Marcus Borg, a bible scholar and theologian, liked to say that the church is like a swimming pool; most of the noise comes from the shallow end.
It does seem to be true—even more so now, ten years after Borg’s passing. Many in the church like to quote Bible verses to suit their own needs; verses that maybe bring them comfort, or that help them justify their way of living.
But rarely do they examine the deeper context of those verses, or lift up the many challenges scripture presents to us, in addition to the comfort it provides.
And many Christians are not willing to allow for questions or doubts; not even their own. They just want the simple answers, the answers that are easy.
They want to stay where the water is shallow.
But Jesus invites us to go deep.
That’s more than just fishing advice.
Go deep. Immerse yourself in the water. Don’t just dip your toes in. Commit yourself to it. Jump or dive all the way in.
When you read the Bible, don’t just pick out a verse you like, and quote it ad infinitum. Instead, study that verse.
In seminary, I learned to explore the context of that verse. What comes before it? What comes after it?
How would the original hearers of that verse have received it or understood it?
What is the genre of the verse? Is it poetry, prophecy, prayer, lament?
How do other chapters and other books of the Bible discuss the idea presented in this verse? One of the really cool things about scripture is that, at times, the different books of the Bible seem to be in conversation with one another.
An idea is presented in Genesis; then the writer of Job or Ecclesiastes basically says: “I know Genesis says this, but my experience tells me this.” Or, Deuteronomy says one thing, and Isaiah says another, and then the book of Acts takes both of those ideas, weighs them, and comes to their own conclusion.
And I love that! The Bible is very much a living word. A living text. Every chapter, every book of the Bible is part of an ongoing conversation, about God, and about humanity.
That conversation continues. We continue the conversation.
And this takes us deeper…
At CWS we go deep. We go deep, even though we don’t have a swimming pool. We go deep, even though we aren’t allowed to swim in the lake! But we go deep.
And here at First Christian Church, we provide many opportunities to go deep. We can only go so far in worship, but our small groups, and the many opportunities we have to serve, to lead, to volunteer, all provide ways that we can go deeper in faith.
Going deep can be scary. There’s a reason we are tempted to ignore difficult questions. There’s a reason why we cling to old beliefs that, in fact, aren’t helpful, aren’t true, and perhaps even cause harm.
Because to question such things rocks the boat and shakes our foundations.
I don’t know about you, but when I was a child, and I didn’t know how to swim, deep water was especially scary.
It can be scary. To ponder questions that you don’t have answers for. To let God challenge you, challenge your way of thinking, your way of living. To allow yourself to be led to where the water is deep.
But I have this memory… and it’s just barely a memory, so I must have been quite young… of going to a lake, or the ocean, and holding on to my Dad’s hand, or maybe even his shoulders… and venturing out into deep water, feeling nervous… yet being reassured by my Dad, saying: “I got you.”
Just like campers at camp, doing new and scary things they’ve never done before, and just like the disciples, doing new and scary things they’ve never done before, Jesus calls us to do new and scary things. Jesus calls us to go deep.
Yet the whole time, he’s saying to us, “I got you.” And we know that we can trust in him, and go where the water is deep.
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