the Scriptures / topical church "series"

For those that are interested, Chris Seay and many others in the emerging Church community are coming out with a series of books, worship music & other great stuff designed to help the Church rediscover the Scriptures. They've got a great website that's worth checking out here.

In their most recent book examining the book of Acts, Chris Seay states, "It is all too common in many of our Protestant churches to have only a few verses of biblical text read in a service, and then that selection too often becomes a jumping-off point for a sermon that is at best peripherally related to, much less rooted in, the Bible itself. The goal of The Voice is to promote the public reading of longer sections of Scripture - followed by thoughtful engagement with the biblical narrative in its richness and fullness and dramatic flow..."

I totally relate to what Chris is saying here. I don't know about anyone else, but more and more I get irritated when churches do topical series. Typically, the teaching pastor picks a topic for a series, finds a few tiny verses to back up their take on the subject, and hops to around the Bible each week examing the particluar theme. I understand the intent of this approach, but I also think we really miss out on key elements of Scripture. We end up missing the larger picture by dissecting it too much.

I've always pictured the Word (pardon the Dave Matthews metaphor) as a wave that crashes into us every week, slowly shaping us in this beautiful rhythm of time God orchestrated with weekly Sunday worship. We might not feel like we're being shaped at the time, no more than a rock on the beach feels like it's being a shaped in a particular moment. But over time, we're different.

If we take a more holistic approach to Scripture, the question is not so much What does Pastor So-And-So have to say to us today, but rather What does God want to communicate to us as a people through His Word? That's the major strength of going though a book of the Bible completely and/or going through the Lectionary: Let's submit to the Word and trust the Holy Spirit to guide us.