tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post8878710184673987806..comments2024-03-28T13:59:11.445-07:00Comments on Left Behind and Loving It: Commanding LoveD. Mark Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-11206697035832947602022-05-20T10:02:27.312-07:002022-05-20T10:02:27.312-07:00Hi Bill and Ubicari, I am humbled by your words an...Hi Bill and Ubicari, I am humbled by your words and grateful to be part of your journey with you. Thank you for your service to God's community throughout our world. The enormity of our brokenness seems only matched by the above-and-beyond enormity of God's love. Thank you for lifting that up to others. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-81948278610262124722022-05-13T15:50:43.481-07:002022-05-13T15:50:43.481-07:00I, too, am priest at a tiny Episcopal church in Mo...I, too, am priest at a tiny Episcopal church in Montana. Our town is 600-ish. I have reaped so much wisdom from this site, and from the comments section! And I send my thanks.ubicarihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09848972004305740165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-40530229326022199992022-05-06T20:26:27.746-07:002022-05-06T20:26:27.746-07:00I am one of six preachers in our small (60) Episco...I am one of six preachers in our small (60) Episcopal mission that follows what we call Total Ministry. Three of us are lay, and I am particulary unschooled, so every time I am humbled and daunted by my task. Certainly my sermons are guided by the Holy Spirit but I never feel that is enough. Leaning on your commentary (among others) gives me a breadth that would otherwise be lacking. I assemble a bunch of commentaries, save them for reflection, and then the Holy Spirit inspires me and sends me on my way. I am so grateful for your sharing of your knowledge, giving me the best possible context to elevate the faith of my congregation. Most of my sermons would not be much poorer without your help. I am now working on my 113th sermon and you have helped to guide me on most of them. When I do use your commentary directly I always credit you. I know our other preachers also benefit from your kind words.<br />I am ashamed that I haven't thanked you before, and do realize that there are probably many more like me who do not respond with comments but are indebted nonetheless. Thank you again 113 times!<br />Bill Bruneau, Saint Francis in the Redwoods Episcopal Church, Willits CAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-90435360150136011912016-04-21T08:42:43.800-07:002016-04-21T08:42:43.800-07:00Thanks, Rebecca. It's fun to watch your mind d...Thanks, Rebecca. It's fun to watch your mind dance. D. Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-20692680212324459712016-04-20T15:15:13.191-07:002016-04-20T15:15:13.191-07:00Thanks for your take on v. 34. There is punctuatio...Thanks for your take on v. 34. There is punctuation that breaks the line just as you take it. It's also in the SBL version of the Greek. My mind is dancing on the edge of a thought--Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09860845287600446857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-7739408178715426082013-04-27T18:46:44.865-07:002013-04-27T18:46:44.865-07:00Borg and Crossan situate Jesus in opposition to th...Borg and Crossan situate Jesus in opposition to the imperial (Roman) and collaborative (religious hierarchy) domination systems... which allows the "new command" to rest against either civil law stipulating worship of the state/emperor or the kind of legalism that you allude to, Mark. <br /><br />stephenlbowiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15189898301132181595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-87902244041345652472013-04-26T10:58:11.614-07:002013-04-26T10:58:11.614-07:00You re getting to the issue as I see it these days...You re getting to the issue as I see it these days. Command is--in my world--what hierarchies use to get things done. So, a sargent commands soldiers, a hunter commands dogs, and there are external, as you note...but command is a "power" word. Tillich's theonomy understands that a bit, but it's the power (and threat of judgement) that seems undergird the use of the word. In that way, the command to love carries with it the very overtones of hierarchy and power that most of my other work finds suspect. I wonder how the cross fits into this?<br />If the cross is somehow tied up into the desire to love? Thanks for thinking this through with me.Scott Fredericksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11308367520005180885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-29233016559396153922013-04-24T08:10:02.601-07:002013-04-24T08:10:02.601-07:00I've come to see the 'commands' as art...I've come to see the 'commands' as articulations of "best practices" for making sustainable community with God and others. In my mind, God's law is not something you follow because it is a law, but something that God makes a law because it is beneficial for life and community. Likewise, I'm seeing 'sins' not as breaking laws that God put on the books, but acting in ways that are destructive to life and community. <br />I also think we are not always terribly attuned to what we want or need. Loving our enemy doesn't seem to be what we want or need, but living in a world where the cycle of hate and mistrust can only be broken by someone who is willing to be vulnerable and take a chance on loving another is what the law is about. We want a world where love wins, even if we don't realize that loving enemies is the only way to get there. Hence a law that seems onerous and heteronomous, but is actually theonomous a la Tillich.From Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08343191370740534861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-40229003938855480732013-04-24T07:47:40.459-07:002013-04-24T07:47:40.459-07:00I thought about reflecting on Tillich's words ...I thought about reflecting on Tillich's words regarding the paradox of commanding someone to love - both here and in the Shema and in the Great Command. We think of 'love' as a feeling that strictly comes from within and 'command' as an order that strictly comes from without. Tillich reads the commands to love as 'theonomy,' where the command of God correlates with our innermost longings or interior sense of what is right. From Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08343191370740534861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-67952275753068620142013-04-24T07:40:18.328-07:002013-04-24T07:40:18.328-07:00Hi Scott,
I've never seen ἐντολὴν translated ...Hi Scott, <br />I've never seen ἐντολὴν translated as 'canon.' I welcome a word that takes it out of a strictly legalistic tone, since the OT understanding of 'law' was not as authoritarian as we often think of them. It's hard to imagine the psalmist saying "How I love your law," if it were this kind of imposed demand that intends to make us miserable - as many Christians seem to speak of the OT law. <br />So, something more promising than "command" would be helpful. I'm not sure if 'canon'e communicates outside of our guild very well. <br />What about 'goal,' 'aspiration,' 'standard,' or something like that? Would that sound like we'er watering the word down, or would it capture the non-offensiveness of the OT approach to the commands? From Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08343191370740534861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-77818250947387893202013-04-23T14:36:44.420-07:002013-04-23T14:36:44.420-07:00Mark,
As you know, I no longer preach, but I am cu...Mark,<br />As you know, I no longer preach, but I am curious why you went with "command" for canon in v. 34? What if Jesus was using the idea of loving each other much as we use the idea of scripture as a canon? That is, there is much more to our discipleship than loving each; however, loving each other becomes the "rod" (canon) by which all our relationships are measured? Just wondering. Thanks for writing brother.<br />Scott Fredericksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11308367520005180885noreply@blogger.com