BaptistWay: Core behaviors of covenant people

• The BaptistWay lesson for April 19 focuses on Exodus 20:1-17.

Two takes on one headline

The Ten Commandments: Fodder for Pride, Courthouse Brawls and Memories of Charlton Heston

The Ten Commandments: Substance of Spiritual Formation

Culture prefers the first headline. It’s the stuff of ticket sales. As for me, I’ll take the second—not that I’m completely above culture, mind you.

So, in the vein of the second take, I present three ways to meditate on the Ten Commandments.

1. Core training

Your exercise program—I hope I didn’t lose you there—should include core training. Unfortunately, many people neglect this muscle group because these muscles don’t show up in the mirror.

Even though our core muscles stabilize our bodies, provide balance and exert a great influence on our lung capacity and health, many people spend more time sculpting their abs and chest, toning their arms and elsewhere, and bulking up their legs. They may be outwardly strong and visually appealing, but they may be inwardly unstable and weak. Core training is a necessary part of taking care of our bodies.

In the same way, many people tend to their souls by attending a church service, carrying a Bible, giving some money, memorizing some verses and wearing a cross because these things are visible, but many people often neglect the core of their being—their souls. 

How can we take care of our souls? If we conceive of the Ten Commandments as exercises for the core of our souls, perhaps we can translate basic principles of physical core training into practices for training our spiritual core.

One way to do this is to take one commandment at a time and to work it into our spiritual muscles as a weekly spiritual discipline. For example, we can practice not using the Lord’s name in vain for a whole week. We can examine all the ways in which we do this without even thinking about it and commit to extinguish it from our lives. Learners can commit to working through all Ten Commandments over a 10-week period.

2. Compare various lists of the Ten Commandments

Ask your learners to list the Ten Commandments in numeric order. You will likely see on their faces and hear in their voices either their pride in knowing them or their shame in not knowing.

You simultaneously can reduce some pride and shame by providing a handout of differing lists of Ten Commandments, along with a copy of a Bible translation used by the following three groups: Jews, Roman Catholics and Protestants (other than Lutheran). Learners’ initial perplexity with the handout will likely replace any pride or shame.

Jews:   #1 – Ex. 20:2,  #2 – Ex. 20:3-6,  #3 through #10 – Ex. 20:7-17.

Roman Catholics/Lutherans:  #1 –Ex. 20:2-6, #2 –Ex. 20:7, #3 – Ex. 20:8-11, #4 through #8 – Ex. 20:12-16, #9 – Ex. 20:17a, #10 – Ex. 20:17b.

Protestants other than Lutherans:  #1 – Ex. 20:2-3, #2 – Ex. 20:4-6, #3 – Ex. 20:7, #4 – Ex. 20:8-11, #5 through #10 – Ex. 20:12-17.

Then, guide the class through the following questions:

a. What accounts for the differences in these lists? Are they a result of translation (word order, location, etc.) or something else?

b. Why are the breaks where they are?

c. What theological differences appear in these lists?

d. How do I see the Ten Commandments differently now?

e. What can I learn from the Jewish and Roman Catholic/Lutheran perspective of the Ten Commandments?

I realize this exercise may open a can of worms with your group, but a can of worms can catch a lot of fish.

3. Turn the commandments into stories

I referred to Marc Gellman and the tradition of midrash in an earlier lesson. I highly recommend his books Does God Have a Big Toe: Stories About Stories in the Bible and God’s Mailbox: More Stories about Stories in the Bible. This next exercise grows out of Gellman’s delightful take on the third commandment titled “No Lists on the Sabbath.”

As Gellman tells it, the Garden of Eden wasn’t all it was cracked up to be because Adam presided over the garden, and Adam had a penchant for lists and micromanagement. Adam woke each animal every day with a list of chores for the day and followed up with them to monitor their progress in completing their respective lists. Eventually, the animals had enough and took their complaints to God, in essence saying, “He goes, or we go!” Of course, they were not as brash as that.

“God said, ‘Wait for the Sabbath. There are no lists on the Sabbath.’”

Sure enough, Adam woke up on the seventh day and couldn’t find anything with which to make a list. The berry ink was gone. The berries to make the ink were gone. He couldn’t even write lists in the sand. “So Adam sat down to rest. And he felt good just resting.” And the animals felt good about it, too.

Ask your learners to write their own take on a single commandment in narrative form—a story in which they demonstrate the quality they see issuing out of whatever commandment they choose. Then read the stories together. You may need to split your group into smaller groups for this part of the exercise. After each reading, sit quietly for 30 seconds to honor the story and to reflect on it. Repeat this until all the stories have been read.

Finish by asking the learners: “What will you take from these stories?”