Oh, for a leader like Nelson Mandela…

Having spent the last three weeks in South Africa, it is impossible not to think of Nelson Mandela and of the impact of his leadership on his country. Mandela spent 27 years exiled and imprisoned for his political views, and then emerged to lead his country out of the darkness of apartheid.  He was elected President and instead of punishing those who had imprisoned him, his message was one of forgiveness and of bringing all the South African people together.  He changed the course of his country forever, and brought it back onto the world scene after many years of exclusion.

I long for leaders like this in America…a President and a Congress who would work hard to bring us together rather than continue to divide us.  Leaders who are able to see this as the way to the best America, and who are also strong enough to press through our current culture of divisiveness to inspire us with and achieve this vision.  It would be difficult, admittedly.  American voters keep rejecting leaders who seem inclined to this approach, choosing instead representatives who promise to maintain the fight, no matter what.  We are electing leaders who disdain and even desire to punish those who disagree with them.  Why do we believe this is what we should do?

It seems to be our human nature to choose sides like this and fight for our beliefs.  And the disagreement is important – it is how the best solutions are reached.  But at some point, we have to come together in compromise to achieve good things for our country. Instead, we seem to value a refusal to compromise.  What does this do for us, though?  Staying divided keeps us from being able to move forward.  We can get stuck in a perpetual stalemate.  And think of how much time and energy and money is wasted on maintaining the divide.

How can this atmosphere bode well for our country?  Anger and bitterness is not the answer. Surely in unity is our strength!  Remember the old adage “united we stand, divided we fall.”  This truth was acknowledged by Jesus in the Bible (Matthew 12:25), as well as by many of our Founding Fathers.

I am reluctant to be another critical voice among the many around us today.  But I sincerely long to hold on to the hope of a different vision of America by sharing it.  I know others share this vision of unity, rather than division.  We who do must begin to speak up, rather than be silenced by the louder voices promoting division.  I believe the future of our country depends on it.

 

Believing in the power of unity,

Catherine

 

 

 

 

My personal experience with the Bible…

 

My first experience with Bible study was in high school, as part of a youth group I attended.

From the very first words I read, I remember thinking and feeling that ‘this is true.’  I can’t remember if we were reading the words of Paul or the words of Jesus (it was one of the two), but I distinctly remember that feeling of recognizing truth, that ‘this is how the world should be,’ contrasted with ‘this is how we are.’

This has consistently been my experience with the Bible over all the years since. I still hear the words “this is true” in my spirit when I read it.

Since leaving the work force 22 years ago, I have had the privilege of spending a lot of time reading and studying the Bible, both by myself and with others.  I know that everyone has not had that same opportunity, and I hope that sharing my experience with scripture might make it easier for others to place their trust in it.

Some years ago, in addition to our women’s Bible studies, a friend and I decided to read the Bible through in a year. We found the experience to be so meaningful that we decided we would do our best to read through it every year for the rest of our lives. This year is our 8^th year, and we remain committed to this practice. We mix it up by reading different translations and/or following different reading plans. It started as a discipline, and while it is still a discipline, it has also become a joy.  Something wonderful we’ve found is that each time through a passage, we discover something that we hadn’t really noticed before.  There are so many layers to the Bible, and with each one God’s story becomes more clear and complete, and our story within it makes more sense.  It is incredible how every bit of it applies to our lives today, too!  (I truly encourage you to start this practice for yourself. It takes me about 15–30 minutes a day, depending on how focused I am. Yes, I get seriously behind at times, but I slowly catch up, no matter how long it takes. Give it a try!)

The more I read and study the Bible, the more convinced of its truth I become.  It has never been wrong, or unreliable, or failed in any way in my experience.  Questions that arise in one part of scripture can generally be explained by looking at other parts, giving careful consideration to the Bible as a complete text.  God’s Word is self-validating – it is hard to explain, but it somehow proves itself.  This must be the power of the Holy Spirit.

As for the questions that scripture does not seem to answer, or the things that are hard for me to accept, they genuinely bother me less as I grow more familiar with God and His Word.  I think this means I have come to trust Him.

Here is how I approach hard things in the Bible:  I always start with two things we know about our God as revealed to us: He is good, and He loves us.  I then move on to remind myself that He knows and understands things that I don’t about the situation being considered.  With all of this in mind, I might have a conversation with myself that goes something like this: ‘I trust that God (who is good and loving) knows something about these people or this situation that caused Him to act the way He did.’  Another example might be: ‘God loves me, and He knows and wants what is best for me, so this is why He has asked me to live this way.’  This approach requires both trust and humility – this is why it is so hard for us.  (I hope to write more about this later.)

It also helps me to remember that God does not think like we do.  As He tells us through the prophet Isaiah:

           “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.    For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”                Isaiah 55:8-9

 

Our part is to trust, and let him be God.

Please read the Bible for yourself and see what happens!  “All scripture is God-breathed” as Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, may you read it and be renewed…..may you read it and trust.

With love,

Catherine

the catalyst for my writing…

The Bible –  God’s beautifully written love letter to me and to every other person in this world.  In it, God reveals who He is and who we are.  It tells the story of God and his relationship with mankind – how we have continually turned away from God to go our own way, and how God, because he loves us unconditionally, has repeatedly made a way for us to come back to Him, ultimately through the sacrifice of his beloved son, Jesus.  It is the best story I know, the one that makes sense of the world for me, and one I have spent the last 30 years trying to learn and understand.  It is the basis of my faith, the guide for my life, the measure of all truth.  It is how I hear from God, it is how I know Him, and how I know myself.  I would be lost without it.

It nearly broke my heart last summer when I read these words in Adam Hamilton’s recent book Making Sense of the Bible:

“some things taught in scripture may not represent God’s character                        nor his will for us today, and perhaps never accurately captured God’s will.” (p. 143)

 

Although I realize some do not view the Bible in the same way I do, I was devastated to hear these words coming from a prominent United Methodist pastor.  While Pastor Hamilton’s book also says many wonderful things that I appreciate and agree with, I fear that his influence may lead some Christians to move away from reliance on the Bible as God’s true and perfect word.

I guess you could say Hamilton’s words have served as the catalyst for my writing.  The Bible seems to be coming under attack more and more lately, and I feel compelled to defend it.  Scripture is essential to our faith.  We can not just chip away at it…wouldn’t that amount to ‘cutting off the branch we are sitting on,’ so to speak?

I believe that scripture perfectly represents God’s character and that it accurately captures his will for us for all time.   If it didn’t, wouldn’t our all-powerful God correct it?  Would he allow his character to be misrepresented in the scriptures written about him?  Would he allow them to incorrectly express his will?  I don’t believe so. That wouldn’t make sense.

And if we don’t believe that the Bible accurately represents God’s character or His will for us for all time, why do we bother to study it?  What would be the point?

This is my simple, logical response to what some might say is a complicated issue, but in my heart and mind I believe it can be that simple. There are more complex arguments to be made, and I hope to share them in coming days.

With love,

Catherine

 

 

 

 

 

Being a United Methodist…

Being a part of the United Methodist Church for the last 30 years has been a joy and a privilege for me.

But I am uneasy this week, while the General Conference of our denomination meets in Portland, Oregon.  It feels to me as if God’s Word is on trial, and my heart is heavy at what I fear might happen:  that those making decisions for us may reject the truth and authority of scripture outright, that they may alter its historical interpretation, or that our denomination could even break apart, unable to come together on a solution to the challenging issues before us.

I love my church, and the many diverse people who are a part of it.  I chose to join the United Methodist Church as a young woman, after growing up with exposure to both the Catholic and Baptist denominations, having a parent from each background.  I was first introduced to Methodism as a student at Hendrix College.  I found it to be a nice combination of things I loved about the two very different denominations of my childhood.  I loved the traditional features I had experienced in the Catholic Church, like the pastoral robes and some of the corporate prayers and recitations.  I loved the emphasis on the Bible and Bible Study that I had seen in the Baptist Church.  I was instinctively drawn to the methodical approach of John Wesley, and I appreciated the acceptance of differing opinions within the church body.  Of course, another big factor in my becoming a Methodist was that my husband, Gary, was already a member.

The way I understand it, as United Methodists, we have historically followed the Wesleyan practice of giving scripture primary authority in theological matters.  We also consider tradition, reason, and experience, but only to the extent that they complement scripture.  If these secondary factors conflict with scripture, scripture should prevail.  (this approach is often referred to as the “Wesleyan quadrilateral,” and I hope to write more about it in future posts)

I recognize that some in the denomination may have drifted away from this practice, beginning to place more importance on their individual reason or personal experience.  But, I sincerely pray that we will not deviate from our historical position regarding the primacy of scripture.  How can we elevate our own experience or our own reason to a place above scripture – God’s Holy Word revealed to us?  Isn’t that putting ourselves in the place of God?  Substituting our judgment for His?

Solomon, known for his great wisdom, warns us against this very thing in Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

I pray that God will help us avoid this trap of leaning on our own understanding.  That our decision-making body will find loving solutions to the issues we face, without departing from or setting aside God’s Word.  I pray that we can work this out and stay United!

Hopefully,

Catherine

 

 

The word of our God stands forever…

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”   Isaiah 40:8  (NIV)

 

I love these words…they are such a perfect picture of the enduring nature of God’s Word.

And when we look back to the preceding verses and read them all together, the picture becomes even clearer, and more relevant to us today.

“A voice says, “Cry out.”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:6-8

In these verses, the prophet Isaiah is sharing something he has heard from God, that God would have him declare to the people of Israel who are being held captive in Babylon.  So these words are the words of God, being spoken to the people by Isaiah.

Here is how I read these verses:

We humans are temporary, like the grass and flowers.  The word of God is permanent.

In my mind, this means that God’s Word/the Bible is meant to last forever, to be applicable to all generations.  It is immune to all our efforts to interpret or alter it to suit our times or understanding.

FYI:  These very same words are repeated by the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:24-25, as he reminds Jewish Christians centuries later of the power of scripture in comparison to the weakness of our human flesh.  Jesus also stated likewise to his disciples in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

So, what we have here is scripture itself affirming its permanence.  As a lawyer, I know that may not be enough to convince everyone.  Sort of like a person asserting their innocence is sometimes not enough.  We want the other available evidence to also support the claim.  But, it’s a start.  And really, the best start we could hope for.

That’s enough for today…much more to follow.

All of the above said with love and grace,

Catherine

 

I believe the Bible…

I believe the Bible.  Every word of it.

I do not say this with a combative spirit, but with a spirit of encouragement.  I am so sad that many Christians seem to be moving away from complete trust in the Bible.

Last summer I had hoped to write something comprehensive on this topic, but I was intimidated by the task.  This summer, I begin again, with a different approach.  I hope to start a dialogue, and also to explain, in bits and pieces, why I believe the Bible is completely trustworthy.

My goal is to encourage belief.  I do not have answers to all the difficult questions, nor do I understand everything in the Bible, but I am happy to share what I have learned or worked out for myself.

Hoping to help,

Catherine

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”  John 17:17 (the words of Jesus, spoken to God in prayer on behalf of his disciples, on the night before his crucifixion)

The reason for my hope…

The reason for my hope is Jesus.

I am excited to begin writing about and sharing with you what He has been pouring into me for over 30 years now.  I do this out of love for God and in gratitude for His gift of grace…

Catherine