If you were to select a biblical story or passage to describe the work of the Reformed Journal, what might you suggest?
Take a few moments to think about it. Please share your ideas in the comments below. Seriously.
Last summer, when I was asked to lead morning devotions at our gathering of RJ writers, I started by asking myself this very question. Three passages quickly came to mind.
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Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. Matthew 13:51-53
A personal favorite of mine. The appreciation of both the new and the old, the dynamic interplay between them feels very much like the daily work of the Reformed Journal.
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Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8
That’s what we try to do here, day after day. And it turns out those “things” cover a wide and surprising span. Our writers continually explore the true, the just, the hopeful—often all in one week.
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He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” Luke 13:18-19
We’re small. Insignificant in the vast metaverse. But from this tiny mustard seed, something sturdy, sheltering, and beautiful has grown. A community. Many of us have found it a good place to perch, rest, think, and build nests of our own.
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(And for the record, when devotion time finally arrived, I ditched the Scripture theme and instead we sang Into the Now by Bruce Cockburn. Canadians, take note!)
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5 Responses
Your three scriptures are really good, all with a good feeling and tone. I might add Ephesians 1:8b-10. “With all wisdom and insight God has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to God’s good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up (anakephalaiosasthai, “recapitulate” in the grand sense) all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”
One of my favorite verses, which cause me to struggle in our polarized world, is Ephesians 4:15,16.
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
I’m not exactly sure why, but this text came to mind, probably because it’s a favorite:
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
If I were to guess some reasons why it popped into my mind, I would say, it is thoroughly Reformed, apropos to RJ. It is infused with Hope from beginning to end, but it doesn’t shy away from the darkness that afflicts us. It stares right at it and says, here we’ll find endurance and then character, and that’s worth working for, because God’s love has filled us, given by the Spirit (again thoroughly Reformed). So yeah, thanks Steve.
One of my favorites for all who struggle to follow faithfully.
“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:5-10 NIV)
Thanks for the light RJ continues to shine so the life of Jesus is revealed.
Thanks, I love all these suggestions. And I do think they all point toward the work of RJ. Beautiful, really. And I appreciate your willingness to engage.