Johnny on the Spot

<p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Flannel boards Vacation Bible Schools Sunday school sword-drills (competitive races to locate a passage in the Bible) thrice-weekly youth group and literally months of Christian summer camp retreats and mission projects imprinted the importance and holiness of the Bible into my identity. Twenty years later I still look to locate my own everyday experiences in the stories and teachings of the Bible. But one thing has changed for me.</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>As a youth I distinctly remember feeling a need to safeguard the Bible to prevent it from being </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>broken apart</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> by doubt or suspicion scientific inquiry or criticism to reign in imagination that might pose contradictions or challenges to the way of life I had internalized from various teachings. Truth be told I was afraid of breaking apart myself. </span></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Over time I have come to realize that God might just be asking me to </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>break open</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>- to larger life to grace to God's artistry in even the offensive or banal- instead of being </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>broken apart</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>. </span></p><p class=ql-align-justify></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>John's Gospel might just be trying to </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>break</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Jesus </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>open</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> to faith using Greek philosophical inquiry a focus on signatory events and their significance cultural and religious archetypes and rabbinic inquiry to name a few. I add my own study of words traditions psychology science and mission in the pages that follow and hope and pray that John's Gospel the Bible and your spiritual life might increasingly be broken open to God's grace and goodness. </span></p><p></p>