Denver Institute on the Drama of Work

The Denver Institute for Faith and Work have released volume 3 of a set of devotional-type resources on faith at work, this one looking at work through the biblical storyline:

‘This devotional traces the story of the Gospel through four acts: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation. Each act includes a key biblical passage, questions for discussion, and a guiding prayer to help us reflect on how God is at work in the world and how our work can participate in his redemptive work.’

It’s available as a pdf here.

The previous volumes in the series can be downloaded from here.

The Bible in Four Minutes

A few months back, I posted about ‘Six Beats One Story’, a new resource from Bible Society summing up the story of Scripture in six key scenes – Origins, Exodus, Exile, Messiah, Spirit, Home.

A new addition to the resource – ‘The Bible in Four Minutes’ – a spoken word animation, written and narrated by Dai Woolridge, is now available from here, and is well worth checking out.

Christopher Ash on the Biblical Story

Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (October 2022) it’s Remaking a Broken World: The Heart of the Bible Story by Christopher Ash, which is available in exchange for an email address here.

It’s a helpful Bible overview based around the theme of the ‘gathering’ and ‘scattering’ of God’s people in the biblical storyline, emphasising that ‘the local church is at the heart of the Bible story, that it is close to the heart of the purposes of God, and that it is how a broken world will be remade’. This nicely complements other approaches which take a more ‘kingdom’-oriented approach to the biblical story.

Six Beats One Story

Borrowing from Andrew Ollerton’s book, The Bible: A Story That Makes Sense of Life, a new resource from Bible Society – ‘Six Beats One Story’ – sums up the story of Scripture in six key scenes – Origins, Exodus, Exile, Messiah, Spirit, Home.

According to the Bible Society website:

‘Summing up the Bible narrative in just six scenes, Dai Woolridge unpacks the big story through colloquial prose, social media type posts and spoken word poetry.

‘The aim is to creatively retrace some of the key beats in the Bible story, and ask the question, “In light of Jesus, what’s this mean for us today?”’

More information, including a four-minute animated overview of the biblical story and tracks of spoken work poetry on each of the six ‘beats’ is available here.

Christopher Watkin on a Biblical Theology of Culture

Christopher Watkin, author of the excellent Thinking through Creation: Genesis 1 and 2 as Tools of Cultural Critique (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2017), recently led two seminars at the 2020 FEUER Academic Speakers Network.

Taking his cue from John Stott’s call to ‘double listening’, he tackles the question of ‘how to read culture through the categories and patterns of the Bible, specifically through the creation-fall-redemption framework of biblical theology’.

The two videos are available here, and are well worth checking out by those interested in this area.

The Christmas Jesus #1: Included in a New Story

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of Jacob,

Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers...

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Matthew 1:1-2, 17

One of the main ways we understand life is through stories. We each have our own personal story. Our families have a family story. Our church has a story. Our nation has a story. Stories embody the values of the groups to which we belong. They shape how we think about things in everyday life, such as money and friendships and family and food and sex and everything else.

For Christians, the most crucial story for our identity, for shaping the way we think and live, is the biblical story – God’s story. And when we become a Christian, God’s story becomes our story.

It’s tempting to think that being a Christian involves inviting God into a little part of our story, where we give God an occasional walk-on part in the drama of our life – the ‘religious’ part of our life. But it’s not like that at all. God calls us into the bigger story that he is weaving. And it’s God’s story that shapes how we think about things in everyday life, such as money and friendships and family and food and sex and everything else.

The Christmas story reminds us that God calls us to be a part of the bigger story that he is working out.

Matthew begins his gospel by telling us that Jesus stands at the heart of this epic tale the Bible tells, and that he brings the whole story to its goal. His opening phrase – ‘This is the genealogy of’ – would remind Jewish readers of similar phrases in the early chapters of Genesis. Matthew is placing the story he’s about to tell in the larger story of God’s dealings – not just with Israel, but with the whole of creation. It’s Jesus who is the promised son of Abraham who will bring blessing to the whole world. It’s Jesus who is the promised son of David who has come to be king over his people. He is the one towards whom the story of Israel and the nations and the whole of creation has been moving.

By God’s grace, we are included in this story. As Christians, we find our identity, with others, in the one who stands at the heart of God’s plan for the universe – the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Messiah, the true king, the true Israel, the Saviour, the one who saves his people from their sins, Emmanuel, God with us.

Shaped by the Story #10: To the Glory of God

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death –

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

The lordship of Christ and the glory of God – there could hardly be a better place to end our tour through some of the passages where the Bible tells its own story.

Paul wrote letters not narratives, but he draws on different parts of the biblical story as he writes to churches, and that story sometimes bubbles to the surface as it does in Philippians 2:5-11. Here, in the space of a few remarkable verses, we are taken from before the beginning of all things to the very end of all things. And at the heart of it is Jesus. Ultimately, it is this story of this one that shapes us – providing a pattern of thinking and living that is ours through being ‘in Christ’.

At the centre of the story stands the cross, Paul’s words here evoking the horror and shame associated with the public execution of criminals. And yet, it is that scandalous cross that was central to Christ’s own determination to press on to Jerusalem, showing the true nature of God’s self-giving love. And it is the cross that is central to understanding what it means to be a disciple, to follow in his footsteps in serving others – his death not only bringing about redemption but providing a model for our lives.

Even then, the cross is not the end of the story, for God raised Jesus to a place of highest status and assigned him a name that reflects his vindication, with the result that all will confess him ‘Lord’. Paul’s language here deliberately echoes Isaiah 45:22-23, with Christ receiving the glory God says is reserved for him alone. Beyond this, the confession would have carried political overtones, perhaps especially in Philippi, a colony of the Roman empire in which emperors were proclaimed as ‘Lord’. The church’s worship of Jesus as Lord not only limits the empire’s rule, but anticipates the confession that will be offered by the whole universe – the sovereignty of Christ over all things.

All of which has profound implications for the daily life of Christians in Philippi, and of Christians everywhere since, as we ‘work out’ our salvation, with God himself working in us ‘in order to fulfil his good purpose’ (2:12-13), concretely applied in our relations with each other and our integrity of witness in the world, where confessing him as Lord means committing to a way of life marked by his lordship.

And all for the glory of God.

Shaped by the Story #9: Forgiveness and Freedom in Jesus

Brothers and sisters from the children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent... We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus... Therefore, my brothers and sisters, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin... Acts 13:26, 32-33, 38-39

Acts 13 records Paul’s first main speech – given in a synagogue to Jews and God-fearers, Gentiles attached to Judaism. The address sets the programme for the next part of Acts, in the same way that Peter’s Pentecost speech in chapter 2 laid out the programme for the first part of the book. We’re also probably meant to understand that Luke provides here a glimpse of Paul’s synagogue preaching, a regular feature of his ministry as he takes the gospel ‘to the Jew first’.

So, what does he say?

In line with Old Testament figures (Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and others), Paul recounts the story of Israel. He begins with Abraham, taking in the exodus and wilderness wanderings, the Judges era and Samuel, before moving to David – from whose descendants, he says, ‘God has brought to Israel the Saviour Jesus, as he promised’ (13:23). Paul’s claims about Jesus are grounded in God’s prior actions for Israel. The God who worked in the past is the same God who has brought salvation in the present, through the death and resurrection of Christ, in line with scriptural promises related to Abraham and David.

This good news is for Israel, but – in keeping with the whole tenor of the story – is extended to Gentiles too. Jesus is risen, and – as several Psalms promised – he is the one to whom is given the blessings of David, including the forgiveness of sins for ‘everyone who believes’.

As we reflect on how God works in our own lives day by day, our personal ‘stories’ are an essential dimension of how we understand ourselves. Even so, our own ‘narrative’ makes best sense not when it becomes an end in itself, but when it is connected to the overarching story of God’s redemption in Christ. We understand our life ‘plot’ in the greater light of what the loving, covenant-keeping God has worked on our behalf – individually and together.

For us, as for Paul’s original hearers, far from us offering a God an occasional walk-on part in the story of our lives, we are called to see our lives in the infinitely larger narrative of what he has done and will yet do in the world – through Christ, our Saviour and Lord.

Shaped by the Story #8: A Manageable God?

Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you...’ When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Acts 7:1-3, 54-56

Originally selected to distribute food to needy widows, Stephen ends up being the first Christian to die for proclaiming Jesus. Falsely accused of speaking against the law and the temple, he replies by rehearsing the Old Testament story – providing, in the process, the longest speech in the book of Acts. But how does it work as a response to the accusations brought against him?

In part is a recurring theme of rejection, made explicit at the end when he accuses his audience of continuing the pattern of their ancestors, of rejecting Moses and the law, persecuting the prophets, and now killing Jesus (7:51-53).

More significantly, however, Stephen shows that God’s presence and blessing were never limited to the land or the temple. The ‘God of glory’ (note that ‘glory’ is regularly associated with the temple) appeared to Abraham not in Israel but in Mesopotamia. The ‘holy ground’ on which Moses met the Lord was miles away from the promised land, and there wasn’t even an altar there, let alone a temple! Noting that God does not live in houses ‘made by hands’ (7:48), Stephen even suggests that the temple has become an idol.

Even so, it is his vision and claims in 7:55-56 that tip his accusers over the edge, where it becomes clear that the ‘glory of God’ which appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia is now associated with Jesus.

Stephen’s criticism, of course, is not with the temple itself. And yet, properly understood, the biblical story has a global reach where God’s blessing is not limited to one nation, land, or building. The story of the Bible points beyond Abraham and Moses and the law and the temple to one who would come from the Father, full of grace and truth. That story has come to its climax in the ascended Lord who now occupies the place of universal authority, the location of God’s presence.

For us too, perhaps, Stephen’s speech is a reminder that God is not manageable. He cannot be isolated by a particular building or institution, a cherished tradition or ritual, a deeply held viewpoint or favoured version of the Bible. For us too, then, comes the challenge that he will not be captured by anything that might usurp the place that rightly belongs to him alone.

Shaped by the Story #7: The Family Tree

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham... Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. Matthew 1:1, 17

The growth industry in genealogy magazines and books designed to help people trace their family tree, along with the popularity of TV programmes like Who Do You Think You Are?, demonstrate our fascination with roots. In some cases it’s little more than a curiosity about family background, but in many cultures it reflects a desire, even necessity, to show connectedness and belonging. This was certainly the case for Matthew, as he lays out Jesus’ ancestry at the start of his gospel.

Crucially, he begins and ends the genealogy with David and Abraham. Jesus is not only the fulfilment of the hopes of a new king on David’s throne, but also the one who will extend God’s blessings to Gentiles in fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham. But more than this, Matthew’s very first words – about the ‘genesis’ of Jesus Christ – are reminiscent of Genesis 2:4 and 5:1. He is setting the account he is about to tell in the larger story of God’s dealings not just with Israel, but with creation, marking a new beginning in that story – a new beginning in Jesus.

Why Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba are included in the genealogy remains something of a puzzle. Perhaps Matthew wanted us to note they were all ‘foreigners’ to Israel, brought within the orbit of the people of God. More significantly, perhaps, is that their unions and childrearing could be seen as outside the ‘norm’, some even carrying the stigma of sexual scandal. Matthew reminds us – as Joseph will learn in the passage that follows – that God doesn’t always work out his purpose within expected boundaries.

On the first page of the New Testament, then, the significance of Jesus is seen in the shape of the entire history of Israel, with all its ups and downs, which goes back through David to Abraham, and has its origins in God’s purposes for the whole of creation.

And this history becomes our history too, as we are adopted into the family of faith whose roots go back to the very beginning, carefully worked out by God, culminating in Jesus. Here is great encouragement, as the gospel story reminds me of my incredible significance in God’s grand design – that I find my identity and purpose, with others, in the one who stands at the heart of God’s plan for the universe.

Shaped by the Story #6: Renewing God’s People

Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them... You are the LORD God, who chose Abram... You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt... You came down on Mount Sinai... You gave them kingdoms and nations... By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets... Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty and awesome, who keeps his covenant of love...

Nehemiah 9:5, 7, 9, 13, 22, 30, 32

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell of the building projects – the temple and the walls of Jerusalem – that take place after God’s people come home from exile. No less real, and no less hard graft, is the rebuilding of the people themselves – in relationship with God and in community with each other. And at the heart of it, the means by which restoration comes, is the word of God. As Nehemiah 8-10 shows, God works through Scripture – and the story it tells – to breathe new life into his people.

In this case, reading the book of the law leads to confession, with Nehemiah 9 recording the longest prayer in the Bible outside the Psalms. Beginning with praise, the people then trace the biblical story from creation right through to their present day. In doing so, they confess their faithlessness and God’s faithfulness in his dealings with them, admitting their guilt and acknowledging God’s grace.

Their scriptural memory of God’s past actions on their behalf and their shared history cements the identity of the people of God, forming a community which will trust and serve him in the future. And so, confession turns to commitment as they make an agreement among themselves and before the Lord to make their own history different in the land God has given them anew. The renewal of the covenant that follows in chapter 10 flows from the awakening by the word of God in chapter 8 and the confession of sin in chapter 9.

Of course, we need ongoing renewal at the personal level. But what’s going on in Nehemiah, crucially, is corporate renewal, renewal of the people of God. A restored relationship with God leads to a restored relationship with each other, to a concern for the welfare of the whole community. The vision at the heart of these chapters, shaped by the biblical story, remains as powerful now as it did then – renewal through the word of God, renewal in relationship with God, and renewal as the people of God.

Shaped by the Story #5: The Main Role

Give praise to the LORD, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing of him, sing his praises;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

Look to the LORD and his strength;

seek his face always.

Remember the wonders he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,

his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.

Psalm 105:1-6

Like other passages which tell the biblical story, Psalm 105 reiterates God’s own place in the drama. Clearly, his role is not merely that of the playwright, much less that of a spectator in the audience. As it happens, not only is he the main actor, the central character on stage, but he also has the most significant speaking part. In taking us from Abraham to Canaan, the psalmist does not simply recite the events, but attributes them to the initiative and promise of the Lord. And we, ‘his chosen ones’, are called to remember both ‘the wonders he has done’ and ‘the judgments he pronounced’ – his words as well as his works.

Moreover, God’s saving work is effective for subsequent generations, and the summons to remember connects us to the events no less than the original audience of the psalm. So, we too are not spectators in the audience, but called to be involved in the action, to take our place in the ongoing drama of salvation.

Just one of the ways we do that, demonstrated by the psalm itself, is through praise. Interestingly, the first part of the psalm is drawn from 1 Chronicles 16, where it is sung in celebration of the arrival of the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem. Beyond its use on that one-off special occasion, it continues to be sung by God’s people, showing that more than a mental act of listing the events of the biblical story is taking place. In poetic praise of God’s covenant faithfulness, God's ‘chosen ones’ of every time and place are invited to recount and remember, then respond in celebration and praise.

Crucially, however, we do so to ‘make known among the nations what he has done’ (105:1) – another reminder of the global dimensions of the biblical drama of which we are a part. Confident that God will bring to complete fruition his promise to bless all nations, we praise the Lord and proclaim his name not to benefit ourselves, but to make known his works and words to all people everywhere.

Shaped by the Story #4: Remembrance of Things Past

My people, hear my teaching;

listen to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth with a parable;

I will teach you lessons from the past –

things we have heard and known,

things our ancestors have told us.

We will not hide them from their descendants;

we will tell the next generation

the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,

his power, and the wonders he has done.

Psalm 78:1-4

The story of Israel is told not only in different periods of time – by Moses, then Joshua, then Samuel – but through different types of literature. Psalm 78, for instance, the second longest in the psalter, poetically recounts God’s acts on behalf of his people, from the exodus through to David.

Interestingly, this psalm addresses the congregation rather than the Lord. The speaker begins by inviting the people to listen to his ‘teaching’. In particular, the teaching is given in the form of ‘a parable’ – the type of instruction one associates with a teacher of wisdom, a teller of stories – which requires an attentiveness that goes beyond the surface level of what’s said. And, like other wise teachers, his move between ‘I’ and ‘we’ shows this is for him too; he is not distancing himself from the necessity of learning ‘lessons from the past’.

In this case, it’s about the significance of remembering and passing on what has been heard and known from one generation to another. What, exactly, are they to tell? The poet tells us: the Lord’s ‘praiseworthy deeds... and the wonders he has done’. Indeed, the presence of the psalm in Israel’s hymnbook, used regularly in gathered worship, indicates that the story – and its lessons – are to be told again and again.

But, far from the psalm being a flat recital of the works of the Lord, still less a condemnation of the people for their constant rebellion against him, it’s designed to recall the past for the benefit of the people in the present, with the encouragement to tell it to others. As it happens, the psalmist does not exhort his audience directly, in the style of Moses or Joshua. He sets up himself as a model of remembering what God has done, engaging his audience’s memory by exercising his own.

For us too, it’s a valuable reminder of the assurance that comes from knowing God has been involved with us from the beginning, of our responsibility to pass that on to others, and the significant role of communities, churches, and families in doing so. The covenant was founded when God ‘remembered’ his covenant with our ancestors in the faith (Exodus 2:24), and the covenant will endure as long as we continue to tell subsequent generations of God’s acts for us, to remember and not forget.

Shaped by the Story #3: Under New Management?

Then Samuel said to the people... ‘Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the LORD as to all the righteous acts performed by the LORD for you and your ancestors... If you fear the LORD and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the LORD your God – good! But if you do not obey the LORD, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.’ 1 Samuel 12:6-7 & 14-15

Like Moses and Joshua before him, Samuel calls the people to covenant faithfulness at the dawn of a new era in their history – the transition to Saul’s kingship. Again, like Moses and Joshua, his instruction is informed by the biblical story to this point. How will the monarchy relate to what has gone before?

Samuel begins by ensuring his own integrity is not under dispute, and the people happily agree that he had neither cheated or oppressed them. But he goes on to show that the Lord, likewise, has been faithful to them in his ‘righteous acts’.

His historical sketch begins with God’s liberation of the people from Egypt, through Moses and Aaron. It takes in the period of the judges, as Samuel makes it clear that the Lord repeatedly raised up leaders to deliver them when they rebelled against God and fell into enemy hands. In the context of the people wanting a king ‘such as all the other nations have’ (1 Samuel 8:5), the clear upshot of Samuel’s telling of their story is that God himself, as ruler over all, has consistently provided leaders to rescue his people in times of need. The ongoing problem, it appears, is not the system of leadership in and of itself so much as their constant turning away from God.

Even now, in spite of their request for a ruler, God remains committed to Israel. But the king will not guarantee their future success. That will be down to their ongoing trust in, and obedience to, God whose covenant still stands – for the king as well as the people. Kingship will be allowed, but both leader and people are to serve the one who is Lord of all.

As it turns out, later generations would come to know that kings do not and cannot save. And the biblical story anticipates the need for a ruler who would reign forever, who would bring about a salvation that Israel’s kings could never achieve. Now, as then, as 1 Samuel 12:22 makes clear, the basis for our confidence and delight in serving God is his saving grace towards us: ‘For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.’

Shaped by the Story #2: The Promises of a Settled People

Joshua said to all the people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: “Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshipped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants...” Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness... As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.’ Joshua 24:2-3 & 14-15

Towards the end of his life, Joshua gathers the people and recites the story of all that God has done for them. His account intersects with Moses’ earlier summary in Deuteronomy 1-4, but is also influenced by the new situation at hand. Having now entered the land of promise, they have stopped journeying and must decide how they will live as a settled people.

Joshua reminds them of God calling Abraham, defeating the Egyptians, bringing them through the wilderness, and dispossessing the Canaanites (24:2-13). The Lord is repeatedly the main actor in Joshua’s account – the one who ‘took’ and ‘led’ and ‘gave’ and ‘sent’ and ‘brought’ – emphasising that it is only by his grace that the people now stand where they do. Moreover, like Moses before him, Joshua shuffles between ‘they’ and ‘you’ in his telling in a way that interweaves his audience with their ancestors, such that the foundational story of the covenant people becomes their story too.

Not to be missed, however, is that Joshua tells the story of Israel’s past as a journey from a ‘foreign’ land to the promised land by the descendants of people who ‘worshipped other gods’. Just as Abraham made the journey from the worship of many gods to faith in the one true God, so Israel’s future depends on the acceptance of this same journey as their own.

So it is that Joshua tells the story in a way designed to bring Israel to a decision. On the basis of God’s great acts for them, he appeals to the people to dedicate themselves to the Lord, announcing his own commitment to do so: ‘as for me and my household’, he says, ‘we will serve the LORD’. Now that they have stopped journeying, they can live as Terah did ‘beyond the Euphrates’, or they can serve the one who delivered them from idolatry and slavery. One way or the other, the story of God’s people will continue to unfold.

For us too, the call of Jesus to ‘follow me’ flows out of what he has already done on our behalf. And we do so with the confidence that he has brought us this far and will be with us always, to the very end of the age.

Shaped by the Story #1: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

This will be a lightly edited re-run of a series I’ve already posted on this blog. I’m sending them out as a weekly series for the people in the church whom I serve, but will also post them here.

Christians have often seen the Bible as telling one long story of salvation, stretching from Genesis to Revelation, from creation to new creation. As it happens, that’s a strategy that goes right back to Scripture itself. In this new series of weekly reflections – Shaped by the Story – we turn to some of those places where the Bible itself tells its own story, where each of the tellings enfolds a new generation of people into God’s ongoing plan for the world...

These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan... Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb...

Deuteronomy 1:1 and 4:9-10

It’s surely significant that at the heart of the Bible is not a list of rules to be obeyed or even a set of promises to be claimed, but a grand, sweeping story that is told. It’s an account of God reaching out in love to sinful men and women, drawing them into relationship with himself, forming them into a people who then become the main ingredients in a plan – centred in Christ – which ultimately involves the restoration of creation itself.

Nor should it come as a surprise that several summaries of this story are found throughout Scripture. The story is narrated up to the point of telling, of course, but each of the tellers is concerned to place themselves and their listeners or readers into that larger story, in such a way that it becomes their story too.

So it is, as Deuteronomy begins, that God’s people find themselves on the verge of entering the promised land. In the opening four chapters, Moses reviews their history since leaving Sinai; but he does so in a way that folds the audience into what has happened. Many of the original hearers were no more present at Sinai than twenty-first-century readers were. And yet – in a way that also speaks directly to contemporary Christians – Moses makes it clear that these foundational events become part of our history too.

God’s words and deeds are recalled with a view to what lies ahead as the people will live in the land. Israel’s story will continue into the future, in continuity with what has taken place in the past, and it’s on the basis of the story so far that Moses calls his listeners to covenant faithfulness. We can trust God going forwards because of who he has shown himself to be in years gone by.

For us too, the story of God’s dealings with his people is to be remembered and passed on, treasured and taught to succeeding generations who will themselves be written into the ongoing story. And those of us who have experienced the grace of God and his call on our lives will likewise benefit from the reminder of how he has already acted on our behalf, and be strengthened by the confidence that he himself will go ahead of us, today and always.

From Cover to Cover: Whole Life, Whole Bible

A few years ago, along with friends and colleagues from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity – Margaret Killingray and Helen Parry – I put together a book called Whole Life, Whole Bible. First published by Bible Reading Fellowship in 2012, it was designed to go through the main contours of the biblical story in 50 short readings.

With the kind permission of BRF, LICC is making the readings available as an email series and a YouVersion reading plan. More information, including a sign-up box for the email service and a link to the YouVersion plan, is available here.

Meanwhile, I wrote the below ‘Word for the Week’ to provide more information about the approach of the book and hopefully some encouragement to ‘take up and read’.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Revelation 22:20-21

‘Tell me a story’ and ‘Once upon a time’ – a four-word request and a four-word opening. Both phrases capture something of the universal human desire for stories. Indeed, our own lives are submerged in several interconnecting ‘stories’ – of living through the Second World War, of being married with grown-up children, of working in finance, of having a passion for collecting stamps, of serving on the PCC, of holidaying in Cornwall – and all these ‘stories’ shape our lives in different ways.

For Christians, of course, the most crucial story for shaping the way we think and live is the biblical story. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible can be seen as an epic narrative: a story which begins with God as Creator, which focuses on Israel as the people who will bring God’s blessing to the nations, which the New Testament declares has come to its promised fulfilment in the redemption brought about through Christ, in whom God’s purposes for the universe will be consummated.

LICC’s Whole Life, Whole Bible is designed to walk through the unfolding story of the Bible in 50 readings and reflections. It’s written with the conviction that God’s word sets the agenda for our lives as followers of Jesus today. And it does so for the whole of life – on Monday to Saturday as well as Sunday, in public and in private, in culture as well as in church, in work as much as in worship. Moreover, this ‘whole-life’ perspective is not limited to a few biblical passages here and there, but is woven through the story as a whole – from cover to cover, from creation to new creation.

The reading plan provides a way of understanding how individual passages relate to each other in the larger picture of the Bible. Beyond that is the reminder that we are a part of this ongoing drama which embraces the entirety of our lives – individually and together – for the sake of the world in which we are called to live.

Whole Life, Whole Bible aims to show how the big story of the Bible forms our minds, fires our imaginations, and fuels our daily existence – as we live in God’s world in the light of God’s word, taking the Lord of life into the whole of life.

The Bible Project on an Overview of the New Testament

I haven’t posted on The Bible Project for a while, but their collection of videos goes from strength to strength. Their overviews are so clearly based in solid biblical scholarship and also (in my experience at least) communicate brilliantly well to lay audiences.

The latest one is an overview of the New Testament which, in their own words, ‘breaks down the literary design of the entire New Testament and how it continues the story of the Hebrew Scriptures’, and I think it’s a model of skill and succinctness.

It can be viewed here.

Preaching by Listening to Paul

The below article has been posted on the website of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity as a supplementary piece to the resource on whole-life preaching.

Paul’s letters unfold to congregations the significance of the good news of what God has done in Jesus, and the summons to live worthy of God’s call on their lives – within the community of faith and in the face of the wider world. His letters are not sermons, clearly, but they were written as a substitute for his presence, read out loud in Christian gatherings, and so give some indication of what Paul would have said had he been present. If Paul’s letters do provide a window of sorts into his preaching, they might give us a model for our preaching ministry more generally.

What, then, do we learn from Paul about preaching?

1. We preach to a people who are being discipled by culture

Learning a certain pattern of life is inevitable. It’s not a question of whether we will or won’t be ‘discipled’ as we go about our lives, but of who or what will disciple us. Many problems in the church at Corinth, for instance, had to do with their tendency to think and act in ways that were typical of first-century Corinth. On issue after issue that Paul tackles, there was an uncritical acceptance of the values and behaviour of the society in which they lived.

Here, then, is a reminder that Christians need to be discipled for the places where they spend the majority of their time, and for the particular challenges and pressures they face there. As we take our cue from Paul, we can see the significance of preaching which seeks to nurture Christian communities – in Colchester or Cleethorpes as much as in Corinth – into the likeness of Christ.

But how do we do this?

2. We preach to remind people of the gospel of God

In his letters to different churches, Paul is able to appeal to what’s foundational in their various circumstances, taking his cue from the core events of the death and resurrection of Jesus, through which the Christians have been saved and brought together as one in the body of Christ. In doing so, Paul often reminds his congregations of what they already know or have previously been taught – a helpful encouragement that we don’t have to say something new every week!

Back in Corinth, the gospel is core to how Paul directs the church there. Paul calls the Corinthians to a different way of living, to rethink the norms and practices of their society in the light of the gospel. So, in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Paul reminds them of the gospel he had preached to them as something he had himself ‘received’ and ‘passed on’. Jesus Christ crucified and risen again, ‘according to the Scriptures’, is the ‘good news’ that Paul preached, on which the Corinthians have taken their stand, and by which they are saved. Following Paul’s example, we should never be embarrassed about reminding God’s people about the gospel they already know – a gospel in which we stand, a gospel through which we are being saved.

In fact, the whole of 1 Corinthians invites us to reflect on how the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus – which stand as bookends between chapters 1 and 15 – calls us to live. Paul assesses cultural values (such as wisdom and power) in the light of the cross and resurrection, and calls the Corinthians to live out the implications of the gospel. Such an approach encourages us to preach letters like 1 Corinthians from the perspective of our missional identity and see how what Paul says shapes us in our own walk of faith, hope, and love.

But such an identity flows from our place in the bigger story of God’s work in the world, from creation to new creation.

3. We preach to draw people into a bigger story

Paul wrote letters, not stories, but his letters have ‘a narrative substructure’ – the story of God’s dealings with Israel, and with the whole of humanity, indeed with the whole creation, from the beginning of all things to the renewal of all things.

Sometimes the story bubbles to the surface of his letters so that we get a short summary of it, as in Philippians 2:5-11 or Colossians 1:15-20. Much of the time, though, it’s implicit, and Paul can allude to it, or refer to particular parts of it to make a point – Abraham here, the law there, the temple here, the wilderness wanderings there. This shows how Paul deals with issues on the ground in specific contexts not in an ad hoc way, but by appealing to the larger story of God’s dealings with his people and with the world, and the place of Christ in that plan.

It’s on this basis that Paul calls his congregations to be a part of an alternative world – the new creation God has brought about in Christ – and to a way of living that runs counter to their previous way of life and the life of the world around them. This is not to escape the world, but to enable them to live in it with integrity as followers of Jesus, as those who take their identity from Christ, bearing witness to him in word and deed, participating in God’s own mission to the world.

For reflection or discussion

1. What can we learn as preachers from what Paul is doing in:

• 1 Corinthians 10:1-13?

• Romans 8:28-39?

2. Which part or parts of the big story told in Scripture are particularly pertinent to your congregation at the moment?