I've been away a long time. I know it. I'm sorry.

there, that's outta the way!

I've been reading through the bible. It's a good thing for a pastor to do, but something that's easy to neglect, even in sermon prep! In reading, I've tried to take about twenty chapters a day. Doesn't take nearly as long as it sounds, and I'm seeing things I just don't remember seeing before, even moving that fast. One of the reasons, I think, is that I'm not reading with agenda apart from just reading. I'm not looking for theological treatises, I'm not looking for doctrinal paradox...i'm just reading the Bible to hear what it's saying. And i'm loving it.

One of the things that struck me (i'm in leviticus, and it'll hit you hard) is the gore. I often have a poor perception of early Israelite culture. I think of things like sacrifice and imagine them as fairly sanitary, but I've forgotten that Israelite culture borrowed imagery and practice from its neighbours too. I'm reading Peter Enns right now on this very thing.

There's a lot of blood. I think of the high priest as pristine, but when you read the early literature, he's soaked in blood. He's pulling birds apart by the wings and cutting open bulls and dipping his fingers in blood and splashing it on the altar, smothering the horns of the altar in blood. There's just a mass of gore. The one thing that's missing, and present in so many other cultures of the time, is the human gore. Yes, they were to stone people or put them to death, but there doesn't seem to be the same gore associated with them. The priest isn't supposed to behead someone and then smear the head on the altar or something.

Why did this strike me, you ask? It struck me because I'm learning again and again how accommodating God is. God can use parts of the culture we don't even understand or agree with for God's purposes. They saw blood all around them. God redeemed the meaning of the blood, for purity. IT's a marvellous thought, but one i'm still working through.

Incidentally, if you're interested in this cultural stuff, Scot McKnight is blogging on Stackhouse's "Christian Realism" which tackles culture head-on (i don't typically like stackhouse's stuff, but I do like him as a prof - just as an aside!)

Hope to hear from you all soon...i know it's been a long time...thanks for sticking around.

Peace,
Mike