Sherwood United Methodist Church

Transcription

1 Sherwood United Methodist Church Reaching out to the hungry: in body or spirit September 2016 The United Methodist Church is called to be a community, diverse and united in God s saving love, sent out in vital life-giving ministry for and with Jesus Christ. How Strange Is Our Bible? Why do we think the Bible is so easy to understand when we so easily misunderstand one another in day to day communication? When texting on our cell phones first began to be a popular form of communication there were a lot of news stories about the incomprehensible new lingo that was emerging, particularly among teenagers. Local news reporters on the evening television broadcast did folksy human interest stories explaining the various abbreviations from OMG (oh my god), to IDK (I don t know), and YMMV (your mileage may vary). Often these reports would include amusing anecdotes about the dangers of misunderstanding such as when a well -meaning parent sent condolences to family and friends upon the death of a relative using the acronym LOL believing it meant lots of love. Note: it means laughing out loud. Technology can t be blamed for my regular goodnatured arguments with my wife over the lyrics of songs we both thought we knew pretty well, but one of us has to be wrong because we re each singing completely different words to the chorus. Nor does technology take the heat for the awkwardly mis-translated tattoos that happen when a customer walks into a tattoo parlor and displays a Chinese character, or a phrase written in Greek or Hebrew script naively believing it means tranquility or some such. The gap between languages that creates difficulties in translation reveals just how thick and contextually dependent linguistic interpretation is. Try explaining the meaning of the idiom piece of cake to a brand-new English speaker. Do you even know yourself why that phrase means what it does? We might put some of this misunderstanding down to the effects of technology. After all, the internet is an unprecedented laboratory of linguistic inventiveness. Popular neologisms are born in the furnace of Reddit and Twitter faster than lexicographers can possibly keep up, let alone the rest of us. At the same time, our tools for communication are more powerful than ever. We appear to be minutes away from the first truly effective electronic translation software. Google and Urban Dictionary are your friend for just about any new word, phrase, or idiom you encounter. So let s call technology a wash. We can barely understand one another when we are speaking the same language and share the same culture. Anyone who has engaged in political debate with their in-laws over the Thanksgiving holidays ought to be able to recognize that. This is because communication is a complex process involving far more than the surface understanding of the meaning of words. Cultural context, ideology, intonation, inflection, colloquialisms, pop -culture references, dialect, the depth of relationship between the speaker and the listener, and most especially the dense subjectivity that comes out of identity and a lifetime of experience

2 the list of factors which potentially inform a given act of verbal communication is approaching infinity. Consider the possible different meanings behind an exchange as simple as the following: How are you feeling? Fine, thanks. Without further information I wouldn t even hazard a guess as to what that back and forth really meant. Now consider the position we re in in relation to the Bible. We don t share a culture with the authors of scripture. We don t share a language. We don t even share a millennium. The Bible is just about as strange to us as any communication can be. Moreover, because the Bible is a library of texts we don t have the benefit of intonation, inflection, or body language. We can t interrogate the authors of scripture for clarification. All we have is this collection of thoughts and ideas quite probably riddled with colloquialisms, pop-culture references relevant to their own period, and insider jargon for which we lack an adequate glossary. How strange is the Bible? To the authors of Genesis a wife trading conjugal rights with her husband for mandrakes is a thing that makes sense. (Genesis 30:15) On November 6, we will celebrate All Saint s Day. On this day we honor the saints who have passed on before us by remembering them with a bell. If you would like to place a bell on the bell tree in honor of a loved one, please Holly at hollysherwoodumc@gmail.com to add their name to our memorial booklet. To the authors of 2 Kings having 42 boys mauled by a bear for calling a man baldy is a thing a prophet of God might do. (2 Kings 2:23-24) The author of the Gospel according to Mark obviously thought that an unnamed young man running away naked after Jesus is arrested would mean something to his audience. (Mark 14:51-52) But the real problem isn t all the stuff in the Bible which we recognize as strange. The real problem are all the strange parts we mistakenly think are familiar: phrases that might function like piece of cake. Lacking the cultural cues to unlock their colloquial or figurative meanings, we might read them woodenly as referring to literal pieces of cake when the authors of scripture never meant to imply baked goods. Whenever we read the Bible we d be wise to remember just how strange the Bible really is to us, and how challenging the task of interpretation will therefore be. Personally, I find this realization profoundly thrilling. The Bible is like a far country, inviting us to wander as prodigals and explore it. We will quite probably get lost, but we can be sure it is always possible to come home to the love of God. - Aric Please include new names only. We have past year s names on record. The people you name do not need to be someone from this church. You are encouraged to honor anyone who has made a difference in your life and has passed on.

3 Strange Book of Books Study begins on Sept 11 The problem with the Bible is that we think we already know what it says. But do we, really? Do we really understand that the Bible has its origins in a collection of stories that were told out loud? Do we really understand how the Bible compares to to other stories in other cultures? Do we really understand the deeply political agenda of many of the Bible's texts? Join pastor Aric Clark as he introduces us, again, to the Bible. Explore this new Theocademy series to become reacquainted with this "Strange Book of Books". Starting in September, Pastor Aric Clark is going to run an adult education class on how to read this strange ancient thing we call the Bible. He will be using the professional video curriculum he wrote and produced with Theocademy "Strange Book of Books". You can preview that curriculum here: Each session will be at 11:30am in the sanctuary at SUMC generally on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month. The complete schedule is below. Please plan on attending and invite any friends or members of the community who may be interested. Schedule September 11 - Episode 1 "Book of Books" September 25 - Episode 2 "Stories" October 23 - Episode 3 "Texts" October 30 - Episode 4 "Myths" November 13 - Episode 5 "Propaganda" November 27 - Episode 6 "Exile" December 11 - Episode 7 "Return" January 15 - Episode 8 "Interpretation" January 29 - Episode 9 "Canon" Vacation Bible School was fun! Youth Sunday September 25 Join us on Sunday, Sept 25 for worship We will hear from the Youth about their Mission Trip this summer

4 ANNOUNCEMENTS Community Meals: Thursdays starting Sept 8! To deepen our hunger ministry, expand our ties with the community, and most importantly to follow Jesus command to be hospitable we are beginning a weekly community meal. Each Thursday at 5:30pm please come to break bread with members of our community of all ages and backgrounds. The meals will be prepared by a rotation of volunteer teams, from spaghetti to tacos to chicken and rice. Join us! UMW: Meetings Resume on Sept. 21 The Sherwood Methodist Women will have their first meeting of the year on Wednesday, September 21, at the Sherwood Senior Center, at 11 a.m. All women of the Church are welcome. Come and bring a friend for worship, fellowship, and a delicious lunch. You are invited... Harrison Cole s Eagle Scout Ceremony Sunday, Sept 18 at 2:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAYS 3 Denise Nikolai 17 Dennis Wallace 21 Gerry Edy 25 Helen Smith Leadership Team Meetings 1st Sundays after worship Meeting Date This Month: Sept 4 at 11am Give a hand to Helping Hands. Donate food, help with sorting, or volunteer on box packing or distribution days (3rd Sat. of the month), or join us on Mission Sundays! Call Gerry or Dotty Edy for details: (503)

5 SHERWOOD UNITED METHODIST CHURCH Reaching out to the hungry: in body or spirit PO Box SW Washington Street Sherwood, Oregon Tel: Pastor Aric s Office Hours Thursdays 9am-1pm At A Glance for September 2016 Sunday, Sep 4 at 10:00AM Worship Sunday, Sep 4 at 11:00AM Leadership Meeting Thursday, Sep 8 at 5:30PM Community Meal Sunday, Sep 11 at 10:00AM Worship Sunday, Sep 11 at 11:30AM Bible Study Thursday, Sep 15 at 5:30PM Community Meal Saturday, Sep 17 at 9:30-10:30AM Helping Hands Sunday, Sep 18 at 10:00AM Mission Sunday Sunday, Sep 18 at 2:00PM Harrison s Scout Ceremony Wednesday, Sep 21 at 11:00AM UMW Thursday, Sep 22 at 5:30PM Community Meal Sunday, Sep 25 at 10:00AM Youth Sunday Sunday, Sep 25 at 11:30AM Bible Study Thursday, Sep 29 at 5:30PM Community Meal Saturday, Oct 2 at 9:00AM Church Cleaning Day Church Staff Pastor Aric Clark aricclark33@gmail.com Youth Director Lana Painter lcole@rcinv.com Pianist Cindy Souza armza2@yahoo.com Song Leader Eden Francis ms.edenf@gmail.com Administrative Assistant Holly Dhynes hollysherwoodumc@gmail.com