It Involves all the Senses!

First of all I guess you might need to know a little about, well me. You see, I have a tendency to latch onto an idea or concept, not being able to let it down until I’ve discovered as much information about it as possible. Now this might sound noble or outright studious if they weren’t questions, ideas and concepts like why do we call “a toast” a toast? Or, why does something I love taste thoroughly awful if I’m expecting to taste something totally different? From the former questions research I was led to the question “Why do we clink our glasses together during a toast?” Starting to get the picture, the questions of my mind lead me down many paths and into many rabbit holes and it’s always been like that for me.

I remember as a little girl I just could not get my mind around the concept that God actually wrote the Bible. Here’s where I got confused. I was assured there was a God and even then I thoroughly believed in Him. But I’d never seen Him in person, EVER. Yet I was supposed to believe that He came down to earth and wrote the Bible. Here’s how that picture looked in my mind; God, the Ancient of Days, with long gray cottony hair and beard, in flowing white robes, with old man soft wrinkled hands setting at a desk or table with a quill pen and ink pot writing the Bible page by page! This picture led me to the question, “How did He get it published in a time when there weren’t any publishing houses (or even the technology to publish a book)?

So I decided to find out and proceeded to ask the wisest person I knew at the time, Mom. Here’s how that conversation went. “Mom, did God write the Bible? Yes honey He did. How did He do that, did He come to earth and write it out page by page? No sweetie, He had people here on earth write it for Him. Well, how did they know what He wanted them to write? Well He told them. Did He come down to earth to have a conversation face to face with them? No, He led them to the thoughts that they wrote down. How does He lead someone to write something, you think He might lead me to write something like the Bible someday? Well honey the Bible is already written so He probably isn’t going to need for you to write any more of it but with those who did He just put the information in their mind. So Mom, there was more than one person writing the Bible? Yes there was! How did they know which part they were supposed to write? Well I don’t think they worried about which part they were writing, they just wrote what God told them to write. Mom? Goodness Peggy, go ask your Dad!”

Now as crazy as it seems I’ve since had these type of conversations with church leaders, where I simply just did not understand what they were teaching me and the conversation was very frustrating (I’m sure for them as well as me) with me in the end metaphorically being sent to, “Go ask Dad!”

For a moment here let’s go back to my original question stated above regarding why the glasses clink together during a toast or the sharing of a glass of wine? Well I found some solid background taking it back to both Greek and Roman times, linking it with the poisoning of a someone’s drink – but the explanation I found and liked the best is this. When we share a glass of wine, as we pour the wine we experience it’s rich color which involves our sense of sight, we pick up the glass (which involves our sense of touch) swirling it in the glass to release the full aroma involving our sense of smell, right before we take our first sip of the liquid (involving our sense of taste) we clink our glasses. Now without the “clink” the only sense that would not be involved is our sense hearing….thus, today we clink the glass so that all of our senses are involved. It involves all of our senses.

Okay I’m sure, since you’ve stayed with me until now, that you are asking yourself what does that clink of that glass have to do with my childhood questions about the Bible? The answer is simple, for me to fully understand the answer to that question, and many other Biblical concepts I struggle with, I need to have all my senses involved. I need answers based in something other than someone’s beliefs and faith that it is just true, like Mom’s well meaning answers so many years ago. I desire to be able to converse with people in ways that defend my beliefs, yes I need faith (Mom had loads and loads of faith) but I need an understanding or at least have a chance of coming to an understanding about what God is actually saying to me through His word.I need an education that involves all my senses to empower me to search out these answers for myself and I found that here at VCC attending the Vineyard Leadership Institute at a Distance’s two year academic program.

Vineyard Leadership Institute (VLI) was created to integrate hands-on training, ministry experience, spiritual formation, and academic understanding with an uncompromising commitment to excellence in biblical-theological, ministerial and spiritual-formational training. Without sounding like an advertisement it is important to note that VLI’s instructors are experienced pastors, teachers and recognized theologians who are experts in the fields they teach. Professors qualified and experienced to teach at university and graduate levels. Teaching courses on interpreting scripture, church planting, leadership, preaching and teaching, power ministry, counseling, spirituality and many others. It is an empowering, distinctive, cutting-edge curriculum that allows students pragmatic training in church leadership as well as challenging studies into spirituality and theology.VLI has advantages that most traditional seminaries do not offer, training students practically, spiritually and academically for ministry in the context of the local church.

As a student I enjoyed the benefits of hands-on ministry training, developing a relationship with a mentor from the pastoral staff and at the same time receiving excellent-theological instruction.Was it difficult? Yes! Was it time consuming? Yes! Was it a blessing? Yes! Yes! Yes! It involved all my senses and thus has developed my abilities to search out the answers and to read the Bible in context, cause as Steve Robbins (Pastor and VLI Director) says, “It’s all context dependent!” and “ It can never mean for me what it would never have meant for the original audience!”

Oh, something I figured was true – but I also discovered along the way, Mom was absolutely correct, God did write the Bible!