Since this blog is about writing, I think it is fair game for me to sit on a few links and resubmit them for your thought with a writing twist on them. Somewhat recently my dad blogged about a reoccurring tendency toward removing a line from the Apostles’ Creed. So here’s a thought: try your hand at writing about Jesus’ descent into hell.
If you’ve ever been to a congregation that’s just made the switch from The Lutheran Hymnal to Lutheran Worship or Lutheran Service Book, maybe you’ve heard it. A certain bold insistence on saying things the old way. Other Lutheran denominations have this too. Little changes in the creed slip in here and there, but the old terms stand resolutely on.
As writers, we can appreciate that word choice can be a very careful thing—and I’m confident we grant that to Scripture, too! At the same time, sometimes we say things in different ways for different audiences or to explore different perspectives or ramifications. There is this amazing reality that the very words of Scripture are used by God, yet He can work through our own words, also: change in a sense co-existing with Him who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, not differing in content but words being tailored to souls for whom Christ died.
Frankly, the descent into hell is probably a good topic to explore. It’s not among the top ten things pastors typically discuss, but Scriptural references to it are nuggets of divine revelation taught since the Church was still in the cradle-care of the apostles! Surely it is worth our time, effort, and consideration.
Of course, there are different ways to handle it: a journal entry, devotion, Bible story. There could be a Socratic form dialogue, direct Q&A, or snippets of imagined conversation.
You never know when writing about it might come in handy or help prepare you to answer for your hope in Jesus Christ.
.png)