Wednesday, September 3, 2008

A Responsive Reading of Philippians 2:1-18


Philippians is perhaps Paul’s most passionate letter. Paul writes from prison. He has been ill and depressed. He is torn between living and dying. He would prefer to die and be with the Lord, but for the sake of the Philippians, it is better to remain in the flesh. He longs to visit this congregation he had planted. The prospect of someday returning to it is one of Paul’s few consolations.

Both Paul and the church in Philippi need encouragement. Things are difficult for these mostly gentile believers. Under the strain of persecution, they are full of disagreement, bickering and self-interest. Some are getting lock up in prison. Some are confused by arguments of others who tell them that to really be right with God one must be circumcised. Paul wants them to be of the same mind as they partner with him in the cause of the Gospel.

To get in touch with the pathos beneath this text, I like to read the whole letter aloud. In the early church, letters such as this were “performed.” One person would read it aloud and the others would listen. Philippians is full of mood swings, and I imagine a reader—who reads through the whole letter—alternating his or her voice to match each mood. I’ve begun to imagine how a congregation today might perform this text to create a sense of participation in it.

I would like to share a responsive setting for Philippians 2:1-18. This includes the Christ hymn found in verses 6-11. This was most likely a liturgical text used among the early churches. I feature a dramatic descent, the humility of Christ who empties himself to become human and suffer death, “even death on a cross,” and is followed by an ascent, the exaltation of Christ by the Father to the name above every name. The portions immediately preceding and following the Christ hymn are also compelling. They resonate thematically with the hymn.

So here is the responsive reading. Imagine if you will Paul speaking to the Philippians and the Philippians responding back to Paul. This is what we wish to enact. The leader corresponds to Paul and the group to the Philippian congregation.

Philippians 2:1-18

Leader

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete:

Group

be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.

Leader

4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

Group

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

Leader

And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—

Group

even death on a cross.

Leader

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

Group

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Leader

12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Group

14 Do all things without murmuring and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.

Leader

16 It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Group

17 But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you—

Leader

18 and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.

If you try this with a group, please let me know how it goes.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Philosophy: unintelligible answers to insoluble problems.