Fishin and Mission

I think most churches tend to be islands. Church is treated as an entity which is separate from the world--images of hope or salvation. Church is where the sacraments are....and then mission becomes this "build it and the people will come" idea. (ie, build the right program, get the right worship, invite a friend to worship...) The idea is that if we can only get people into the church, salvation will happen.

But you can't fish on an island. You can't cast a net on dry land.

Fishing for men can't happen in the church.

And half the point of fishing is to get out of the house anyways, right? 

Moreover, these models tend to put the agency of 'catching' on our side--when it's not. I find words like 'catch' or 'bait' or 'reeling in'--these are problematic where mission is concerned. But the point is the same. We just have to remember that disciples don't hold the pole. If anything, we're an extension of the line--and we need to go where God casts us.

Or maybe Jesus' point wasn't about 'catching' at all. Maybe he said that 'cause he was talking to a bunch of fisherman. Maybe he was saying that mission is now what you do. Mission is your livelihood.

Tangible--or digital--grace?

Farhad Manjoo's article about i-books for children got me thinking about physical vs. digital reading in general. Is digital media shifting the way we think about reading--and the Bible? Certainly the syntax is changing. Participating in a young adult Bible study a year ago, I was amused when someone urged the group to open their Bibles and "pull up" a particular verse. I have even heard a persons speak of "downloading" truth from Scripture.

My worship precept recently had a lengthy discussion about the necessity (or lack therein) of reading from a physical Bible in the pulpit. On one hand, holding the whole book nods towards the entire biblical narrative. It is "this" --the whole Bible and not just the individually googled verse which "is the word of God for the people of God." Especially if a Bible is delightfully worn and threatens to turn into dust at the slightest touch, physical Bibles remind us that our faith is ancient and must be handled with reverence.  On the other hand, reading from an iphone shows that Scripture is still relevent and present in modern culture. (Moses had a tablet, right?)

Bible aps are handy in worship too. Maneuvering through chapters and verses can make seekers feel like outsiders, but a handy app is easily accessible and quickly gets the whole congregation on the same wavelength if not page. People are also more likely to carry a phone with them than a Bible and teaching people how to locate scripture gives them constant access to the Word.

...but what gets lost? For one, isolating a single verse to "look up" doesn't give access to the larger context. Certainly, the biblical order was not canonized randomly, but is this noticeable on biblegateway.com? If Revelation is not a physical telos at the end of a book, does that change its interpretation? More importantly--and here I might just be old fashioned--does the internet make Scripture just another search? Is the Bible as obviously special and unique when it's one of many, many, easily downloaded bits of information? Am I old fashioned for not wanting Scripture to be just part of the internet?

I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit can and does work online, (this reflection was my first post) but surely the digital era is missing a touch of incarnate theology. There is something troubling about a congregation who urges television viewers to put a glass of water next to the TV so that it can be "blessed by remote control." (Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom. pg 82)

A student's Prayer by Thomas Aquinas

Creator of all things,
true source of light and wisdom,
origin of all being,
graciously let a ray of your light penetrate
the darkness of my understanding.

Take from me the double darkness
in which I have been born,
an obscurity of sin and ignorance.

Give me a keen understanding,
a retentive memory, and
the ability to grasp things
correctly and fundamentally.

Grant me the talent
of being exact in my explanations
and the ability to express myself
with thoroughness and charm.

Point out the beginning,
direct the progress,
and help in the completion.

I ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.