The "So What?" of Bible Study

My emphasis this Lent has involved a lot of conversation about the idea of "Being" as opposed to merely "Doing." I'm not backing off from that principle at all - but, I'm also thinking about my wife Rebekah's favorite Bible-study question: "So what?"

Eventually, after the who, what, when, where, how and why questions; and after the inspiration and the poetry and the spiritual insight; and after the learning and the history and the cultural context; and the language analysis and the word-studies and the translation difficulties and all the various filters we apply when looking at a text... after all of this is either examined or sidestepped, then it comes down to the question, "So what?"

Or, to phrase it another way: What is the practical application (of all I'm learning and experiencing) to my life, or to our life as a community, once the dust settles and we have to actually live from day to day?

Monday morning:

"So what" is a great Monday morning question. Especially in light of yesterday's amazing Sunday with my church family.

Yes, yesterday was a HUGE day at First Presbyterian Church of Brandon. Church rocked! (That's Ben Pabst, left - he's been chairing the finance part of this effort) We celebrated, we filled the sanctuary with joy and love, and we reaffirmed - in a corporate sense - our shared passion for serving God together through the ministry of our church. We shared generous gifts. It was impossible to be in that place and not sense the refreshment and renewal of the Spirit of God.

We now have over $500,000 in cash and (approximately) an additional $450,000 in pledges toward the capital campaign. It was a great beginning in terms of moving, purposefully, into the future. Everyone is excited and the ball is well and truly rolling toward financing some great plans and ideas.

But...

But, yesterday was just one great morning of excitement, and we shared a massive joy-fest that demonstrated a ton of authentic faith and deep commitment. So what?

• So what.. in terms of Monday morning?
• So what, as regards our personal relationships?
• So what, when it comes to living out our faith in the day-to-day routines of real life?
• So what, over the next six days until another amazing Sunday morning rolls around?

It's always a good question.