Embrace the weirdness!

Jose Torres (via Brain McLaren): "If something is weird in the Bible, don't try to make it normal. Face its weirdness. Wrestle with it. Don't try to smooth the lumps and wrinkles in the bed; pull up the covers and see what's under there. Some of the greatest treasures come from the weirdest places."

This is a similar idea to what CS Lewis says about struggling with the tough bits of the Bible (can't find the quote right now) - in learning to think about things which seem strange to us is the greatest potential for God to really speak into our lives. If we only read that which is comfortable, sensible and familiar, are we really opening ourselves to change? Being transformed by the renewing of the mind takes work, and requires being open to the Spirit to start with (which is impossible if we already think we have all the answers).

Brian McLaren: Also, I think it's great to read weird commentaries - weird relative to your own upbringing or bias or training... In postmodern jargon, this involves listening to "the voice of the other" - seeing from someone else's perspective.

This is what happens to me when I am in church with a visitor (especially a non-Christian one). I listen to the sermon, the discussion, the prayers, etc with the mind of an outsider. It is a weird experience, but it informs how I speak, think and pray. It also allows me to question my assumptions, which I think is always a good thing. If it sounds weird to me with my "outsider" hat on, maybe there is something here worth thinking about more? Maybe the current Christian interpretation needs some adjusting? Always good to critique the bias, and try to hear the Spirit underneath.

I find this technique especially helpful when approaching a part of the Bible which I have a lot of baggage about: Genesis 1 & 2 being a prime example. For a long time, I only ever looked at this section of the Bible in the context of debate about Creation Vs. Evolution. I then found it hard to read Genesis through any other lens without hearing the voices of the debate in the background. This mould was broken when Olivia challenged us to read this as if it were the only part of the Bible we had: to focus on what the passage actually says about God. This was a revelation to me. Suddenly the voices were silenced, and I could see the glory and majesty of the Creator God. By stripping away my preconceptions of what the passage what about, I could read it afresh and be enlightened (just about blinded actually) by the light of the Spirit.