Telling the Truth

My marching band had its first show this past weekend. Not first football game - we have had a couple of those. But the first marching band show, where people shush each other to hear the bands.

First I must note that I and my staff are placing more demand on the band members than anyone else we saw. Our music is more intricate, and our drill is, as well.

That noted, the band played a bit tentatively, sometimes played downright nervous, and the show did not come across as we had hoped it would.

Now, I always talk with them after the show, and I always like to be very upbeat. So it killed me to say what I said in the previous paragraph, even though we will all be better for it in the end. In fact, I am pretty sure they already knew what to general tone would be.

Either way, I was so proud of them! They work hard, and the crowd enjoyed the performance. And I know this group will come back in firing on all pistons.

On another topic, I am the teacher of the new friends and members class at my church. I enjoy it a great deal, because it gets me the chance to meet new folks coming in. This group is very tangential - holy cow, the questions! It is pretty fun, since I am a bit tangential myself.

Last week we ended with a question about how we read the Bible, and someone noted that we don't have any specific statment about the Bible being the Word of God in our statment of faith, which is simply the Apostle's Creed. We use the creed in order to avoid some of the non-essential points of "debate" among Christians. But this seemed to me (and to our pastor) kind of an strange oversight, which we'll have to do something about.

The Bible being the Word of God, and the final authroity for faith and practice, is an incredibly important Christian doctrine, and one that is being attacked.

Now, that said, we must always be aware of the lens we read the Bible through. We cannot read our assumptions into the text. We must be willing to conform to it, not make it conform to us.

It was an interesting day.