Striking a Chord

As I was preparing to write this post, the phrase “strike a chord” came to me.  Sometimes we can use an expression all the time, and not think about what it really means.  From my little bit of music theory training, I know a chord to be formed when several different notes (often 3, but not necessarily) are played together.  The notes that make up the chord each have a different sound, yet when played together they make another sound, different from the individual notes yet harmonizing with them.

Thus when a thought or idea “strikes a chord” in us, it is resonating with our own thoughts.  Just like the notes in a chord each have a different sound, so the words used to express the idea may be different than the words we have used to express the same idea, and yet there is a sense of familiarity that the idea somehow belongs with the ideas we ourselves have been pondering.

Extending this allegory a bit, sometimes we may also feel like we are the “discordant” note — challenging others ideas and opinions.  However, if done in the right spirit even this can form a sort of harmony.   The classic chord sounds that many are most familiar with are the common chords found in the major scale, but there are other scales: minor scales, jazz scales and blues scales to name a few.  In some of these scales, chord variations are formed when a somewhat discordant note is added to the chord.  It is when these discordant sounds are added that the listener sits up and takes notice.  In the same way, at times an opinion or idea may be offered that at first glance appears to be a completely different perspective from our own, but the more we listen the more we begin to see that the idea we at first thought very dissimilar to our own is actually also “striking a chord”.

Am I advocating moral relativism?  No, I do believe that truth is absolute, but our understanding of truth is limited, thus when we come together we all grow stronger as we share our differing perspectives.

With these thoughts in mind, my two recent posts on Hebrews 10:25 (“My Journey…” and “… Why We Gather“)  seem to have struck a chord with a few people out there.  Some of the responses (listed below), in turn struck a chord with me, expressing with different words ideas I too have been struggling to express.  For those of you who might want to read more thoughts on this subject, here are some other places to read:

• A thought-provoking discussion sparked by the above-mentioned posts occurred here on the blog Chaordic Journey by Jeff Rhodes (the post itself is mainly just a quote of my blog, but the comments add many additional thoughts).
• Also on Chaordic Journey, there were recently two follow up posts on the subject of Organic Church here and here.  I was particularly struck with Jeff’s description of organic church (read the full article):

“The point is that “organic” church is not about tradition or non-tradition, building or no building, big or small, emerging or whatever would be the opposite of that. It is about the life and vitality of Jesus breaking into our reality everyday. It is about God’s will and activity in heaven coming into our world through us and in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. I think maybe the best place in Scripture which captivates the idea of “organic” church is Hebrews 10:23-25.” [All I can say is AMEN!]

• the Good Question by Dave Gregg  also posted a thought-provoking entry on the same subject titled Organic Community in Hebrews 10:25.  There were so many quotes here that resonated, that when I started to quote them realized I was quoting nearly the entire article. Instead I really recommend reading the entire article.

Being a Beautiful Answer

“Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.” – E. E. Cummings

This quote from E. E. Cummings is one of my favorites.  E. E. Cummings was a master of using the “wrong” parts of speech in both his poems and prose.  He often used nouns as verbs, verbs as nouns, adverbs as nouns, etc.  His punctuation at times seemed random, but often in the midst of reading one of his poems suddenly it becomes clear why he used a certain piece of punctuation in his “incorrect” way.

If you’ve never read the quote before, stop and read it again, and answer this question:

Who is the “who” referred to in the quote?

The “who” is “the beautiful answer”, right? — thus this quote is saying that the person who asks a beautiful question somehow is or becomes the beautiful answer.  The beautiful answer is a person, not an idea, a plan, a concept, or a strategy.  My big search in the larger community of faith today is not for those who are offering all the answers, not for those who have the most powerful strategies or ideas, but for those who are asking beautiful questions.

By “beautiful question” I wish to make it clear that I don’t mean using beautiful or flowery language in the formation of the question (and judging by E. E. Cummings poems, I don’t think that’s what he meant either).  Rather “beautiful” here means something that deeply resonates and touches the center of human existence.  For instance, when I see a homeless person begging on the street, his very existence can be a beautiful question I ask of myself or God or both.  If I do not ask the question, I never materialize as the beautiful answer.

The beautiful questions are the hard questions that many are afraid to ask.  They are the questions for which many are ready with pat answers, but the really beautiful questions do not have easy answers.  Instead, the answers often lead us to other hard questions.  For instance, at times when I have experienced the greatest and most profound suffering, those who comforted me the most were not those who quoted scriptures to me, or said “read your Bible more” or “pray more” or “Just trust God”, but rather those who let my hard question ring in the air unanswered, and even entered the question with me, and let themselves feel the full weight of what the question was asking.  In this way, they themselves became a beautiful answer for me that somehow enabled me to make sense of my pain, perhaps not intellectually, but in my depths.

Another example?  The book of Job in the Bible is God’s answer to Job’s profound and very beautiful question: “Why am I suffering?”  But what is the Book of Job but 42 chapters of questions?  Does God ever answer Job’s question?  I believe He does, but not with the pat answers that Job’s friends had offered.  Instead God answers Job’s questions with questions.  And the result is some of the most profoundly beautiful passages in the entire Bible.

Many of us, sincere and well-meaning, want to be the beautiful answer, but are we willing to ask beautiful questions?  Are we willing to ask the questions that are resonating with the world around us?  Are we willing to let the beggar, the hungry, the homeless be the question we ask ourselves?

Hebrews 10:25 – Why We Gather…

Last post I talked about my journey towards a deeper understanding of Hebrews 10:25. I began by sharing what I realized this scripture did not say, specifically:

• It didn’t say be sure to go to church every Sunday.
• It didn’t say be sure that you gather in a specially designed building.
• It didn’t say be sure you join an institution.
• It didn’t say gather in one place around one primary leader.
• It didn’t say make sure you hear a 1-hour sermon every week (or a 40-minute one, or a 30-minute one).
• It didn’t even say how often to meet.

So what does it say? Well, let’s look at the context a bit. Hebrews 10:22-25 says:

22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

These verses imply a number of things about the purpose Christian community. Here are a few, I see:

• To draw near to God
• To experience forgiveness
• To help each other hold fast and to not waver in our faith
• To spur each other on to love and good deeds
• To encourage each other

Furthermore, when reading the entirety of the book of Hebrews, one finds a major theme through out is that this world is a very difficult place, very much like a wilderness, which has a hardening tendency on our hearts (2:1, 3:7-8, 3:15, 4:7). It is in this context that we are exorted to:

• Not harden our hearts (2:1, 3:7-8, 3:15, 4:7)
• To encourage each other daily (3:13)

The verse in 3:13 is especially interesting. I remember reading this verse once a few years back, and realized for the first time that it said to encourage each other “daily”. I looked up this word in my Greek lexicon, and found it meant (and I quote) “daily”. It hit me then that I wasn’t sure I had ever in my life encouraged someone or been encouraged by someone every single day.

So, a radical return to Hebrews 10:25-type gathering is what I would like to experience, in every increasing measure, in this life. Are you experiencing that? Let me hear from you. Feel free to leave a comment.

My Journey to Hebrews 10:25

I lived overseas for a while. The place I was living was wonderful, but the problem with leaving what you know is that when you come home you tend to see everything with a new set of eyes. So it was when I moved back home. The things I used to think normal now bothered me. One of those things was what we call “church”.

I remember in those early days of being home, the hype and commercialism of American church life were in my face daily, screaming at me, and I experienced what some would call “a crisis of faith”. Ironically I was speaking in some churches, and as I was driving from one engagement to another, I said, “God, I don’t even know what I believe any more!” I was thinking about all the hyped-up “truths” I was hearing presented as if these things were ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY from God, when really they were nothing more than our American cultural opinions. I suddenly felt I simply didn’t want to be a part of that kind of Christianity anymore.

A still small voice spoke to my heart and said: “Do you believe in Jesus?” I was so exasperated that I didn’t answer right away. I really had to think about it. Finally, after forcing myself to remember the story of how I came to faith (which was quite powerful, and for another place and time), I answered, “Yes, I believe in Jesus.”

For months after that I felt as if Jesus was all I believed in. And because all the other extraneous “stuff” was flying out the window, I really didn’t get a lot of joy from “church”, by which I mean Sunday morning services as we practice them typically in our culture today. I was so unhappy with church life that I began to question God about that too:

Q: What is this thing we call attending church anyway? Where in the Bible does it say I have to “attend church”.

A: This is what it says:

“Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together…” (Hebrews 10:25)

Wow! What a simple statement. I began to study Hebrews 10:25 with passion. What first hit me was what it did not say:

• It didn’t say be sure to go to church every Sunday
• It didn’t say be sure that you gather in a specially designed building
• It didn’t say be sure you join an institution
• It didn’t say gather in one place around one primary leader
• It didn’t say make sure you hear a 1-hour sermon every week (or a 40-minute one, or a 30-minute one)
• It didn’t even say how often to meet.

I began to view “church” differently. Sometimes, I would be really tired on Sunday mornings, and would not feel up for going. I would feel the old indoctrination pulling at me saying: you really should go.

(Funny, I didn’t even grow up in church, I became a Christian as an adult – grew up agnostic/pagan/New Age – and yet I still felt indoctrinated! How did that happen???)

Anyway, when the “should” came into my mind, a simple question would come each time in response: “Have you forsaken gathering together with other people of faith?” Each time I heard this question, I realized I had, in fact, not forsaken Christian community (usually I was so tired because I had been to numerous gatherings with other believers all week). Further the question itself revealed to me that it wasn’t the joy of community that was drawing me to the Sunday morning service, but a sense of religious obligation.

Please understand, I am not “anti-Sunday-morning”. I am only saying that whatever day we meet together our purpose should be to encourage and strengthen each other, and if we are doing something that doesn’t do that, then we’re not really doing “church” (which means “gathering”) according to Hebrews 10:25. I’m also saying there really is nothing sacred about meeting on Sunday morning per se, unless it’s sacred to you.

There’s a lot more to say about this. Most importantly, what does Hebrew 10:25 (and the rest of the book of Hebrews) have to say about our purpose in gathering together? I’ve hinted at it so far. In a future post, I hope to speak to this in depth.