20PlusCommunityDigestion

we've moved....come and see

2006-08-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

we've relocated to a different blog site at wordpress.com

come add to the conversations

insulation, isolation--let's call the whole thing off!

2006-08-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

This from the web this morning--ironic in light of our discussion yesterday about the paradox of loneliness and intentional insulation (the latter perhaps better articulated as a loss of the basic knowledge, will, or courage to form meaningful friendships).

Something I forgot to add yesterday (contain your disappointment): Connally Gilliam (whom I quoted the week previous from her book, Reflections of a Single Woman), mentioned an editorial by the late, Meg Greenfield, who noticed how marriages are now having to bear a weight they've not had to in previous eras, due to the increased social fragmentation/isolation we find in American culture. Where once people had a strong support structure in which to cultivate, celebrate, and manage marital relationships, now without said structures, the marriages themselves are having to be almost entirely responsible for staying afloat.

All to suggest, we may be as needful of cultivating strong, enduring, friendships as we are interested in finding a spouse. Ain't no third wheel about it: you don't have a larger community to confide in, celebrate with, confess to--you got no business devoting yourself to another human being. Plain and simple.

lonely, yet preferring insulation? What gives?

2006-08-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

Letting you in on the theme of Sunday's lesson from Ecclesiastes 4:1-16: the necessity of holy connectedness.

If, in fact, connectedness covers a multitude of sins, why, then, might we be so averse to being known or taking the time to know one another?

It's not that there aren't any good reasons for our hesitation to be more courageous or bold in becoming involved in one another's lives (and messes), but surely we can isolate a few reasons why the preference for isolation still exceeds our desire for connection.

Ideas? Guesses? Shots in the dark?

the marks of repentance

2006-08-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

By now you've heard about Mel Gibson's caustic tirade (albeit influenced by alcohol) while being pulled over on a speeding violation. Sadly, DUI wasn't the most egregious offense, it appears.

But here's his public apology to the Jewish community.

Repentance is a word whose meaning gets easily stripped of its multi-faceted character. It includes sorrow, contrition, embarrassment at how the sin offends (not merely how it makes the offender look), and a desire to make amends where possible. So from what you read, does this sound like repentance? It does to me--like the beginnings of truer repentance than we're accustomed to seeing in public figures: no dodges, no excuses, no pretense, no minimizing its seriousness. Thoughts?

new blog for you to bookmark...

2006-07-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

...by some of our own PCPC'ers--and 20+ers to boot! The Bronson's, as you know, are preparing for a 2-year stint in Thailand with Mission to the World. Here's their blog.

see, I told you so

2006-07-26T05:49:00.000-07:00

Erika's response to our prayers...and a look-in to her routine...now which co-worker in the cube next to yours are you gonna pray for today?

Hello Everyone!

Here's a brief update on how and what I've been doing these past couple weeks.

Feeling Better

I sent out an email just the other day asking for prayers due to multiple day stomach issues, and thing are MUCH BETTER!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, for praying for my stomach. I am no longer weak and hungry from not eating. Praise the Lord! I was able to eat breakfast this morning, but I'll probably stick to Ukrainian roma-noodles for a few more days, just to be safe. I'm back to smiling and being involved with those around me.

Day to Day

At 8:15am the team (11 people from Minnesota; 2 Australian women; one British guy; and three other Americans) meet for devotionals. The morning teachers teach grammar classes starting at 9am, and I and Paula (fr. Minnesota team) teach beginner conversation classes in the afternoon. We have one 3-6 students, all adults. These students are very eager to learn and they love to laugh, so class times are always enjoyable. After class the afternoon teachers have one-on-on conversations with three different people for 15 minutes each. It's in these conversations where I've had the most opportunity to share who Christ really IS. A couple of my students are members of the orthodox church so they call themselves Christians but it's by name only, other say they don't believe in God. In one recent conversation I had, a student said she was a Christian, but that Jesus was not divine. She compared Christ to Budd and Muhammad. We talked a bit and I pray that God will use our conversation to help point her to the Truth.

In the evenings we have other activites with the students who are able to stay.

The City

Donetsk is in the far eastern part of the Ukraine, which is primarily industrial, so it's not a very pretty town. When I'm outside I'm breathing in smoke from two factories which are right beside the University. I've been into town a few times, but most of my time is spent going between the academic building, my dorm room, and (before I got sick) the cafeteria. The people in this part of the Ukraine speak Russian and are more politically aligned with Russia. There is a lot going on in the western Ukraine, which you all have probably heard on the news, but this part of the Ukraine is not really affected by that.

The Food

I really enjoyed eating in the cafeteria, when my stomach could tolerate it. Ukrainians eat a lot of potatoes, bread, soup, tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, and barley. For breakfast we have cereal provided in the dorm kitchens, but at lunch we eat soup with some kind of potato dish, and the something similar for dinner, minus the soup. They usually drink tea, because the water is not safe to drink without it being boiled. Bottled water that is offered to you usually has bubbles and is warm, ice is not used in drinks.

Orphanage

The last two days I went two different orphanages with the Minnesota team. The kids were so cute! We did crafts, played games, sang songs, and provided toothbrushes and other items for the children. These two orphanages are run by Christians. There are only three Christian run orphanages in all of Ukraine, the rest are government run. It was great to be there and support our brothers and sisters who run it, and to love on the kids a few days.

Extra

The Minnesota team has been really warm and welcoming to me, they consider me a part of their team, which is nice. They came from a church not a missions organization. There are Americans here that teach at DCU that are with other missions organizations. I've also met my "bosses" two career missionaries with WorldVenture who have been her for 12 years.

I'm rooming with a women,Olga, who is about 31-32 years old and she teaches Greek and Hebrew! She is from Russia, but went to seminary in the States, and she speaks about five languages!!! She is VERY, VERY sweet, intelligent and easy to talk to. She invites people to her "house" which is really a room with two twin beds (one bed in sunken in the middle), offers her guests tea and cookies, and they just fellowship. I've seen her have at least four different groups of people over (myself included more than once). She'll even spend the whole evening translating from Russian to English so that everyone can be included in the conversation. It's such a blessing to be with believers from all over the world and know that the one thing that brings us together is our relationship with Christ.

The End

There's lots more to share, but I'll stop here for now. THANK YOU for your prayer!!!! Please continue to pray. I'll be back Monday afternoon.

Love,

Erika

stop what you're doing

2006-07-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

this will not take long to pray for, but if you're too busy to pray, then you're too busy.

a short request from Erika in the Ukraine:

Hi Everyone,

Teaching is going well. The students are great! The conversation times are going well too.

I am writing mainly to ask for prayer. I have been sick the last four days. It started with a headache and cold like symptoms (a result of sleeping with wet braided hair), but that's gone now. It has moved to stomach issues. I've taken all the medicine I know to take and it has not made anything better. I haven't missed a lesson or too many activities, but I'm moving slow and I don't have a lot of energy. I don't eat because it makes me sick, and of course not eating makes me weak, so it's a bad cycle. The missionaries here know how to help me and other medicine is available, but I think it's a matter of waiting it out, which is no fun. SO, please pray that I would get better. I'm hungry and want to eat without problems. Each day I get a little better, but I'm not 100% just yet.

Thanks for being there!

Erika

No time to spell check.

...and more reasons to stop dating the church:

2006-07-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

Peter Leithart is a PCA pastor in Moscow, Idaho, who has written provocatively and prolifically (his prolificacy of speech rivaled only by the number of children he and his wife have (10)). Here's a short essay for those who think church membership is not for them.

Why Should I Join A Church?
by Peter J. Leithart

The Church is not in good shape. Nearly every week we hear about another prominent Christian leader who has fallen into scandalous sin. Many shepherds feed their flocks a diet of baby food, if not outright poison. Few Churches celebrate the Lord's Supper regularly, and few Christians appreciate its importance.

In the face of these facts, we can ask the question in the title of this essay with great urgency. Does God really require that I join a local Church? Do I really need to take formal vows of Church membership?

We believe that the answer to both questions is, Yes. Membership in a local congregation of Christ's Church is not an option. Christians should join a local Church, and their effectiveness as Christians suffers if they do not. The following are biblical reasons for joining a local congregation.

God commands us to meet together to worship before Him. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were commanded to meet at the sanctuary three times a year to celebrate feasts (Ex. 23:14; Deuteronomy 16:16). In addition, they met every Sabbath in a "holy convocation" (Lev. 23:3). In the New Testament, God's people are again commanded to assemble to worship their Lord (Heb. 10:25). There are no solitary Christians in the Bible; God always calls those He loves into a community.

God commands us to submit to the authority of His representatives, the elders of a local Church. The apostles set up an organized government for the Church. The community of God's people is an organized community. Paul instructed Titus to appoint elders in each city (Tit. 1:5). Throughout the book of Acts, we find references to these rulers of local Churches ( Acts 11:30; 15:2ff.; 16:4; 20:17ff.) Hebrews 13:17 instructs us to obey the leaders who keep watch over our souls. Clearly, this verse refers to the elders of a local Church. If God wants us to submit to the authority of a local Church government, He surely wants us to join a local Church. Otherwise, who keeps watch for our souls? Who warns us when we stumble?

In the Lord's Supper, we share in the body and blood of Christ. We have no life in ourselves. Christ is our life (Col. 3:4). Whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life, and will be raised, because His flesh is true food and His blood is true drink. By eating the flesh and blood of Christ we abide in Him, and He abides in us ( John 6:52-56). The bread we break and the cup we drink at the Lord's Table is a sharing in the body and blood of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16). Faithful participation in the Lord's Supper is the source of our life. Moreover, when the Church eats the one bread, it shows itself to be one Body. Just as full citizenship in Israel was marked by participation in the Passover, so citizenship in the One Church is marked by participation in the Lord's Supper.

The Church, through its leaders, has power to admit people to and to exclude them from the Lord's Supper. This is shown in the fact that the most serious Church censure is excommunication, that is, exclusion from communion at the Table of the Lord. Jesus gave the apostles stewardship of the keys of the Kingdom (Mt. 16:13-20; 18:15-20). This power was granted to the Church, and is exercised in Christ's name and in His place by the courts of elders of the Church (1 Cor. 5:1-5; 6:1-4). In order to eat from the Table, one must be admitted by the elders.

The Church is a covenant community. When Peter described the Church in his first epistle, he quoted several phrases from the Old Testament, all of which describe the covenant relationship between God and His people (1 Pet. 2:9-10). Just as Israel became God's people through the covenant at Sinai (Dt. 5:2-3), so also the Church was constituted God's covenant people by the covenant sealed with blood on Calvary.

Admission to the covenant community is by vow. In the Old Covenant, Israelites were admitted to the privileges of the covenant by circumcision, and in the New Covenant, admission to the Church is by baptism. Both circumcision and baptism are, among other things, vows of allegiance to God and to His people (e.g., Acts 8:37). Many people today, however, do not remain in the Church in which they were baptized, and some go for years without being a member of any Church. It is appropriate, therefore, when one attaches himself to a new local body, to reaffirm publicly the vows taken in baptism.

Finally, to show that this view of the importance of Church membership is the historical Reformed, Calvinist, and Presbyterian view, let me end with two quotations:

From the Westminster Confession of Faith, XXV.22:

"The visible church . . . consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion, together with their children; and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation."

From John Calvin, Institutes IV.1.4:

". . . because it is now our intention to discuss the visible church, let us learn even from the simple title `mother' how useful, indeed how necessary, it is that we should know her [i.e., the Church]. For there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breast, and lastly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance until, putting off mortal flesh, we become like angels. Our weakness does not allow us to be dismissed from her school until we have been pupils all our lives" [emphasis added].

Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We should strive, then, not only to make sure that our names are enrolled in heaven, but also to have them inscribed on the gates of the earthly Zion (Heb. 12:23).

"stop test-driving your girl/boy-friend"

2006-07-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

not a bad article:

dateline: Ukraine

2006-07-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

and here's a little update from our friend in the Ukraine, Erika

Hello Friends & Family:

I have made it safely to the Ukraine yesterday afternoon. It was raining when I arrived and it is still overcast today, but my understanding is that it is usually very hot. The campus is small and next to a beer factory.
Soon after I arrived I saw a person from training and two other English speaking persons who were teaching the first two weeks and they would like to stay longer and seemed to really enjoy their time here. I too am looking forward to meeting my students and the other teachers who will be arriving later this weekend.

Budapest Update:

Although I did't meet with many of my other students, the time I spent with Szilvi, Melinda, and her parents were priceless. God answered our prayers by having Szilvi asking me a LOT of questions relating to God and the bible!
As we ate dinner the other night, somehow the conversation turned to spiritual matters, and Szilvi and I ended up talking until midnight. Our conversation covered topic such as the Da Vinci Code...why the wicked prosper and the "good" suffer...when God will judge murderers... life as a single person... homosexuality...etc. It was great! She seemed to just overflow with questions, and at times I wasn't sure she wanted an answer, but after she took a breath, she would say, "I'm very interested in your opinion" and "What does the bible say...".

Because of their communist background Szilvi and Melinda don't believe in God, but they have some religious behaviors...they pray and give money to saints, and read the bible from time to time. They are very blind to their own sin, and often pointed to the bad things other people do. They think they are good and see no accountability to a higher power. So, when I said, Jeus died for man's sin, it really didn't mean much to them.

When I lived in Hungary I had to teach world religions to Melinda's class, so I've already shared the gospel with her, and I've had a few conversations with Szilvi about God, which she initiated. Before I left Hungary in 2003, Szilvi asked for a bible (some of you may remember that) so she and Melinda read it from time to time. It's a NLT student bible. Well, the morning that I left Hungary (yesterday) I wrote Szilvi a note with some scriptures that connected to the topics she inquired about. I knew she would read it, but I was surprised when she read it right then and asked me to show her how to find the scriptures in the bible! So, we sat on the floor and I showed her. Her comment to me was, "...show me because I am really interested in these things." PRIASE THE LORD!!!! Szilvi not only asks questions but she looks for answers, so once she becomes a believer she will truly be dedicated and she will know why she has chosen Christ over other religions.
WHAT A BLESSING TO BE A PART OF THE WORK GOD IS DOING IN SZILVI's LIFE!

My Old Church:

I was able to go to my old church Wendesday night, and what a treat it was!
I saw many old friends, American and Hungarian. That night a teen missionary group from MEXICO was visiting!!! How about that! Before the sermon, a few of the guys got up and sang in Spanish and in English, it was beautiful! It was so exciting being there. A lot of the Hungarians go on mission trips as well, and it's just so wonderful to see and hear about their trips. An old friend at church, who is from Finland, but works with the church (which was an American church plant) had just gotten back from a trip to Russia and Turkey, so she gave me the rest of her Russian money, which was about two dollars.

What a blessing to be in Hungary those three days! I don't know why God blessed me in that way but I'm grateful and tried to embrace every moment and opportunity.

That's all for now! I'm late for orientation, so I have no time to check over the letter. I hope it all makes sense!

Love,

Erika

Our beloved Daniels has his summer plans. . .adjusted!

2006-07-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

with great and surprised pleasure do I share the following email:

Greetings in His name. I am keeping well by God's grace. Sorry I could not reply very promptly.I am in Madurai , about 300 milies down south of Chennai.

My internship is going on very well. I am teaching, preaching and doing Evangelism. Thank you for your prayers.

More over I am happy to inform you that I am getting married this summer

following are the information regarding the same.

Believing in God's perfect timing and faithful plan my self Daniels and Annie Together with our parents

Mrs. & Rev. Aruldoss Gnanamuthu
And
Mrs. & Mr. Sam Chandradekaran

Want to inform you to celebrate with us as we commit our lives to one another before God in Marriage On Saturday the 15th of July Two thousand and six at four in the evening at the Church of South India , Palani.

Thank you once again for your prayers and love. Looking foward to see you. Convey my love and regards to everyone there.

with kind regards

Daniels
India.

Great news!

2006-07-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

who's for starting a fund for this?

dateline: Kenya

2006-07-12T08:25:00.000-07:00

this from Becky, now just a few days into her month-long stint in Kenya:

Here a few of the blessings that I experienced today:

1.When we walked into the orphanage, Josia (eight year old boy) was leading the song:
"I have a living hope, I have a future, God has a plan for me, this I am sure. Jesus your my firm foundation. I know I can stand secure. Jesus your my firm foundation. I put my hope in your holy word."
How precious and what a true testimony to hear the children loudly singing this song together. I am reminded of what a tight grip that their Lord Jesus has on their lives.

2. The children had a running race at school. Shirro (a five year old girl) was racing another little boy. She ran to the fence and was leaps ahead of the boy. All of the girls were chanting "Shirro, Shirro..." She had the hugest smile on her face as she ran across the finish line and straight into my arms. I pick her up in a huge hug and began to spin her around. I felt so privileged that she would run that hard to me. This reminded me of how the father in the parable of the prodigal son might have felt as he received his son. All of life's worries fade away and you see the face of someone you love. Those of your who are parents know what it feels like to have a child pick you out in a crowd and run to your arms.

3. The poverty in Nairobi is so extreme. We saw a few ladies digging through huge piles of trash today looking for any food to eat. Again, how blessed am I not to worry about the next meal that I will eat.

Thank you for your prayers. Our team is healthy and has a wonderful attitude. Tomorrow the children are doing a performance of the traditional songs at school for us.

Much love,
Becky

when Scripture and celebrity collide

2006-07-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting ('fleeting' as in "hevel" as in Ecclesiates!), but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised. (Proverbs 31:30)

don't just read--meditate. . .

2006-07-12T07:17:00.000-07:00

as you're reading in Ecclesiastes this week, you might bump into things that make you go "hmmmm." If that happens, you've just encountered an invitation to meditation! So, here's some helpful insight into what Scripture "begs" for. Right application with right motivation always results from a deeply-pondered consideration of the Word. That kind of submission is the kind of frame of mind and spirit that the Holy Spirit does work in.

APB on the definitions of "hevel":

2006-07-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

did anyone happen to write down everyone's suggested definitions of "hevel"? I'd like to refer to your astute (and sometimes "enigmatic") renditions--lest they become but "ephemeral" contributions to our potentially "pointless" discussion.

You all came up with them. Not me.

Preacher, don't hold back

2006-07-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

The Preacher cuts right to the chase, does he not? (1:1-11)

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity... (1:2)

Part of our task Sunday will be to get a handle on what he means by "hevel" the Hebrew word translated as vanity in the ESV (with a nod to the KJV) and meaningless in the NIV (and other translations). And then we'll have to flesh out on what basis he makes that sweeping claim....he appeals to several sources

and then, if his claim is valid and his evidence substantive, then what are you and I to make of it? How then do we take the preacher's notion that this life, as it is, is meaningless?

so, some get-you-thinking questions:

if you had to substantiate the Preacher's claim that all is meaningless, what evidence would you put forth?

of what value is there to considering the brevity of your life (as one nuance 'of meaningless')?

"there's nothing new under the sun": agree or disagree?

thoughts anyone?

why losses are sometimes wins:

2006-06-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

Eccl. 7:2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will lay it to heart.

we'll be studying The Preacher's musings starting in July (so start reading Ecclesiastes now, if you wish)

they go to love, so we go to pray

2006-06-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

If you promised to pray or you want to know more about our team headed to Japan, click here.

regression

2006-06-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

This reminded me of a scene in Royal Tennenbaum's of which a minor theme may have been (I don't know) about our longing to return to simpler (and younger) days

ars artis gratia

2006-05-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

I've never been one to stare at art, but experiencing paintings only through quick glances is asking something that is contrary to our nature and to the nature of art. You can't savor any meal by a bite the size of which can fit on a toothpick. The same is true of art. Until you're willing to sit and stare, art-appreciation will only be something you might've glanced over in your high-school course catalog.

You and I rarely stare at anything (except flickering images), and that, I think, is a habit (a bad habit) that spills over into how we meditate on even less.

So, this is a painting of Mary Magadalene by a 16th century painter by the name of Jan Van Scorel. (yes, a renaissance rendition of our 1st century heroine) So what about the picture helps tell her story? Warning: it won't come quickly.

reconsidering arranged marriages

2006-05-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

this is Tressa, dancing just as expressively but with far more finesse, next to Shamus. We are planning to arrange their marraige. She lives in Amarillo with her parents, Chris and Laura, her sister, her dog, and her cat. But the distance doesn't matter to us. Technology brings people together, right? We will set up a myspace account for Shamus so Tressa can keep up with his myriad musings. Still, she is much smarter than Shamus and more articulate. We often think she will respond to some of his jabbering with, "he's a little behind, isn't he?" But you hear it said, "marry above you." (Odd thing is, both people can't marry above them. So what about the spouse who's the one "above" the other? Have they broken this cardinal rule? Are they to wear the scarlet "MBM"--married below me?)

call for opinions:

2006-05-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

as you've heard regularly for a few weeks now, June will be a month of considering what it is to live wisely before our God with respect to what we have. We have gifts. We have financial resources. We have bodies. All are capable of luring us away from God or leading us to Him in the sense of knowing and enjoying Him more fully (as the catechism reminds us).

So, here's my question, which is really posed for the sake of those teaching in June:

what issues would you like to see included in these lessons with respect to
-our giftedness
-our monies
-our bodies

chime in here. or email us at 20+community@pcpc.org

for your lunch break

2006-05-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

for all of you who manage people or who are fans of The Office, prepare to chuckle. Have a look specifically at "Addressing Employee Complaints"

a different, but faithful, rendering of what we hold dear

2006-05-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

it's helpful to reinvigorate your understanding of what you believe by consulting others' renditions of those same truths. below is The Masai tribe rendition of the Apostles' Creed....some words are changed, but doesn't it enrich your understanding of what you already trusted?

The Masai Creed

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created man and wanted man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know him in the light. God promised in the book of his word, the bible, that he would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, he rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him. All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen

a class worth your time and money

2006-05-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

Philosophy has for too long been chided as a field for the high-minded, a vocation for those who have nothing better to do than overthink things. And yet, you are the beneficiaries (or the unwitting victims) of philosophical systems whose basic contours are accessible to anyone. Cynthia Nielsen, one of PCPC's own, is offering a class on philosophy for all interested parties. It'd do you well to have a look.

She and her husband, Will, are a dynamic duo of both light and heat (truth and zeal). Despite the overuse of the phrase, they are what you call the salt of the earth. Abundant insight and abundant love.

meandering toward a Sunday lesson. . .

2006-05-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

*Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee,Between 1618 and 1620
Pieter Paul Rubens

Sometimes I get stuck when I stare at a Scriptural passage for an extended period. I have to write something to get unstuck. It's a bit unorthodox to present the raw materials for what you hope will form the substance of a forthcoming lesson, but I welcome anyone's corrections or clarifications or criticisms. Really, I do. Here's the work-product of how to sum up what Paul is saying in Galatians

For weeks now we’ve tried to hammer home a major theme of Paul’s letter—namely that not by works shall a man be justified, that is, considered in right-standing before God. Such is the non-negotiable feature of the Gospel. No man can be saved—delivered from the wrath of God for their being a sinner—without the intervention of Christ. His grace, not my works, is what matters and what is able to reconcile me to God.

But what then is the life to which He has called us. If salvation cannot motivate me to be holy—that is, if my holy acts are incapable to warrant my salvation—then what is my motivation for being holy? Paul has demonstrated that mere obedience to the Law without the help of the Spirit only leaves you frustrated and no closer to what the Law really solicits; but the Gospel surely doesn’t intend for us to live as we please. So what then is the purpose of any striving for the life God intends in His adopted children?

How do we find our motivation to act when our actions never had currency with God in terms of our salvation? (That’s not really the question, is it?)

If works are futile for my salvation, then what good are works at all? There’s a point to them, of course—why else would Paul here in chapter 6 insist on sowing to the Spirit—i.e. investing in those things which have eternal significance, instead of to our flesh, the ephemeral? But what is to be the basis of our motivation for performing them?

That in doing them, we understand more deeply what it is to be truly His. To have benefited from His work on an unfathomable scale, but then to remain aloof of the kind of universe He has supplied us, to live without reference to His identity and purposes for us is a huge disconnect. If He has done all this through Christ for us, then for what reasons would we choose not to live unto Him—that is, live under His reign and rule, under His provision and protection, for His purposes and priorities?

Of course we’re to live unto Him, but we’re to live as already-forgiven, already-adopted children. We’re to live trusting those realities, to live out of a sense of those realities. As I’ve said, perhaps numerous times, before: a life confident of God’s favor will act in ways qualitatively different from one for whom there is no such confidence. Both scenarios believe in God. Both acknowledge His holiness and one’s lack thereof. Both know God wills for us to be and do as He is and does (with exceptions, of course, pertaining to our natures). But the latter thinks the gap between God’s and one’s own holiness is the gap that must be closed if there is to be any peace in this life, and that the gap is closed on the basis of what one has done. The latter also believes that the extent to which he/she conforms to the character and purposes of God is what determines whether the approval of God is theirs. Contingency abounds in that in no sense can the love or favor of God be counted upon. Even if His favor doesn’t stand entirely on an individual’s shoulders, to leave any of the responsibility to him is to make the whole deal up for grabs—there’s room for God’s rooting for you and then at some point concluding you didn’t quite pass muster and then consigning you to the outer darkness. Any time you include even the slightest part of you in the equation of whether His favor shall come and be sustained upon you, you make that favor always at risk of revoked (I use the word revoked—i.e. having once had something and then had it taken away--since any progress toward God—any knowledge or pleasure in His will—would imply that some favor, if not full favor, were already in place, otherwise there’d be no progress towards Him).

I’m still trying to reconcile these two statements of Paul, statements driven by theology construed by the same man:

1. For no one shall be justified by works of the Law (2:16)
2. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for what one sows, that he shall reap. For he who sows to his own flesh shall reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit shall reap eternal life. (6:6,7)

The first statement makes obedience to the Law ineffectual for the righteous requirement of God that justification signifies. My work at obeying the Law will always be insufficient to fulfill what the Law solicits. So obedience to the Law is purposeless, or so it might seem.

The second statement seems to make what it is you do of critical importance to the destiny you will experience. That to which I am sowing—to which my heart, and thus my will, is oriented—has reference to the return I will receive. There remains a causal relationship between what I invest and what I get in return.

So, obedience to the Law is futile, yet obedience to that which is eternal—which certainly the Law encapsulates—is essential. Ugh. Is Paul speaking out of both sides of his mouth? Of course not, but the juxtaposition here is still difficult to untangle. Is lawfulness both futile and essential? That’s a non-sequitur.

Perhaps, something I just read in Gary Thomas’ little book, Authentic Faith, helps to bring some order to the statements’ ostensible irreconcilability:

[Paul] didn’t improve on his morality after meeting Christ, because Pharisees went out of their way to live blameless lives. Paul didn’t pray more as a Christian, because Pharisees were masters of spiritual discipline. The only real difference in Paul’s life is that he became centered on the freedom of Christ’s provision, which enabled him to love God by serving others instead of being obsessed about his own religious achievements.

Thomas helps me see that the dovetailing of those two statements relies on a matter of focus. Law bids us to love: love God, love neighbor. But complying with the command to love in order to be loved by God is impossible. But despite the fact that my version of loving will never adequately warrant His loving me, I’m still commanded to love. Who loves best? Those who are most confident of that love. It’s not so far from what Jesus had to say to some Pharisees regarding the nature of forgiveness.

Luke 7:36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." 40 And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "Say it, Teacher." 41 "A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And he said to him, "You have judged rightly." 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven-for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." 48 And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among* themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" 50 And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

She was no perfect follower of the Law. She was clearly in flagrant violation of it; on that count, both Pharisees and Jesus were in agreement. But she did recognize how much she’d been forgiven. And what was her response? To love so strenuously (her tears, her adoration exemplifying the condition of her heart), not in order to be loved, but as an expression of that confidence in His love for her may provide us a snapshot of what it means to be both insecure in your ability to merit favor but confident of favor that propels you to showing the kind of character (love) the Law wished, but was unable, to engender. She does not deny her need of forgiveness. She does not conceal her faith in Jesus’ ability to grant it. She does not withhold a drop of adoration for Him. Jesus, in turn, confirms with His words what was already true for her in eternity: she was forgiven. And how had her faith “saved” her? Was her act what sealed the deal? Not exactly, but her act of adoration only confirmed what was true of her heart: to repeat, she had faith in her own bankruptcy (an odd turn of phrase, I know, but still, I think, accurate) and she had faith in His sufficiency, His singular authority.

So you’ve got a lawless woman, committing a lawful act of the highest order (the worship of her redeemer), as a function of having been forgiven of her lawlessness. She knows no act of contrition can “make up” for her lawlessness; so she affirms in principle what Paul claims in Galatians 2:16 (for no flesh shall be justified by works of the Law). But she also knows that living truthfully before God—to acknowledge your bankruptcy and His authority—will manifest in both worship and love of that which has reference to eternal things. She comes to Him looking for wholeness, not a few drachma to tide her over or buy herself liquor; so her heart is oriented toward the things of God and is thus in principle sowing to the Spirit as Paul enjoins in Gal 6:6,7 (but he who sows to the Spirit shall reap eternal life).

To sum up, the love this forgiven woman shows Jesus. . .love which as Jesus explains will overflow to loving, not only to the Messiah, but to whomever. . .knows it will not “earn” her favor, but she also knows that such love is what those who know the living God will do. She represents what a life that knows its inability to meet the Law’s demands, yet manifests the Law’s character as a function of having been forgiven—forgiveness motivated by nothing other than the love of God.

coming in June...

2006-05-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

. . .to a 20+ Community Sunday School class near you

where in the world is Stevener [going]?

2006-05-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

it's so much in the news, and even our own Becky Stevener is headed there this summer, anyone want to practice how much they know of Africa? (Nod to Dawson)

how...er...beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news

2006-05-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

aren't they lovely?

be sure to be at Fat Tuesday on May 30 where we'll, among other things, celebrate the departure (that sounds odd, doesn't it) of these and other 20+ers headed across various ponds to do the rather odd thing of explaining an ancient message with ever-present and future implications.

overloaded? there's a cost you may not have considered...

2006-05-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

“The more we watch the lives of men, the more we see that one of the reasons why men are not occupied with great thoughts and interests is the way in which their lives are overfilled with little things ” --Phillip Brooks

Phillip Ryken, pastor of 10th Street Presbyterian Church in Philly, quoted Mr. Brooks in a short essay about how we might overcome overload.

I needed to hear this. . .

To Church!!

2006-05-02T04:54:00.000-07:00

This from Gary Thomas, author of, among other things, Sacred Marriage, but the following comes from a more recent work, Authentic Faith:

When God calls us to himself, he calls us to his church, to a purpose bigger than ourselves. This may sound shocking to some, but biblically, living for God means living for His church. There is a glory in the presence of Jesus Christ, seen when believers come together, that will necessarily be missing in an individual pursuit of God. When the gospel is turned from a community-centered faith to an individual-centered faith ("Jesus would have died for me if I had been the onle one!"), we eclipse much of its power and meaning.

truth about money

2006-04-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

maybe you've seen this already (you may need to save this link to a file--it hangs sometimes when you try to stream it); but if you haven't, you ought to.

Truth comes from the strangest places sometimes

can you identify?

2006-04-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

have you ever had that gnawing feeling while trying to be transparent that all it's accomplishing is giving others the opportunity to gawk?

this moment brought to you by Shamus' 3rd Birthday Party

avoiding dumb and dumber

2006-04-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

I listened to an interview with one Mark Bauerlein an English Professor at Emory University on the MarsHill Audio journal last week. I know most of you are out of college, but since our learning doesn't end when we go through commencement (that's why they call it Commencement: you're BEGINNING!), you might consider how our media-saturation can really curtail how well we learn, which impacts how well we function in and contribute to society. Here's the essay upon which the interview was based.

Any comments?

perusing Da Vinci for the first time?

2006-04-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

Here’s a short bibliography of works recommended by Dr. Bob Pyne (Prof of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary) for those interested in all the hub-bub about The Da Vinci Code. It’s not so much a list of books for how to debunk its contents, but rather an invitation to learn how to engage the culture’s in its almost innate tendency to minimize the deity of Christ. It also offers some recommendations for Christian fiction that will cultivate (or renew) your appreciation for the fiction genre. (Fiction doesn’t always have to center on the rapture.)

prep for the spiritual colonoscopy

2006-04-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

John Piper, as you may have heard, was recently operated on for prostate cancer. He's regularly referenced in this blog because he has become a kind of mentor in absentia to this blogger. He's on sabbatical studying in Cambridge, England (someone's got to do it, I guess) and he's beginning that studious rest it appears by returning to the Gospels.

Anyway, what's your first reaction to some of the sayings of Jesus that don't readily fit into your conception of Him? Piper provides a helpful exercise here for how to process (and that's a rather antiseptic way of putting it) some of those sayings that you're likely to dismiss at first as something Jesus wouldn't have said.

As one who's had a colonoscopy, I can say that anything that can make the process any less of a shock is a most welcome thing. Consider his few words here a preparation for the kind of spiritual colonoscopy Jesus' words are uniquely equipped to perform.

a quote from John Flavel worth pondering and praying over

2006-03-23T04:43:00.000-08:00

Ecstasy and delight are essential to the believer’s soul and they promote sanctification. We are not meant to live without spiritual exhilaration, and the Christian who goes a long time without the experience of heart-warming will soon find himself tempted to have his emotions satisfied from earthly things and not, as he ought, from the Spirit of God. The soul is so constituted that it craves fulfillment from things outside itself and will embrace earthly joys for satisfaction when it cannot reach spiritual ones … The believer is in spiritual danger if he allows himself to go for any length of time without tasting the love of Christ and savoring the felt comforts of a Savior’s presence. When Christ ceases to fill the heart with satisfaction, our souls will go in silent search of other lovers … By the enjoyment of the love of Christ in the heart of a believer, we mean an experience of the ‘love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Ghost) which is given to us’ (Romans 5.5) … Because the Lord has made Himself accessible to us in the means of grace, it is our duty and privilege to seek this experience from Him in these means till we are made joyful partakers of it.

from Keeping the Heart by John Flavel (1630-91)

Is gore redeemable?

2006-03-20T06:46:00.000-08:00

I made a friend in college named David Taylor who's love for God is as thick and rich as his red beard. He was one of those souls who'd walked a few more (thousand) miles down the road with Christ than I had thus far. And so he helped me to navigate some of the more treacherous spots within the collegiate domain. We were both within a liberal arts degree plan at The University that liked to eat Christians for lunch. He was one of the few thoughtful, respectful souls who were fearless (and articulate) enough to raise certain objections to certain assertions in certain philosophical classes that were designed to undercut certain theological convictions Christians might hold.

He's got an interesting article on whether horror films are redeemable as a genre. He'll be one of the plenary speakers at the Trinity Arts Conference at the University of Dallas in June. I've never had an opportunity to attend the Thursday-Sunday gathering (June 15-17), but I've heard enormously positive comments from those who've been before. If you aren't going to Japan this summer, you might consider attending.

a different kind of follow-up visit

2006-03-16T07:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, dates are set on when the mission trip to Japan will be: June 8-19th. For those who've voiced an interest in going, pray...then clear your calendars. Details are forthcoming.

Two of the Japanese students who spent time with us last week voiced an interest in becoming a Christian. They did express concerns about how their familes and communities would receive them were they to trust Christ, so pray for them.

June will be a follow-up visit of a different order, no?

"Become as I am. . ."

2006-03-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we considered Paul's words in Galatians 4:11ff, and I mentioned briefly the difficulty with and the necessity of setting yourself out there as an example of faithfulness as part of what it means to "make disciples." It may feel odd and egoistic to have people follow your example, but for some reason God has chosen humans to be images of what it means to be His--to be, as one has said, "Jesus with skin on."

Here's an update from Mo Leverett who directs DesireStreet Ministries in New Orleans. His comments bespeak that same combination of awkwardness and gratitude at being an example.

Within a few months, we hope to journey to New Orleans to help Mo in the rebuilding. Have a look at what's going on.

What endures

2006-03-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

David Wilcox sorta became the soundtrack for my wife's and my courtship. He'd been a herald-of-understatement for the both of us separately--that is, his way of speaking truth was so subtle as to make it more compelling. When we began to listen to him together--his incongruities with our understanding of eternal truths notwithstanding--we still agreed there was much to be appreciated and heeded about his musings on what is true, good, perfect, and lasting.

My wife found this song again this morning, like an old, forgotten photo-album that when you revisit its contents has a peculiar effect on your soul: you've been in it before, but hadn't felt precisely what it produced in you by anything else since.

I share it with you (yes, a free song, can you believe it? scroll to the bottom of the page to click on the flash recording of it), because it reaffirms something C.S. Lewis makes a case for in The Abolition of Man: that which is true endures. Certain virtues are virtues because they have emerged within every culture in every era.

And what David has to say in this song only echoes...and teases out what Jesus had to say about the primacy of giving (love). Yes, David likely has in view as he composes the love between two lovers, but I'm sure he wouldn't narrow what's true about giving love to that context alone; what's true about love is applicable to any connection in which love can be expressed

So enjoy. And be reminded: His love endures forever because His truth has endured forever.

The Love You Give

Oh to be loved, good as that is,
No.
It can never take you where you want to go.
No.
Just to be loved, fine as that is,
No.
It can never teach you what you need to know.

To be loved can start the spark that gets your own love to burn.
But when you feel the fire of real love, you'll learn.

That the only kind of love that makes a lifetime,
Into a life well lived.
The only kind of love that ever fills you,
Is the love you give.

So brave is the strength of broken hearts,
Yes.
To love and love again, and give nothing less.
Yes.
Like flowing water springs from mountain rock,
Yes.
The broken place reveals what you possess.

Like the mountain broken open finds the spring that flows,
Your heart can never open till it's broken so you know.

That the only kind of love that makes a lifetime,
Into a life well lived.
The only kind of love that ever fills you,
Is the love you give.

Oh the love you get, seems like enough at first.
But then there's that hunger, and that thirst.
And the more you try to get, it just gets worse.
There's not enough on earth to get of it,
If getting's all you try.
The giving that you hunger for,
Is all that satisfies.

The only kind of love that makes a lifetime,
Into a life well lived.
The only kind of love that ever fills you,
Is the love you give.

letting the hair down

2006-03-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

there's a song I gravitate toward when I feel on the edge of despondency. It's a song by the late Rich Mullins. It was a song that I, my college pastor, and two dear friends of mine sang on a couple occasions in worship--which may add to its resonance to my heart, since college was such a watershed season for me spiritually.

It's his "If I stand"

the chorus begins with:

If I stand, let me stand on the promise, that You will pull me through
and I can't let me fall on the grace that first brought me to you
If I sing, let me sing for the joy that has born in me this song

but it's the last line that always gets me:

and if I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his home

do you ever think that the times of melancholy--whether short or protracted, intense or gradual like a gathering storm--are part of what God allows so that we might indeed not get too cozy with this form of existence and instead long for the as yet undisclosed country....that the struggle here is meant to whet the appetite of the soul for the feast yet to come?

even as I ask that question, the answer seems obvious: of course, God means for us to "set our minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Col 3:2). But isn't it interesting that part of what gets us to do that is not so much an act of will on or part, but an act of God to get us to long for such?

gotta go

Int'l Justice Mission Trip's first communique:

2006-02-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

here's the latest from Victor Boutros and the IJM team bound for India:

Friends,

We completed the first leg of our trip with the International Justice Mission team in Mumbai, India yesterday. It has been a study of contrasts - of rays of divine hope penetrating places of unbearable darkness. On Friday, we helped the IJM legal team prepare for a hearing in an ugly case where IJM undercover operatives captured video footage of four mothers attempting to sell the virginity of their underage daughters to two men. Later that evening we went to Mumbai's red light district, littered with the brothels where so many young girls are abducted, raped and beaten. Words cannot describe the oppressive darkness of that place, where pimps and Madames aggressively cursed us or fled angrily from the light of our cameras. "For every one who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed." (John 3:20). At the red light district in Mumbai, the Fall is not being managed. It is an open mouthed grave (Rom 3:13) devouring the lives of those who fall in its trap.

And yet there were moments of joy that pierced the darkness. Even as we experienced the ugliness of the red light district, we passed street after street where brothels had been shut down, sparing hundreds of girls from thousands of rapes, thanks to the courage and faithfulness of a few Christians. Perhaps most moving was the transformation God has worked in the lives of those young women IJM has rescued. We spent Saturday at a Christian aftercare facility for victims of forced prostitution where girls as young as 13 smiled, sang hymns in Hindi, shared their dreams for the future and generally got to be girls again.

The team is so thankful to have a support team praying for us every day! We covet your continued prayers as we begin the next phase of our work in Chennai. We look forward to sharing a full report with you when we return.

Joyfully,

Victor Boutros

prepare to prepare

2006-02-20T06:38:00.000-08:00

March 1st is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent: the 40 days prior to the celebration of Resurrection Day. For most of the history of the Church it has been a time of preparation during which pilgrims refrain from certain pleasures to turn their attentions instead to the sufferings, privations, and purposes of Christ.

You don't hear much about the observance of Lent within Reformed circles, partially for historical reasons. The Reformers, their name derived of course from their desire to re-form the Catholic Church, became particularly averse to anything that may have smacked of empty piety. So many things that invoked ritual or forbearance, as Lent did, came to be marginalized (to some extent unconsciously) within Reformed piety.

But despite the potential for using ritual as a buffer against real repentance--that is, reducing the work of sancitification to scattered acts of unconsidered sacrifice--who would deny the benefit of withholding from some things, even good things, for a season to focus on what is of more lasting and satisfying value?

I think we might do that within our 20+ Community in this season, so often overlooked. I'm waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail of The Great Lent, by a Russian Orthodox theologian named Alexander Schmemann. (Nod to Disciplemaking Coordinator, Brandon Eggar, for the recommendation)

Schmemann means to chart a course for a believer in his or her journey through Lent, to reawaken (or awaken for the first time) a new appreciation for our Savior--appreciation that translates into concrete action.

If you should yourself obtain a copy, to be clear, there are some theological differences between Orthodoxy and Reformed Doctrine--notably in the views of what happened in the Fall and what the nature of the Atonement was. And while those issues are not peripheral, the Orthodox observance of Lent is not unlike what Dallas Willard instructs in his books on spiritual disciplines: putting our bodies to use in the service of our souls through the denial of certain things for a season is as orthodox (little "o") as can be. We might go this direction not to lay undue burdens upon us, or to suggest that through our personal privation God is somehow obliged to bless. Rather, whatever we can do to wrestle against the flesh, the world, and the devil by the intentional refocusing of our attentions upon our Lord and His claims upon us can only glorify Him and fortify us in the process.

Details to follow. In the meantime, if you can find other background information on Lent you think helpful to our consideration and preparation for it, pass along the links!

heard and noted. . .

2006-02-20T06:34:00.000-08:00

this uttered yesterday by our own Erika McIntyre while lunching with 20+ at the Angry Dog in Deep Ellum:

"I've never been to more bars since I started coming to this church..."

black and white

2006-02-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

By this time you've likely read plenty about what to think about the response to the cartoons. I think Piper's comments here are helpful.

Religious sensitivities are to be respected, but you see in this whole debacle a stark contrast between Christ's response to vilification (to be sure, to a far greater degree than anything that's been published in newspapers of late) and this response.

Anyway, as always, the invitation to discuss remains open!

This Just In....Christian Kitsch Lives

2006-02-06T06:39:00.000-08:00

ugh. Click here.

think it would work?

2006-01-30T14:20:00.000-08:00

Go here. Laugh, then weep. You wonder sometimes how many people are operating subconsciously from this angle.

in search of nothing

2005-12-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

I've spoken about the need to engage in solitude before here, but even if you felt the urge to do so, would you know a place where you could hope to find true quiet? Do such places exist in our locale that don't require an hour-long commute each way? Funny you should ask. Have a look at this link: http://solitudehub.blogspot.com/

"Peace, be still"

The Balance of Life

2005-12-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

Today I read this article http://www.slate.com/id/2129883/?GT1=7428 on msn.com about a writer named Marjorie Williams who died this past January of liver cancer. This article is something you should read because within it’s sentences I see a parallel of our own Christian life, and more specifically a balance of how our lives should be in the world but not of the world. Meghan O’Rourke writes that Marjorie Williams is a “journalist that made feminism matter.” She describes Marjorie as a woman who brought feminism back to the center, who packed real life struggles and emotions into the daily decisions and hardships of life into her writing.

“The aim to achieve true equality at home was harder than it looked. Working moms were always going to feel torn between the playroom and the laptop, and there were no homiletic answers. There was only the truth, in her case, that "the complexity of doing right by those you love" is tougher than being a brain surgeon. You can't get it right.” As Christians, we have this dichotomy within our hearts of sinful nature and desiring to serve and honour a righteous king. We don’t have this simply laid out plan that we can follow every minute of the day and lay out with every suffering that comes into life. Decisions have to be made and our desire is that they bring us deeper into intimacy with Christ. Every decision has consequence and our ultimate goal is to honour God and we aspire to make decisions that emulate Christ and show His love, and what it looks like to love like Him. So, though Marjorie bases her truth on the love of her family, we base our truth on the love of a saviour.

I want to be a person who makes Christianity matter here. I’m not going to get everything right, and I will always make mistakes, but realizing that life’s decisions are difficult and have consequence to those around me, is so important to understand. We can’t run so far from the "line" that we disengage from those who don’t know Christ and for that matter don’t understand why we live the way we do. We also can’t become so a part of this world that we are no longer any different. God brings order to the world, and so, as his children, we also need to strive to have order in truth that we live and understand.

throw away lines

2005-11-19T06:13:00.000-08:00

"our thoughts and prayers go out to (x)"

"sorry we can't be there in person, but we're with you in spirit"

"he's not gone [dead] so long as he lives in our hearts"

what are some of your most exasperating throw-away lines: those patently double-tongued phrases people feel the need to say because they can't think of anything else to say, even though what they say is furthest from what they're really thinking or believing?

who are you? who, who? who, who?

2005-11-17T06:13:00.000-08:00

From our earliest days we have this urge to put on alternative personas or engage in imaginary realities. I would savor pretending to be an astronaut. I would look forward to my buddies coming over in the afternoon to play a simulated war game with all our plastic m-16's and silver-painted 6-shooters. The interesting thing about our generation is that technology has allowed us to indulge that preference for donning identities not our own and living vicariously in worlds we'll never travel to. Does the explosion of media for catering to that need have any long-term effects? Here's an article written in last month's The New Atlantis about what our penchant for slipping into something a little more. . .whatever you want it to be, might be doing to us. What do you think?

at beside with Hannah, part II

2005-11-09T16:06:00.000-08:00

I went back to visit Hannah again this afternoon, still perturbed by the fact that I could feel sweat rolling down my back and it was a third of the way into November. I keep waiting for Fall to stop being so spineless and stand its ground. Summer's had its day and is now acting like those people in your life who utter protracted, aimless monologues at you, like they're trying to make up for lost time when they were a child.

I digress.

Hannah was her jovial self, but not in an over-the-top, "you are from another planet" way. She's just optimistic and, to be honest, it was rather refreshing to hear someone whose outlook wasn't so bleak.

She's been there almost two weeks now and will likely go home Friday.

But I write not to tell you of minutiae but to continue the story that continues to unfold for her...and I think also for yours and my benefit, courtesy of our Maker.

Last night, a number of nurses were visiting her to check on her progress. When the small contingent had finished their review, one stayed back, and waited for the rest to depart. Hannah had never had a conversation with this young nurse before, but without hesitation, the young woman came right out and asked Hannah if she would help her understand Scripture. She owned a KJV but with her family back on another continent, she had no one here with whom she could share her desire to understand Scripture's overall message.

Hannah, wide eyed at the fact that she'd never spoken with this woman before, began a simple explanation of the Gospel. In time, the nurse seemed to grasp Hannah's unvarnished, extemporaneous retelling of the grace of God.

Hannah, as you may remember from the last post, had prayed for another nurse's pregnancy in recent days, but somehow knowledge of Hannah's knowledge of Scripture had found its way to this other nurse. And now this second nurse, desirous to get beneath the surface of the Biblical text, sought her out--this octogenarian undergoing some pretty grueling physical therapy each day.

Hannah's exasperation early into her hospital stay stemmed from the sense that she was of no purpose in present circumstances. Praying for the pregnant nurse began to chip away at that notion; this second encounter put it to rest.

It's what she said in passing that stays with me: the joy in being available to the Father for His purposes made her pain bearable. She hadn't sought the pain; she wasn't relishing the pain; but the engagement in representing Him in whatever way she was able did something to the pain. I doubt it acted like some sort of analgesic, but it did make its size and significance begin to shrink.

Hannah is what you call "abiding" in Him. It's no opiate, but it is the way to being included in His work, which has the interesting capacity to make whatever suffering therein mysteriously more, as she said, bearable.

thus endeth her lesson today....

standing at Hannah's bedside...

2005-11-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

There’s an older woman in our church community—let’s call her Hannah—whom I was blessed (and I don’t use that word thoughtlessly here) to visit this morning in the hospital. She’d recently taken a tumble and broken her left arm and left hip. Despite the pain in both areas and the difficulty in the therapy for the hip, she was able to muster up the humor to explain that now she was balanced again: she’d broken the other hip a little over a year ago. The right hip had weighted her down. She was now no longer listing to starboard.

We exchanged kindnesses; I inquired about her progress and when the doctors felt they might release her. She confessed this fall had made her a little angry with God, but after a little reflection she had asked for His forgiveness, insisting that it wasn’t Him she was mad at. It was the simple circumstance of the fall, and the time it would take to get back on her feet, and all the discomfort in between that had drawn her ire—if the woman whose sweet spirit seemed so fundamental to her could indeed foment something like “ire.”

What beset her most was the waiting—having to wait until things were as back to normal as they could be—and what to do with that time, how to be useful.

And then she told me a little story about how she’d tried to do just that—be useful.

A young nurse had been taking care of her a few days prior. A pregnant nurse. She was, Hannah told me, such a slight woman that if you looked at her from behind you couldn’t tell she was pregnant. But after she and Hannah had established a minimum of rapport, Hannah came right out and asked her, “are you a Christian?” (Clearly, Hannah has never been through sensitivity training.)

Hannah perhaps represents a generation who, for all their interest in good manners, doesn’t assume that a religious question like Hannah’s was intrinsically offensive. She imported no animus into her question and therefore assumed her nurse wouldn’t import it either. If Hannah had been born closer to my generation, and she were a bettin’ woman, she might have wagered her nurse would adopt the popular angst when posed such questions; religion is a private affair we are told. Questions of that sort should be solicited, not posed. Had Hannah been as concerned with how a simple question might be received, she might’ve then opted to forgo the question all together.

Fortunately, she didn’t—a potentially awkward moment averted because Hannah didn’t know any better. And fortunately for both of them, her nurse took no umbrage at the unvarnished, unassuming question. The nurse, instead, answered quite honestly that she didn’t know if she were a Christian but conceded she was not a churchgoer. Again, another potentially awkward moment: How might Hannah respond to her nurse’s admission of being outside the Christian fold? How would I respond in that moment? Befuddled silence? Would I offer some sort of silly invitation I didn’t mean like, “well, would you like to go to church with me sometime?”—as if her reasons for not going could be distilled down into the mere fact that no one had invited her before. Or would I try to cover over even the slightest possibility of offense by cowering with some sort of silly “well, with your hours I’d want to sleep in too!”?

Hannah felt no awkwardness though. She responded simply with a simple request: could she, nonetheless, pray for the child growing inside?

Regardless of what that nurse might’ve thought of Christians or their Christianity, it may be hoped that Hannah’s request was interpreted as nothing less than a simple act of love. Whether that’s true, Hannah doesn’t know. But whatever the nurse thought, Hannah’s request was received with the love with which it was intended. The nurse welcomed the offer.

Hannah prayed for that baby, and, according to her, any time she mentioned Jesus’ name, the baby kicked, or leapt, or did a uterus-dive, or whatever.

That’s love.

And that’s evangelism in the real world.

I was thankful for my time with Hannah today.

for those in class yesterday....

2005-11-07T10:46:00.000-08:00

what'd I tell you:

"At the end of the day, I don't have to worry about what people think of me, whether they hate me or not. People hated on Jesus. They threw stones at him and tried to kill him, so how can I complain or worry about what people think?"
-- Owens to Miami Herald, July, 2005

hubris so uncorked, it bruises anyone near it...

Cristo Rey needs Basketball Coaches!

2005-11-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

Cristo Rey now has about 10 eight and nine year old boys signed up to play on a team that we are sponsoring in the YMCA’s basketball league. Just one catch: we need a coach. Ideally, this would be a Christian man (though we would be glad to have women assist in coaching – we just have a lot of boys who don’t have fathers in the home and it would be good for them to have some male figures in their lives) who has a solid knowledge of basketball fundamentals and who would be able to open and close practices with prayer. We will be assigned a practice time one evening during the week, and games are on Saturday starting in December. We will need the coach to pass a background check – which we can pay for. Please contact Josh Geiger for more information or to sign up!

Your Momma does dance...

2005-11-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

in case you haven't gotten your fill of our exploration of the Church, your "mother," have a look at this essay by Derek Thomas, aptly entitled, Mother Church. And while you're there have a look around a whole new website called Reformation 21.

question from the hip

2005-11-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

are we a thankful generation? what evidence would you provide to substantiate your answer?

God and the World Series

2005-10-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

on a lighter note (or a heavier note if you're from Houston, which I am). . .

Richard Neuhaus (editor of First Things [www.firstthings.com] and parish priest in New York City) writes of the altercation he had to break up yesterday over a baseball issue:

Richard John Neuhaus writes:

Recriminations abound. At Immaculate Conception down on First Avenue and 14th Street, where I say Mass regularly, I was this morning required to adjudicate a near-violent dispute between a young black man and an elderly Irish regular at daily Mass. Did or did not George Steinbrenner betray the Yankees by trading Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Jose Contreras, all of whom now loom large in the series between the Astros and White Sox? I was tempted to quote Our Lord, “Who made me a judge between you?” But they would not be satisfied with that. Taking the side of Steinbrenner on anything is a losing proposition in New York. So I opined that 20/20 hindsight is too easy. At the time it may have seemed a smart decision to let them go, but, after what they’ve done this season, it looks stupid. “The Church is always standing up for the bad guys,” responded the young man. I assured him the Church had no official position on George Steinbrenner, but he did not even try to disguise his skepticism. It’s not easy being a parish priest. Nor did either of these gentlemen take any consolation from the prospect of the White Sox winning on Tuesday evening, although the elderly regular said he had been to Chicago once and it was “a nice enough town.”

my head hangs low for the scrappy but hapless 'stros, but the story of a 15-30 team in May making it to the Show--well I take great comfort in that.

do you really have to be taught to hate?

2005-10-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

Whenever you read a story or hear about an individual who is unabashedly prejudiced or racist, it's only a matter of minutes before you hear the "voice of reason" explaining that this kind of hatred is yet more evidence that, as the song in South Pacific sings, "you have to be taught to hate."

"You've got to be taught to hate and fear,
you've got to be taught from year to year,
it's got to be drummed in your dear little ear---
you've got to be carefully taught!. . . ."

This afternoon I read of a two Olsen-like set of twins who've made it onto the national scene with their, I suppose, "hip" style of exalting such infamously racist figures as Hitler and his cadre. And of course, as you have come to expect, their unambiguously racist banter has immediately been labeled as one more instance of the inculcation of hate--hate that would never have emerged were it not "taught" them.

I would not deny that these twin tweeners have been bestowed a whole agenda that will, for a season, garner them a spike of blushing attention. Had they never been introduced to Hitler, to an ideology espousing the alleged advantages of a "pure" race, to the base lies that a diverse people is a doomed people, I'm reluctant to say they (the most ignorant pre-teens or the most learned baby-boomers) would've conjured such ideas themselves--much less turn those ideas into an agenda. But do you think hate--that mysterious feeling that is ironically "delicious" (nod to Frederica Mathewes-Greene) to those who indulge in it-- is really some force that would not penetrate the human soul unless it were put in us by something external to us? The drive to hate, the urge to think oneself superior, the proclivity to shift blame to the "other" to such a degree that the blame manifests in contempt--sure, personalities, experiences or other external things may, as it were, add fuel to the fire, but is that fire not somehow kindled by something within?

I'm a pastor. That disqualifies my perspective in many eyes because I come to the table with the presupposition that there is something fundamentally flawed within us--that sin, often manifested in hatred, comes all too naturally for us. But based on the evidence of history, or on your own experiences, is it too simple to conclude that "you have to be taught to hate?" The objects of hatred, I concede, require something pointing us to them, but the propensity to see them as worthy of hatred--who can argue with Solzhenitsyn when he says, every human heart is shot through with wickedness?

never pleasant; often productive

2005-10-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

We may have opened Pandora's box slightly yesterday by exploring the place of Church of discipline, but in this case, it may be worth the trouble. As I promised, here's a link to a sermon by Jonathan Edwards that speaks to how we exercise judicious and compassionate discipline in various scenarios. That of which he speaks of will seem awfully foreign to our ears, but inasmuch as he outlines what to do in extreme circumstances--in the cases of "gross sin"--there is value in this discussion for how we should treat the less heinous improprieties we find among us.

As is customary, I couldn't possibly do the topic justice, so here's a little section below I left out that summarizes (incompletely) how valuing the place of discipline would look in me, in us as a community, and in you as an individual member of that community.

so, as usual, share your thoughts. Expose my blind-spots. Suggest how this might look in us.

What would a healthy regard for Church discipline look like in me, in us, and in you personally?

It would mean I would take more than a passing interest in your maturing, that I would not merely be content with putting together a coherent lesson, but that it would seek to be for yours and mine maturing in the faith
I would refuse simply to preach to you at arms-length but take a more personal interest in you…and, by the same token, invite your observation of me to give me appropriate reproof when necessary (some of you already have!)

We would seek to act as a united front to preserve the Church’s witness as a people set apart to be and do something—something more than being labeled a “churchgoing people” or merely meeting together on Sundays
We would seek to master the balancing act of upholding the purity and sanctity of the church while not emptying it of the grace that brought her into existence and sustains and enriches that existence

You:

You would take an interest in one another’s interests and in the holiness of those interests
You would refuse to let someone’s besetting sins be someone else’s problem.
You would neither relish the reproof (by seeking to punish or take vengeance) nor refrain from offering it (to avoid conflict or to maintain a thin veneer of friendship)

single, but....and yet, ....

2005-10-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

We're a community of predominantly single people but that notwithstanding we make concerted effort not to label us as a singles ministry because it would seem to be highlighting something that, while true, is not how we would like single people to think of themselves primarily. Singleness, despite the ambivalence with which the culture (and sometimes the Church) regards it, is not to be thought of as some second-class, "in between" time--that is, as if it were just some sort of holding pattern we must all endure before we get to the "real" life that is marriage and family. The privileges of singleness are not insubstantial but the longer one conceives of their singleness as some sort of purgatorial sentence, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Still, it is not as if we are trying to perpetuate singleness, but we labor in such a way as to see that everyone lives faithfully and passionately in whatever status they presently inhabit.

All that as a prelude to this article on what appears to be our innate need for connectedness. I wonder what you think. Chime in.

and, while you're at it, how do we help foster the kind of "authoritative community" the article speaks of--the kind of community that is paradoxically both needed and avoided by most in our culture? His article and this concept of community is grounded on research in a new book on the effects of the absence of such communities. The Holy Spirit's role notwithstanding, how do we improve the ways we engender an ethos that is "committed to one another over time and who exhibit and are able to pass on what it means to be a good person?"

dig deep...with help

2005-09-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

The benefit of the sacraments is tied in no small way to the self-examination that accompanies their partaking and/or witnessing. Sharing in the bread and (wine) necessitates an inner review; the sign of baptism is meant to cause us to reconsider our own baptisms anew. So it's worth entering into the work of self-examination with a little more structure perhaps. Introspection can easily run aground into either a very superficial consideration of self or a far too belabored, encumbering, paralyzing exercise. Jonathan Edwards preached an entire sermon on what is the nature, purpose, and manner of self-examination taking the Psalmist's request of God to "search me, O, God" (PS 139) as his starting point. It's not short and sweet but it is rich.

What has to circumscribe our exercise of self-examination is an abiding belief that is the Spirit of God who accompanies you. The Spirit does not take lightly our sin or our unwitting cherishing of it; that's why we have to be patient in the process and willing to face things that may deeply sober us (sorta like Scrooge being led about by the various ghosts to see difficult things). But we also have to remember the Spirit doesn't take us by the hand through this process and then simply cut us loose to go figure out the remedy ourselves. He is like the physician whose job it is not only to diagnose pathologies but also prescribe treatments.

It is never a waste of time to ask yourself why you do what you do. Self-examination brings that more sharply into focus. And in those moments where no explanation can be found as to what prompts those responses--those self-aggrandizing or cold-hearted habits--but the nature we have inherited from Adam (for which we remain responsible), we lay ourselves upon the Spirit's surgical table, as it were, and ask for Him to excise what we cannot (and often would not) do.

I commend to you Edward's treatise on looking inward. It's worth printing out and keeping in a safe place that you might refer back to it regularly.

Boromir on Toddlers

2005-09-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Boromir says something so very relevant about the nurture of a two and a half year old. Shamus gives us great joy, but his antics of late...well, they don't call the terrible twos for nothing.

making the most of your 11 o'clock hour

2005-09-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

We explored the nature of the Word and the nature of receiving its wisdom yesterday. One source I found helpful in getting my mind and heart around the subject was none other than the reknowned preacher of the 18th century, George Whitefield. Even the philandering deist, Benjamin Frankin, wept contritely at his open-air sermons that would draw thousands. He lines out here in this treatise how best to listen to sermons. If you consider how much time you've spent sitting in various settings hearing innumerable messages, and then you wonder how much good all that listening has really done (or not done)...it might be in your best interests to reconsider your modus operandi for receiving the Word. Bon Appetit.

every drop in the bucket helps

2005-09-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who helped us organize a little supply-drive Sunday morning. David, Sam, Nick, Kirk, and myself headed for the Convention Center/Reunion Arena but were turned away, having been informed they were "maxed out" with supplies. A couple phone calls later we were on our way to the Residence Inn off LBJ and Hillcrest where there was a sizable effort going on to collect whatever displaced people might need. The representative for Residence explained, almost in tears, that a garage sale that a few women had conceived of had burgeoned into a massive, city-wide supply-drive. By the time we'd arrived, they'd already filled nearly 15 of those 18-wheeler trailers and had dispatched them to a number of places in Louisiana and elsewhere.

If you weren't at PCPC Sunday, our church has birthed a bold plan asking PCPC families (which includes YOU, even if you're single! partner with 2 or 3 other folks!) to contribute both financially and in some persistent and tangible ways to help victims of the storm establish a new life. Have a look. Dick Steele just stopped by my office to let me know Interfaith Housing has already screened and assigned PCPC 190 familes for us to "adopt!" PCPC's strategy of having four (4) family units rally around, pray for, and brainstorm a plan of action will begin within 2 days. So sign up at the desginated page. We need A BUNCH more "family units" to help provide for all the familes we've promised to adopt. This will be a messy work that will likely not follow your schedule or your expectations, but if this ain't Gospel work, I don't know what is.

Also, the PCA has begun to outline how churches in our denomination can serve the affected areas. I've signed 20+ up as a prospective work team. As they become more aware of what's needed and can organize a scheduled plan of bringing in volunteer work teams (if everyone were to flock there right now, it would create more problems than solve them), we will very likely send a team down. Stay tuned. If you don't live alone ( and would be willing to house a displaced person--either from our denomination or outside it-- sign up at the PCA's relief registration page.

Right now, this all seems exciting. In time, the lustre of "helping" will wear off. Then our convictions will be tested. Prepare. What Skip said Sunday about the essence of Paul's prayers has eminent application for us in this work. We will need spiritual insight to know how best to serve; and we will need spiritual strength to continue in this work when it gets hard, frustrating, or not as immediately fruitful as you had hoped. The part about Paul's prayer pertaining to 'patience and endurance'--it's as if Paul knew precisely what we would need in order to 'bear fruit for God, please God, and walk in a manner worthy of God.' Pray. Buckle Down.

help? here's how

2005-08-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a few ways to help. Click here if you want to contribute to PCPC's Hurricane Relief Fund. (An initial contribution of $25K has already been sent by our church) Click here if you'd like to house a displaced family for a while (the Family Research Council has recommended this effort, and they'd be unlikely to do so without vetting the organization). We're waiting to hear from the PCA's Disaster Relief Team to fill us in on how we can help with efforts on the ground; here's their application if you'd like to volunteer to go there and help. And here's their update from Aug 30.

disrobing depravity

2005-08-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

"I grew up in a very typical Midwest Methodist home, where there wasn't a lot of hugging and kissing. My life has been a response to that." --Hugh Hefner, founder and CEO of Playboy Magazine.

You might say that our depravity expresses itself most clearly in how we either shift blame elsewhere for our actions or at least minimize our own contribution to what we've done. I know in my soul that when confronted with my absence of integrity, my first response is to look for a scapegoat, or to minimize the significance of my action. So depravity is kind of like the chameleon that wants to blend in and have everyone believe it isn't really there. It lurks; it slinks, but it doesn't want to be found.

perhaps our most embarrassing lack

2005-08-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

taize
Brother Roger took James' words of being "quick to listen, slow to speak" and established an entire sacred space around them. Taize is a Catholic retreat center in southern France where pilgrims, both Catholic and Protestant, seek a quieter, more devotedly prayerful refuge. Brother Roger was killed two weeks ago by a deranged woman. His desire to make capacious room for prayer is not thwarted though.

Why do we find lingering silence so unnerving? Why, when we gather in groups to pray do we feel the need to either cut short or fill up the moments of "nothing?"

linking to the Law

2005-08-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a decent link (make sure to follow the links it points you to also) to an essay that may help clarify the issues related to the place of the Law in the life of the Church. Perhaps lost in the melange of texts yesterday was this simple thesis: the Law, so defined as the character and will of God expressed in the form of instruction to God's people and in accordance with God's unfolding plan in history, remains of abiding concern for God's people, those redeemed by God's Son. Since God never changes, any instruction to His people consonant with His character remains ever applicable. And since the function of any given Law relates to the place in the story of God's unfolding plan, then whatever laws were meant to foreshadow what would be accomplished in Christ are no longer necessary since He has now come and done what those laws foreshadowed. Goes without saying, the topic is so vast.

The excuse of being a sinner is getting old.

2005-08-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

For many months I have been reading through excerpts from “Spiritual Revival the Want of the Church” by Charles Spurgeon. With each read through I see things that were once hidden to my heart. As Spurgeon said, “We Christians need a revival of piety in our lives…It is well known that it is no guarantee of a man’s honesty that he is a member of the church.” It’s certainly not that we deny our sinfulness so that we all “look” good on the outside. Nor is it that we just accept sinfulness as an excuse. I think the excuse of being a sinner is getting old. Something that I desire is to be more appalled by sin. I’m tired of the church overlooking not only our sin, but turning a blind eye to the sin of our brothers and sisters.

Great, we’re all sinners and we all know it. Shall I start passing out certificates of achievement? Somehow sin has become something that we recognize and we keep on sinning with no expectation to be rebuked. I want to fight against sin and not just acknowledge it. The last thing I want is to be surrounded by people who don’t care enough about my spiritual health by allowing me to continue in my sin. I have found the friends who became the closest to me have been the ones who, early in our relationship, made it clear that they were in my life to be my family at whatever the cost. No amount of my sinful heart would drive them away because it is understood that we are in need of each other. And isn’t that what it should be?

Yesterday, as I wrote the above paragraphs, I sensed that I was leaving out something pivotal. This morning I received a text message from a friend who works at a church in Irving about an article he had written about holiness. And I realized the cause of Christ and the glory of the Father far exceeds our insecurities to be deeply involved in each others’ lives. We need to learn to strive for God’s holiness, rather than attempting to “be holy.” By this I mean God is the object of His own affection because there is no other good. We must not “mistake outward piety for inward purity.” We must seek to uphold and desire that which is most good; we must ask to be made holy after only that which is most holy, God. “I’m a sinner” is a phrase too often used to excuse us from our disobedience to God, rather than confession and repentance of our fallenness to the Father. Our life is about God’s Holiness, and me passionately pursuing that and finding joy in Him. Saying goodbye to self is a difficult path, but one marked with grace through Christ.

Sara Kerens

(Check out the article by Brandon Florey at http://www.macarthurchurch.com/index.php?id=99.)

goal: say more with less

2005-08-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Skip was back yesterday (Incidentally, the comparison with Mick Jagger--I'm not seeing it), and aren't we all glad. Here's a devotional of his (Molly Goodson kindly unearthed and forwarded it to me) that says in far fewer words what I tried to explain yesterday about Israel and the Church. Consider the dramatic irony in speaking to this issue considering what Israel faces even this very day!

Into the breech: let's discuss the Law

2005-08-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

Prep for this Sunday's exploration of the Law as it pertains to the Church: Have a look here at the West Wing's comment on the Law. What's credible about Bartlett's portrayal? What's conveniently left out of his tirade that might undercut his case? We'll try to nail down how the Church ought to regard the Law--Law as the instructions God gives us. And we'll also try to make sense of all the different kinds of laws--some as odd as they are old to us--we find in the Old Testament: which laws are no longer binding on the Church and how can we, if at all , discern the difference.

weights, measures, and you

2005-08-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

In case you weren't at vespers last night, here's my meditation on Deut 25:13-16. I still have a lot to learn about finding unity in a message, and then not making all these complicated shifts in the message.

Deut. 25:13 "You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15 A full and fair* weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.

We find in the Book of Deuteronomy, laws on the grandest scale, as well as those pertaining to the smallest of details. But every Law Moses enumerates from the Spirit of God has the same function: to provide and preserve true life in the land God’s chosen people were about to occupy. From the majestic dimensions of the Tabernacle to the fabric of the tassles worn by the Priesthood, there is no aspect of Israel’s life in the land for which God has no concern. That concern extends even to how people conducted themselves in commercial transactions:

13 "You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small.

In our day we stand at a gas pump and assume the measurement of the gas it says we’re getting is true to the amount of gas we’re actually purchasing. Imagine the chaos that would follow were we to discover that we’d been defrauded in our purchase. That’s why you see a sticker on every pump from, ironically, the Bureau of Weights and Measures, certifying its accuracy. Especially now, when gas costs so much, accurate weights and measures are so essential. It is to our advantage to have accurate readings.

For Israel, stability would issue from trust—trust in their Lord and trust in one another. In all things, fidelity. In all things, equity. That’s why two unequal kinds of weights and measures are here unequivocally banned. To purchase grain in ancient Israel, you would place your weight on the merchant’s scale, and he would keep adding grain to his side of the scale until the scale balanced. But if the buyer’s weight was actually heavier than he admitted, the seller would unwittingly place more grain on the scale to offset the difference. In the end, the seller would be defrauded of grain. This defrauding could be practiced by buyer and seller alike. If the seller misrepresented his weight, the buyer would leave with less than what he’d paid for. So the practice of using inequitable weights and measures was for one’s personal advantage. Therefore God outlines succinctly the integrity that must be between fellow Israelites, and then broadens its consequences both positively and negatively.

15 A full and fair* weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God

At issue here, of course, is integrity; dishonesty is the vice that threatens a society. But there’s a theme contained herein whose implications far exceed that of commercial interests. It’s the theme of right and true measurement. For Israel, life—true life—would issue from an appeal and a submission to right measure.

So, consider: Each of us brings into the world, so to speak, one kind of measure—a self-made measure of ourselves, our value, our rights. From our earliest days, we consider ourselves to be worthy of finding true and satisfying life in the world. And in our first considerations of God, who doesn’t at first assume we’re worthy of His favor? We tend to see ourselves as essentially good, or at least, unworthy of anything unfavorable to our condition. And even if we don’t intuitively arrive at that conclusion, surely we are immersed in a culture that, like the tide, continually washes over us with the notion that our hearts are just fine, good enough, even untainted. And in that air of positive thinking, we are likewise prone to measure the holiness of God too lightly, or to conceive of it too arbitrarily.

Such is the weight and measure of ourselves we bring to the scales.

Our Lord, however, brings another weight and measure. In Him is the true weight of God’s holiness displayed. Jesus walked the Earth as a sinless Man, showing all who saw Him what God was like in ways no one had seen before. Jesus’ attentiveness to the Father, His confidence in the Spirit, His perseverance through suffering for the glory of God—every step He took meted out to us a little more of the measure of God and the weight of His glory. Add to that His Zeal for God’s name to be revered and His righteousness to be manifested in His people—surely God’s Holiness was of foremost concern, and in Him we feel the true weight of that holiness.

But so, too, is the true measure of our condition revealed. Jesus didn’t pull any punches in His assessments of those He encountered. Among the irreligious, he awakened them to the folly of their pursuits. Among the religious, he warned them even more strenuously of mistaking outward piety for inner holiness. He confronted them. . .and he confronts us at our deepest level, incisively addressing our hearts—dissatisfied with effecting mere behavioral change or slavish mimicry. But why should He be so up front with us? Why call out so unflinchingly the darkness He finds in us? Because He knows who and how we are. He knows the games we play, the lies we tell ourselves, the pretense we cling to, the fear we won’t admit. The longer we cherish our version of ourselves, the longer we live lives out of the balance He means for us.

The Table from which we are about to partake—think of it again as the scale by which God measures several quantities. In the broken bread and the poured out wine—in this, Jesus’ body and blood spiritually represented to us--He places before us how weighty is God’s holiness and how devoid we are of it.

And it is in seeing that disparity between what we have and what God requires that we see the other quantity that brings balance to the scales: His grace. Only love, expressed in grace could supply what was lacking in us. And in seeing that disparity resolved we are nourished—nourished deeply by the Spirit who means to keep us mindful of His holiness and His ability to overcome our lack.

The measure of ourselves we bring into the world we use for our advantage—not unlike the scurrilous Israelite who would seek to defraud his neighbor: the longer I think my version of myself is true, the longer I can think what I deserve is true. Yet, in the end, we must concede that God, seeing all things, shall not be defrauded of His will, or His Justice, or His Glory. The Cross bears that out. The Cross tells us that God would not be defrauded of the holiness He sought from those He created. God’s zeal for equity explains why it took such a radical and costly sacrifice to bring balance and reconciliation between man and God. He would not be defrauded by those who bring faulty and false forms of measure.

So, as you come forward momentarily, think of your approach as placing your weight upon His scale and seeing its utter weightlessness. And as you are handed the bread and wine, think of them as God’s placing the weight of His Holiness upon the scale, and see its immeasurable weigh. And then as you partake, consider the grace He supplies to bring balance to His scale—not only to bring balance, but to bring life. For Israel, rich life had to do with right measurement. It is the same for you today. Submitting to His true measure is the only way to find and enjoy His true life. For it’s in the Grace we receive through this sacrament that we find the life He meant for us. Appeal to His measure. It is to your advantage.

Lacuna, Inc.

2005-08-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Remember Lacuna Inc. in that movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Lacuna means "gap" or "missing piece," which explains the name of the industry promising to impose a gap in that part of your memory you'd rather forget. I confess a 24-hour bout with a lacuna of the mind as I explored unity of the Church with you Sunday. We lament the lack of unity among the churches who claim Christ as Lord. But how does our attention to unity in the local church have any impact on the lack thereof in the worldwide Church? I've got no good answers for you, save the curt, optimistic idea that unity in the local church can somehow cause "good infection" elsewhere. Do you think unity will or should emerge from the top-down (leadership of various denominations)? Or do you seeing it happen as a "grass roots" effort--congregations, presbyteries, dioces, communions doing the grunt work and beseeching their clergy to make overtures toward other denominations? Share your thoughts. While you're at it, have a look at an editorial (you may have to give your email address to see the article, but its free) from Tuesday's Dallas Morning News. It is the lament of an African-American man who's grown weary with a church's misplaced priorities. Inasmuch as he addresses African-American churches, his words should give any church pause. Ours included.

Steps toward Unity?

2005-07-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Before you come Sunday, have a look, if time, at two documents: the first is a summary statement of the movement known as Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT). They've written a series of documents explaining where Protestant Evangelicals and Roman Catholics appear to be on the same page, and what implications such unanimity of opinion has for cooperation in the work of Kingdom-Building. The second is a response by our denomination, the PCA, to that effort. I confess a certain sympathy for ECT--that these two communities of Christendom would genuinely look past ancillary distinctions and form a bold and broad new parternship in all things gloryifying Christ. I want that to be true. But when I read the PCA response, I can't get past the notion that our unity must be founded on something other than a desire to be unified; to follow that route makes fidelity to the apostolic witness unnecessary, and as we've discussed, if you discard the fundamentals of the apostles, you lose the Church. It's not as if ECT has spearheaded an effort to cast a blind eye to fundamental theological differences; if you have even more time, have a look at their estimation of what really separates Catholics from Protestants on the understanding of Salvation. But they have concluded that differences over the nature of salvation should not preclude substantive cooperation, collegiality--everything short of sharing Communion--between these two communities of faith. So have a look. Cogitate. Share your thoughts here. See you Sunday.

on death and dying.....and hope

2005-07-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

When's the last time you've been around someone who is dying? And what would you have said (and how would you have said it) if called upon to offer them hope? And while we're at it, why do you think this question isn't relevant until you're older?
Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

the significance of being "already" and "not yet"

2005-07-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

All this talk of what it means to be a holy church, and I forget to mention two reasonable applications of the fact that we are "already" holy and "not yet" holy! As it pertains to the fact that we're "already" holy, I think that asks us to expect more from one another. Our flesh (in the deceitful sense), our pride of life--all those things we're called to renounce--notwithstanding, that the Spirit dwells within gives us good reason to have confidence in the possibility of our sinning less. So lest you throw your hands up in holy exasperation, resigning yourself to the notion that no good thing can emerge from the human soul, think again. Being already Holy speaks to our potential for expressing that holiness.

Now as for our being "not yet" Holy, I think that addresses our reactions to the presence of unholiness. In other words, when we encounter what appears to be the absence of holiness in one another, we may be tempted to write one another off, or even to write the church off as a place "full of hypocrites" (the cliche so many use to justify their absence from the Church community). But the other's being "not yet" holy should only be a reminder that we, too, are in the same struggle. It's within that "not yet" community that we are stretched into reflecting grace back toward those who wrong us, and persevering in love for the community that, while imperfect (and often exasperating), is precisely what God must do (and does) for our sakes.

thoughts?

the community you keep

2005-07-23T08:04:00.000-07:00

We're very late in having seen Million Dollar Baby. Surely it will test your convictions. Instead of stepping into the fierce and complicated discussion on euthanasia though, I'd like to propose a question to all of you concerning a larger theme in the background of the movie. How does the community you keep shape your view of the world, of self, and of the point to life? If she had been in a different kind of community might her outlook have been different? Or should our view of present circumstances be the final arbiter, as she allowed them to be? Discuss.

What is Beauty?

2005-07-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

What is beauty? For the past several weeks I have been involved in a study with a heterogeneous group of women at PCPC with the purpose of examining beauty and introspectively searching our own lives to understand our hearts better. Through this study and petitions to the Father, He has revealed to me ways that I misunderstand and idolize beauty. I have misunderstood the lack of physical beauty to assume untrustworthiness and constitute not getting to know the person. I have idolized beauty in my own life to place high importance that as long as I look good, I will be accepted. And I wonder, through all the ways that the world tells us what beauty is, what if we really worked together to show the world what beauty really is...Christ. That in our sin we would be busy interceding with prayer for those who are blinded by it. That instead of judgement, we would grieve. The more self absorbed we become, the less we will be concerned with our neighbor.

(The picture that I posted above is of a woman I met in Peru who attends the local church. Upon introducing myself and asking of her name, she said, "Somos de la misma familia," we are of the same family. According to the world, this woman has nothing of beauty to offer, but look closer at the beautiful creases in her face, which speak of the depths of her relationship and love for the Father in Heaven.)

2005-07-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

UNITY: IT'S NOT A PIPE DREAM
When the early Church saw fit to enunciate "One" as one of the Church's distinguishing characteristics, who could've imagined how difficult it would've been to preserve that fundamental feature? That Jesus prayed for His Church to be "one as we [He and the Father] are one" (Jn 17:23) in the hours before His arrest only heightens our sense of His deity: He knew well what would most plague the Church He was about to "obtain with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). Of what does our unity consist? Of what should it consist? Have a look here at the perspective of an Eastern Orthodox Christian regarding what our unity must be based upon.

2005-07-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

part of parenting is getting your kids off on the right foot (but what if you put that right foot in the left shoe?)

2005-07-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

(I assured my golden retriever, Maggie, that I've only had eyes for her, but in the words of that famous sage, "if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with"--but only if we're talking about a dog...er...dogs. This is a fireside shot of Patrick in Peru with Timber and....I can't remember the one on the right's name; they're the dogs of the Powlisons, the missionary family to the Quechuan people--see a shot of him, Keith, below)

Here begins what I pray will be a forum that brings us closer together, as skeptical as you might be since most other technolgical advances claiming to bridge the gaps only make them wider. That we are trained to consider one another only once a week--maybe not trained, so much as it becomes habitual--makes the kind of community that genuinely fosters concern for one another's holiness all the more problematic. May this little tool whittle away at what keeps us apart.

Preparing to teach on the church: harder than I expected. The topic is so vast, and its so easy to go down a tributary that, while interesting to the average scholar, would be seemingly of little use to the man or woman on the street. I welcome your prayers.

2005-07-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

"those of whom the world [is] not worthy" (Keith Powlison--missionary to the Quechuan people of Southern Peru)

2005-07-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

20+ Spring Retreat, Pine Cove, TX

2005-07-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

20+ women hard at work at the Union Gospel Mission