Scripture as a script to be performed

We returned this week to 1 Peter for our homily (1:22-3:3). We are continuing to think about what it means to be God's holy people. We have been using the phrase, human flourishing, to describe the life God wants for us to enjoy. We have chosen this way to talk about holiness in order to avoid the tendency within some circles to imagine that holiness is mainly about saying no to certain behaviors. Holiness does mean that we must say no to certain things but our no is because we want to say yes to human flourishing.

Specifically, in this portion of 1 Peter, as we noted last week, Peter paints a picture of human flourishing as those who have come to love each other deeply from the heart. Or, as our friend, Aaron Kuecker puts it: "The emphasis on virtuous living as a foundation..... is normed by the injunction to 'love one another deeply from the heart' instead of following the desires you formerly had..... (Kuecker, 1 Peter and the Subversion of Social Identity, SBL 2009).

And here is a great time to make the point that our Christian theology teaches us that ethical questions flow from a particular vision of what it looks like to flourish as a human being, and that the moral imperative that stem from ethical reflection are for the purpose of supporting this particular vision of what it means to be human. So, Peter reminds us that we are God's holy people, set apart to flourish through loving each other deeply from the heart. Hence, Peter calls us to: "Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:1-3)." To paraphrase Stanely Hauerwas and Rowan Williams, the church recognizes certain behaviors as destructive of the life of the Spirit that formed the Christian community in the first place. To say no to envy, lust and adultery, the abusive use of power, insincerity, greed, unrepentant anger, or an unforgiving spirit is to confess that these activities lead to a life-style that is the very opposite of "loving each other deeply from the heart".

We also noted what Peter has to say to about the role of Scripture for our formation: At the end of chapter 1, Peter writes: "You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures for ever.’ That word is the good news that was announced to you." God's word is the authoritative narrative in which the Christian community is to find its life. It is God's word that paints the picture for us of who God intends for us to become. The entirety of God's word is referred to here as the gospel, "the good news that was announced to you". This is a helpful reminder to each of us that God's word is given to us so that, by his grace and mercy, we might live a certain kind of life: what we have been calling a life of human flourishing. In this way scripture is more like a script to be performed than a textbook or manual to consult. And, in this particular portion of 1 Peter we are reminded that at the heart of our performance must be a enacting of love towards each other, deeply and from the heart.

Finally, we offered this illustration as a practical reflection on what it looks like to perform Scripture as a script. At this point in the life of our Grace community, we are coming to terms with how we might best preach and teach the gospel to the many young children who are coming into our midst. Teaching our children God's word through good curricula and family devotions are are great tools. However, supporting our efforts to pray with and teach our children must be a community of people who are loving each other deeply from the heart, including mom and dad towards each other and towards their child/children. This is true in the case of separated or divorced parents as well, when loving each other deeply from the heart means to wish and pray for the best for one's co-parent, sincerely and from the heart. And for those who do not have children, and/or are not married, one need only exercise one's imagination a little bit to think of relationships you have which could benefit from a deeper, more purposeful love.

1. The life of holiness, which we have been referring to as human flourishing, is sometimes off-putting to us. Feel free to offer your own reasons for why you think this is the case or example of when it is the case. For the sake of discussion, I find that many of us look at this vision of who God wants us to become and we feel it to be impossible to attain. Or, sometimes, the portrait of human flourishing unsettles us or makes us sad in a way that we can't really describe with words. Why do you think the portrait of holiness, or human flourishing is sometimes so off-putting or confusing?

2. Does the concept of Scripture being a script to be performed challenge your assumptions about the role of Scripture? If so, how? If no, why not?

3. Thinking of parents and their kids, per the illustration above, I want to ask this question: why is it so particularly harmful and confusing for children to be taught the "Truth" about the Christian faith by parents who are not actively loving each other deeply from the heart. Is there a parallel here with regard to how Christian relate to each other on the stage of thechurch with the rest of the world as our audience? Discuss.