Reading the Bible with New Eyes

I'm not preaching every Sunday now. This removes an enjoyable stress from my life. Preaching was stressful in that each week you are asking yourself a question that you cannot immediately answer: What does God have to say to US this week. The US being our church family. My assumption has usually been that the Holy Spirit of Jesus is leading us. And that the preacher's job is to try and figure out how God is speaking to us at this given point in time and at this particular place.

I also assume that preaching is an imperfect task. It is imperfect because the preacher is imperfect. Maybe the preacher is hearing God wrong. The preacher may be following an idol. For example, the preacher may want something in his/her life more than the preacher wants God. Memorial Day is a good example of this. Maybe the preacher cares more about being seen as patriotic and God-fearing than the preacher cares about being a faithful servant of a God who doesn't really care how the preacher looks to others. In that case, God's word for the people is filtered out by the preacher's desires. "God couldn't want me to say that because then I will look like a non-patriotic, God-hater."

Preaching is enjoyable because it kept me on my spiritual toes. Beginning early in the week (say Tuesday, unless I'm procrastinating) I would begin praying, "Lord, help me. What should I preach about this week?" This prayer would gain in intensity and sincerity as the week progressed. Culminating with me getting up very early on most Sunday mornings to re-evaluate what I had thought up to then about the sermon.

I don't want to lose either of these components of the preaching life, neither the stress nor the enjoyment. I've begun reading Eugene Peterson's translation of the New Testament called The Message. Peterson tries to capture the Message of Jesus in the language that people speak today. 

It's hard for me to believe that God still loves me even though I'm retired. But I certainly preached that. God loves us because that is Who God is. I don't earn God's love because of what I do. 

          Donald Trump and the Growth of 

          Global Fascism

This is an opinion piece by Peter Baker appearing in the 5/29/16 NY Times Rise of Donald Trump Tracks Growing Debate Over Global Fascism16 

WASHINGTON — The comparison was inflammatory, to say the least. Former Gov. William F. Weld of Massachusetts equated Donald J. Trump’s immigration plan with Kristallnacht, the night of horror in 1938 when rampaging Nazis smashed Jewish homes and businesses in Germany and killed scores of Jews.

But if it was a provocative analogy, it was not a lonely one. Mr. Trump’s campaign has engendered impassioned debate about the nature of his appeal and warnings from critics on the left and the right about the potential rise of fascism in the United States. More strident opponents have likened Mr. Trump to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

To supporters, such comparisons are deeply unfair smear tactics used to tar conservatives and scare voters. For a bipartisan establishment whose foundation has been shaken by Mr. Trump’s ascendance, these backers say, it is easier emphasizes aggressive nationalism and often racism. In places like Russia and Turkey, leaders like Vladimir V. Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan employ strongman tactics. In Austria, a nationalist candidate came within three-tenths of a percentage point of becoming the first far-right head of state elected in Europe since World War II.

In Hungary, an authoritarian government has clamped down on the news media and erected razor wire fences to keep out migrants. There are worries that Poland may follow suit. Traditional parties in France, Germany, Greece and elsewhere have been challenged by nationalist movements amid an economic crisis and waves of migrants. In Israel, fascism analogies by a former prime minister and a top general have again inflamed the long-running debate about the occupation of Palestinian territories.