptation to do “just one more thing.”

Finish a book this weekend. Strange Heaven, by John M. Sweeney. This was sent compliments of the publishers for participating in the launch for The Real Mary last fall.

The book is a sort of historical overview of Mary and the sundry legends that have surrounded her through the ages. Sweeney starts with the fact that most of what people know - or at least believe - about Mary has it’s origins in extra-biblical events, such as visitations and visions given throughout the ages. Some of what is credited to Mary is way out there in my mind, and I’m never quite sure where Sweeney himself stands. Nonetheless, his argument is that some (mostly Catholic sects) have certainly paid too much attention to Mary; but Protestants have undoubtedly paid too little.

But just as very few non-Catholics would agree that Mary is all that these elaborate claims make out for her, she is nevertheless much more than Protestants commonly imagine. She is both a path to God, available to us, as well as a symbol of wisdom in and of herself - a guide.

Not a bad book at all, though I suspect that if you’re of a more fundamental, “sola scriptura” bent you’ll find very little use for it. (For you I’d still recommend The Real Mary, by Scot McKnight. His focus is on the scant New Testament texts that deal with Mary.) I’m not particularly fascinated by Mary; my closest connection to her is my degree from the University of Dayton, “a vibrant and diverse community in the Marianist tradition.” Nevertheless, there I get the sense that there is something to be gained, some spiritual benefit to be had by giving Theotokos a more prominent place in our devotional life. Perhaps there is some way to marry the medieval imagination and devotion with a more grounded historical account….