Twitter Hermeneutics
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
5:39 PM
--&gt;My daughter has been away at college for a year and a half.  One of the ways we stay connected to her is through her use of Social Media.  Here are some things I've learned about following my daughter's twitter feed.  
1.  Following your daughter's twitter feed is all about the relationship.
2.  Following your daughter's twitter does not replace real conversation but, it sometimes helps.
3.  Knowing the names of the places she goes and the people she knows helps make sense of the things she says, 
4.  You don't act on every post.  Sometimes she's just quoting song lyrics that are stuck in her head.  But, Piece the posts together and get a sense of how to act in general.  
5.  Don't assume the angry posts are about you . . . don't assume they're not either.
6.  And one that was verbatim from my daughter.  "Creeping on [your daughter's] crushes' profile is good. But be cautious when letting them know that. Some may not want you to know who their crush even is. I, on the other hand, will gladly sit there with you and "creep".
These six things also apply to reading scripture particularly when we think about how we read the Old Testament.  Let's start with my daughter's own contribution to the list--creeping on crushes.  There are three great crushes in the Old Testament--God's and Creation's crush on each other (Psalm 8); God's and Israel's crush on each other (Deuteronomy 6:4-5); and God's crush on Humanity (Micah 6:8).  What we're doing when we read the Old Testament is creeping on these crushes--i.e., eavesdropping.  As Fred Craddock would say, we are "overhearing the gospel."  
We eavesdrop on this record of crushes because the relationship matters to us.  Reading the Old Testament is about the relationship.  It's the search for language through which we can join in the crush (Psalm 19).  Because the God who has a crush on creation, Israel and humanity has a crush on you.  As such, reading the Old Testament doesn't replace prayer or a real conversation with your God.  But it does sometimes help.  My favorite hymn lyric probably in all of Christian music comes from the hymn "O Sacred Head Now Wounded."  We sing, "What language shall our borrow to thank thee dearest friend?"  The Old Testament gives us language we can borrow to thank God.  
Knowing the places, characters and idiom enables us to understand the text.  The student ministry my daughter attends has a funny name for its Tuesday Night worship.  There's a ministry intern at the student ministry with a unique name also.  If she mentions him in the context of the worship service, I have to know both the places and the names to make sense out of what she's said.  Similarly, when we read scripture it's important to know the background.  I think about these as hash tags (#).  There are hash tags for genre #torah #history #story #wisdom #lament #apocalyptic #propehcy.  There are hash tags for historical placement #foundation #inEgypt #exodus #conquest #judges #monarchy #dividedkingdom #exile #restoration.  These hash tags help orient us to the text.
Fifth, We don't respond to a single text--don't try to build a response around just one passage of scripture.  Piece them together.  Most of us have had the experience of over-reacting to someone's facebook post only to find out that they were just quoting a song lyric.  Similarly, most of us have had the experience of watching people who try to expand one single passage into an entire doctrine.  The point of scripture is to see how God's word comes through the entire arc of scripture.  
Finally, the angry texts aren't about you.  However, we can't just skip over them and pretend they have no value for us.  If we'll listen closely to them they may speak to us in ways we need to hear.  
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