We have a group of mostly youth workers, led by Erik Leafblad, who are meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss the book Reading in Communion by Stephen Fowl and Gregory Jones. I wrestled through Chapter One uninspired but Chapter Two is very thought provoking. Chapter Two is entitled Reading in the Communion of Disciples: Learning to Become Wise Readers of Scripture. The authors emphasize the role practical wisdom plays in the interpretation of Scripture. Interpretation of Scripture involves a "lifelong process of learning to become a wise reader... capable of embodying that reading in life."
A community that reads and interprets Scripture together is necessary because "our complicity in sin leaves us captive to destructive patterns of life. Such captivity undermines our ability to read Scripture well. Liberation from our captivity requires an ongoing process of being formed and transformed by God's grace in and through the friendships and practices of Christian communities."
The authors stress the importance of Christian communities to hold each other accountable not to read Scripture in a way that ends up supporting "our agenda." We must be virtuous and disciplined to read the Scriptures "over-against ourselves" Fowl and Jones offer suggestions to help communities to read "over-against ourselves." "...we must be willing to be interrogated by Scripture in addition to interrogating Scripture... Scripture's interrogatory power will come to any community through the voices of interpreters with well-formed character within the community and concerned outsiders."
I read this chapter on Saturday, the day after experiencing a great example of the thoughts in this post. Eleven Youthfront ministry staff gathered in the Wilburforce Conference Room at the Demdaco Headquarters. We were working on the spiritual content for camp this summer. We will be living all summer inLuke 15, more specifically, the story of The Prodigal Son. We have spent months discussing these scriptures, praying through them, meditating on them, and discussing how to bring young people into the transformation power of this sacred text. On Friday we were discussing ways to create applied learning experiences with Luke 15:17 "And having come to himself..." We had a dialogue about this phrase that I believe is a perfect example of wrestling with Scripture in a communal fashion that leads to the fleshing out of the power of Scripture. I don't really believe it is possible to describe what happened in the context of our community as we encountered together the living Scripture but I know that this kind of communal interaction with Holy Scripture is essential for vibrant Christian Communities. I wonder why so many people working in ministries and churches speak often about how little time they spend together as a staff praying, reading scripture, discussing theology and seeking the Holy Spirit's leading.
Christian communities, churches and ministries are legitimately empowered as spiritual communities through the Scripture because the Word of the Lord is our source and context for discerning what it actually means to be a people seeking to live faithfully in the way of The WORD, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Mike King
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