Youth Questions II - 2017

In this series of blogs, I have been addressing some of the "left over" questions from St. Paul's Post-Easter "Ask the Pastors" service. In this edition, we'll look at a couple more of the questions asked by some of our youth at our mid-week "Club" service.

Did Jesus have a middle name?

From what I've read about he customs of the time, probably not. Middle names in our culture are often used to honor a "family" name or allow some legal and social differentiation between persons, especially if your name is John Smith or Sally Jones. We rarely use our middle name, other than our middle initial, unless your Mom or Dad used it on you when you were a kid: "John Evans Smith you are in real trouble!" In Jesus' day, such differentiation was usually created by saying where a person was from, such as "Jesus of Nazareth," or by connecting them to their father, such as "Jesus bar Joseph," meaning "Jesus, son of Joseph" (ignoring, for the purpose of illustration, that one of our Christian beliefs is that Jesus' "real" father was God!). Because it was a highly patriarchal society at the time, rarely would there be any reference to the mother. My middle name, for instance, is MY mother's maiden name--Dahle (pronounced "Dale"). That would not have happened in Jesus' day. And, of course, I am assuming that everyone realizes that "Christ" was not Jesus' last name. He claimed to be "Jesus THE Christ," or the Messiah of God, which is what Christ means.

Are the stories in the Bible real or are they just there to teach us something?

The Bible has many types of literature in it: history, wisdom writings, prophecy, letters, saga, gospels, and apocalyptic writings. Obviously, the history in the Bible is as accurate as the people who wrote it could make it, although since the Bible is not primarily a history text, even some of the history may be written through the eyes, experiences, and beliefs of those who wrote it. There are many stories in the Bible that teach us great and universal truths, such as Jonah and the Whale, the story of Job, or the parables of Jesus. These don't have to be TRUE (accurate renderings of historical events) to be true in the sense of the truth they impart. Even some of what we label history in the Bible--such as the two stories of creation, Noah and the Ark, or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah--are much more about theology than they are about chronology or history. Genesis, for example is not a science book. The stories of creation are not there to tell us how God created the world, but rather that God did create, and maybe to get at some of the theological theories as to why God created. People have always wondered about this stuff, and it makes sense that they would write about it. Trying to turn Genesis into a science book describing how God created the heavens and the earth is a fairly recent phenomenon, brought about mostly in opposition to fear of the scientific age. Clearly, the parables in the Bible are teaching tools, and it matters not whether they ever actually happened, for their truths are universal and compelling. One great parable in the Old Testament is the story of Job. This timeless story imparts many truths, has provoked questions down through the ages, and has been "retold" in thousands of secular stagings. Was there a real Job? Doesn't matter, any more than realizing that there was no "real" Obi Wan Kenobi spoils enjoying Star Wars. In fact, Star Wars meets the definition of saga--a story of the journey of a group of people, their struggle of good against evil, adversity against prosperity, war versus peace, etc. The Bible has lots of these sagas!

AND, here is one of our "left over" questions from an adult in our congregation:

What does "diversity" in our vision statement mean?

[Note: St. Paul's Vision: We will be an inclusive, diverse church, loving others according to the teachings of Jesus and working for peace and justice in our world.]

The word diversity literally means "a range of things." When talking about populations of persons, we often hear the word paired with a modifier such as racial diversity. At our most recent "Friendship Dinner" (inter-religious issues gatherings for the purpose of relationship building across racial, ethnic, religious, and organizational groups, along with discussion of common social issues), considerable time was spent at my table of eight persons talking about what all the word diversity might mean. It was observed that our "Friendship Dinner" crowd of 80 people demonstrated diversity--religious, racial, ethnic, interests, age, and gender.

In our church's vision statement, I would say that, while diversity could mean all of those things, when paired with inclusive, it probably carries a little stronger emphasis on racial ethnic diversity. I acknowledge it can mean all of what was discussed above, and at St. Paul's, it certainly does. However, in formulating our vision, I believe there was an intentional effort made, with the choice of the word diverse to cast forth the desire that our church would do what it could to become a little "less white." As a church founded in a primarily white suburb 50 years ago, we have not strayed much from these origins, while the North Hills is slowly (and yes, it I mean slowly) becoming home to more persons of color, including African American, Latino, Asian, Indian, and other nationality groups. Our vision is designed to "tug" us in the direction of making connections with these persons in our "neighborhood," providing the necessary hospitality when such persons visit us, either for worship or one of our other ministries or services, and hearing each person's story.

While St. Paul's is blessed to be well on the way to being a fully inclusive church, we are missing out on the blessings of the rich gifts, experience, and perspective that greater racial ethnic diversity could bring.