Hermetic Homiletics

29 May 2005, Part 2

The way I will work out the stage-related themes (in a nutshell).

First of all, I will talk about the Noah story as a religious classic (as opposed to a cute story for children because it has lots of animals in it). A religious classic can be approached from a variety of different directions, but the questions we bring to the text determine what we find. Then I'll give some examples about how the Noah story can operate.

Stage 3: It can be a message about how important it is for families to stick together during times of crisis. Many a family shows on TV work with this. Even sit-coms fall back into this from time to time.

Note: Stage 3 picks up on these types of messages because the individual's identity seeks the security of conformity. It longs for everyone to bond and be alike. It is very "cliquish," if you will. Messages about the importance of community strengthen the sense of God working in their lives.

Stage 4: It can be a message about how the portrayal of God in Genesis defies "official" Christian teaching. How often do we hear about how "perfect" God is and how God "doesn't make mistakes." But here we have a story about how God made the mistake of placing stewarship responsibility into the hands of irresponsible humans. Bad idea. Catastrophe ensues. Ultimately, God accepts responsibility for the mistake by rectifying the situation. And then, God admits that the way that the mistake was corrected was another big mistake. Basically, regarding the destruction of the earth, God says, "I was wrong; I'll never do it again." This is a very different message about God than we're used to hearing from Christian theology.

Note: Stage 4 really latches onto those insights that empower critical thinking. It loves to challenge "tradition." It loves to assert independence from the communal identity. Doctrine is often the standard of Christian community. Anything that challenges official teachings, rituals, and norms will open doors for people in stage 4 to explore more fully their own sense of individual spirituality.

Stage 5: It can become a metaphor for our faith-lives in the here and now. When the world is a mess and God's connection to it all seems confusing, symbols of the faith help us to keep afloat. Here we have a group of people being tossed around by their situation. But they were in the ark. The ark was built out of response to God. The ark, in a sense, was God's gift to them. The ark symbolized God's fidelity to them, reminded them of God's promise of deliverance, even in the miest of the situation they were in. The ark was a symbol of faith, and as such kept them aflot in the midst of crisis. Symbols of faith are tangible reminders of the divine reality that is beyond us and our situation and seems intangible in the moment.

Note: Stage 5 likes symbols and metaphor. No longer are the faith narratives taken literally. Now, they are "myth," stories that connect us to deeper reality in the universe. They are more about meaning and purpose and less about fact. Symbol and metaphor open them up to God in the depths of life.

posted by irreverance @ 11:26 AM