How Many Bricks?
26/02/12 05:33
This afternoon we begin our annual Lenten Bible Study series. We have done different kinds of studies over the years. Last year we used resources from the Radio Show “On Being” to spark discussions on faith and science. This year we’ve settled on small group discussion with short video presentations by the Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann. The sessions explore a variety of themes centering on the role of prophets in the history of Israel and what the prophets have to say about contemporary culture.
Like many others of our time, I have been deeply influenced by Brueggemann. When I was in seminary, he was teaching at another seminary, Eden, but his books were already becoming influential in academic Bible study. Over the years I have had numerous opportunities to hear him speak and to participate in Bible studies that he has led and each time I have found him to be a unique combination of challenge and inspiration.
That’s appropriate, because the Bible is a tough book. There are plenty of people who try to read the bible “thinly.” A thin reading looks for the most obvious truth, seeks the answers that lie on the surface and pretends to have collected the meaning of the Bible in a single pass. Such an approach seems to be meaningful to some people, and provides the basis for more than a few sermons and the marketing plans of some bookstores, but in the end, I believe misses the truth that lies in the book.
Brueggemann urges us to read the book “thickly,” digging deeply for hidden meanings, encountering the words over and over again, wrestling with the challenging and troubling images, using the book as the catalyst for a give and take relationship with God. He loves to tell the stories of Moses and the prophets arguing with God, struggling with their call and shaping history in the context of that dialogue.
One of the Biblical stories that I have heard Brueggemann tell on different occasions is the tale of Moses advocating for the people of Israel after the incident with the Golden Calf. As he tells the story it is evident that he has read it many times and has peered into the most obscure details in the text. In one lecture, he asked those of us in the audience to ponder why, in the covenant surrounding 10 commandments, the people would agree to the commandments before they even knew what they were. They make the commitment to God before the commandments are revealed. After letting us think for a few moments, he begins to unfold his theory that the experience of Slavery in Egypt led the people to the belief that anything that God had to offer would be better than what they had known in Egypt.
He describes Egyptian slavery as being trapped in the rat race of a consumerist economy. The Israelites were to make bricks. But no matter how many bricks they made, it was never enough. Their population grew. There were more workers. They couldn’t satisfy Pharaoh’s demand. They were forced to work longer hours. The demand could not be satiated. The more bricks they made the more bricks Pharaoh wanted. There was no end to the process. Brueggemann compares this with the consumer society in our contemporary world. The more you buy the more you want. The more you earn, the more you need. There is no winning in a race that has no end.
The covenant with God is the only way out of that endless cycle.
But the people seem to keep forgetting it. No small amount of our trouble comes from our failures with the 10th commandment: thou shalt not covet. We look at other people and we want what they have. We lose the freedom that God offers. It happens over and over again. Church people seem to be especially bad about the process. I don’t know how many times I have heard wishes that our church would be more like some other church. If only we . . . You can insert almost any phrase here: had a bigger building, had more children, did more advertising, had a better preacher, had a praise band . . . The list goes on and on. That is the point. When you define your life and meaning by your desire for what you do not have, there is no end to the list of things you will desire. In a metaphorical sense, you are right back with the children of Israel in Egypt making bricks in an endless production line. It is slavery.
One of the places where I do some online buying is the well-known web site Amazon.com. Each time I order a book from the site, it recommends six additional books that I would find interesting. Because it is not the only place I purchase books, there is an occasional offer of a book that I have already read, but most often it has six more books that I might buy. Were I to buy any of them, they would be replaced. The automatic marketing tools on the site would continue recommending things for me to buy well beyond my capacity to pay. It even allows the creation of a wish list for those who want to have a permanent condition of wanting things that they do not have. The more bricks you make, the more bricks Pharaoh will demand.
I am really looking forward to this year’s Lenten study. I think that Brueggemann will raise issues that are important for our church to consider. I think that we need to wrestle with the Bible and read it a bit more “thickly.” We are quick to say that God has more truth and light to break forth from the holy word, but often we behave as if we knew it all and possessed all of the answers.
The amazing and wonderful thing about God is that God continually offers another chance at the covenant. We don’t have to live the way we do. We don’t have to think the way we do. God gives us the opportunity to return to the commandments and to the covenant again and again.
Maybe it is time to give up making bricks.
Like many others of our time, I have been deeply influenced by Brueggemann. When I was in seminary, he was teaching at another seminary, Eden, but his books were already becoming influential in academic Bible study. Over the years I have had numerous opportunities to hear him speak and to participate in Bible studies that he has led and each time I have found him to be a unique combination of challenge and inspiration.
That’s appropriate, because the Bible is a tough book. There are plenty of people who try to read the bible “thinly.” A thin reading looks for the most obvious truth, seeks the answers that lie on the surface and pretends to have collected the meaning of the Bible in a single pass. Such an approach seems to be meaningful to some people, and provides the basis for more than a few sermons and the marketing plans of some bookstores, but in the end, I believe misses the truth that lies in the book.
One of the Biblical stories that I have heard Brueggemann tell on different occasions is the tale of Moses advocating for the people of Israel after the incident with the Golden Calf. As he tells the story it is evident that he has read it many times and has peered into the most obscure details in the text. In one lecture, he asked those of us in the audience to ponder why, in the covenant surrounding 10 commandments, the people would agree to the commandments before they even knew what they were. They make the commitment to God before the commandments are revealed. After letting us think for a few moments, he begins to unfold his theory that the experience of Slavery in Egypt led the people to the belief that anything that God had to offer would be better than what they had known in Egypt.
The covenant with God is the only way out of that endless cycle.
But the people seem to keep forgetting it. No small amount of our trouble comes from our failures with the 10th commandment: thou shalt not covet. We look at other people and we want what they have. We lose the freedom that God offers. It happens over and over again. Church people seem to be especially bad about the process. I don’t know how many times I have heard wishes that our church would be more like some other church. If only we . . . You can insert almost any phrase here: had a bigger building, had more children, did more advertising, had a better preacher, had a praise band . . . The list goes on and on. That is the point. When you define your life and meaning by your desire for what you do not have, there is no end to the list of things you will desire. In a metaphorical sense, you are right back with the children of Israel in Egypt making bricks in an endless production line. It is slavery.
One of the places where I do some online buying is the well-known web site Amazon.com. Each time I order a book from the site, it recommends six additional books that I would find interesting. Because it is not the only place I purchase books, there is an occasional offer of a book that I have already read, but most often it has six more books that I might buy. Were I to buy any of them, they would be replaced. The automatic marketing tools on the site would continue recommending things for me to buy well beyond my capacity to pay. It even allows the creation of a wish list for those who want to have a permanent condition of wanting things that they do not have. The more bricks you make, the more bricks Pharaoh will demand.
I am really looking forward to this year’s Lenten study. I think that Brueggemann will raise issues that are important for our church to consider. I think that we need to wrestle with the Bible and read it a bit more “thickly.” We are quick to say that God has more truth and light to break forth from the holy word, but often we behave as if we knew it all and possessed all of the answers.
The amazing and wonderful thing about God is that God continually offers another chance at the covenant. We don’t have to live the way we do. We don’t have to think the way we do. God gives us the opportunity to return to the commandments and to the covenant again and again.
Maybe it is time to give up making bricks.