In a recent article in The Daily ("Body Politics: No Choice At All," originally published February 12, 2011), writer Jessica Valenti argued that many writers, activists, and general thinkers of the "Pro-Life" cause need to change their position: it is troublesome, says Valenti, that some think that the women who have abortions should face some sort of judicial consequences for their choice.
Let's give Valenti credit for this: she is consistent with her "Pro-Choice" view that the abortion of an unborn child is not, in fact, the taking of a life-- and thus bears no criminal penalty.
Let's give her credit for this also: she is right in pointing out the general inconsistency that many on the "Pro-Life" side exercise when they ignore the need for judicial consequences for all involved parties.
The argument against an criminal charges for aborting mothers is that they are "victims" of a coercive and manipulative system. They are the prey of cruel, heartless baby-killers masquerading as doctors, and they don't really know what they are doing. It would be unfair, the argument goes, to bring any charges against those who were functionally ignorant of the biological or ethical consequences of their acts.
It only took a couple of semesters in college for me to know better. I began college majoring in Theater, and my fellow Theater students were about as diverse as I could possibly imagine; I was quickly exposed to a variety of alternative views on politics, ethics, and relationships. Some of my classmates were surprisingly promiscuous-- yet some of the female students I knew found birth control and contraceptives to be inconvenient and troublesome. Thus, I knew of at least a few women who elected to gamble with unprotected sex, and abortion was the ideal solution to any unwanted consequences of their choices. They weren't unaware of what this procedure entailed; some had been through it more than a couple of times.
This may not be the normal course of events; indeed, my friends and acquaintances may be quite exceptional. In actuality, I believe that the women I knew and described above are not nearly as exceptional as most of us would prefer to think. Either way, I believe we are far too condescending toward women when we treat them as "ignorant" victims.
As a counter-example: the "Pro-Life" movement (such as it is) sometimes uses terms like "holocaust" in association with the large numbers of babies that are aborted annually. Of course, those numbers are horrifying, and insofar as a holocaust (in strict definition) is "destruction or slaughter on a mass scale," then surely, if unborn babies are living humans (which I believe they are), the high rates of abortion amount to a holocaust.
In the wake of the event known as "The Holocaust" we quickly learned how unambiguous our ethical stance on this question should be: those who participated at some level in the killing of millions were not allowed to plead that they were ignorant, nor could they cast the blame on those in positions of authority or superior knowledge. As participants, they were deemed to be accessories to murder or, in fact, murderers.
Why do we view aborting women as if they are uniformly blameless? Surely a functioning justice system would weed out those who were/are, and would determine fair punishment for those who were/are not. Regardless, however, we must have a higher view of life-- especially the lives of the women making the choices about abortion-- than the inconsistent position of a typical "Pro-Lifer" seems to espouse.
Jessica Valenti challenges that a consistent application of the Pro-Life position means that women who have abortions should face criminal consequences: "If abortion becomes illegal, women will go to jail." She is right... and they should.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Refreshing your personal Bible study practices, part 2
This is part two; read part one here.
If you’re stuck in a Bible-reading rut and need some un-sticking, here are some things to consider.
All Study Is Devotional
The odds are good that even in your last year of seminary, you have one or two exegetical and/or theology classes left. These may be the key to jumpstarting your devotional Bible reading.
“Wait,” you say. “Those classes are part of the reason I feel so stuck!” It’s understandable that, when studying the Bible for a class, your devotional approach to the Bible might seem to dry up. That can be true especially when you’re asked to do things like making an analysis of the keywords in the original language or consider the text-critical differences of the early manuscripts. What do you do about the very technical and academic approach to the Bible that you are asked to regularly assume in seminary?
You must learn to embrace the spiritual value of those things, and you must learn that a division of the academic from the devotional— of the head from the heart, so to speak— is a false dichotomy. Everything that a seminary asks of you has devotional value, no matter how academic.1 Remember, what you are doing in those classes is learning how to more closely and accurately determine the meaning and intention of the text— which means that, through the most minute details, you will learn more of what the Bible says and how it says it.
Seminary is an opportunity to learn how to connect head and heart more fully in Bible study. Like so many aspects of seminary, this is vital preparation for real ministry. You will be faced with the same kind of work on a weekly basis, if not daily, and whatever difficulty you have with this now will carry over then; it won’t get easier, it will get harder. What is more, if you cannot connect the study you are doing for sermon and lesson preparation with the devotional, heart and soul-oriented application, you will rob your congregation of the truths the Bible has for them.
Start learning how to approach your academic study devotionally. As you work through the assignments and exercises, ask yourself what application each assignment draws out for you. Consider how the information you gather through the exercise may aid in explaining the meaning of the text to others, and how it helps you understand the text on a personal level. Think about how this new knowledge might affect the way that you would preach or teach that passage. Determine whether the conclusions you draw lend clarity to the meaning, and decide if those conclusions are necessary and/or useful in a devotional sense.
Finding Time
Approaching your academic work with a devotional spirit is helpful, not only because it re-shapes the way you do your assignments, but also because it means that you’ve done some devotional reading already that day!
But you don’t have those assignments every day, and there are times when you may have trouble finding time to do the devotional reading you want to do. It can be a lot easier to find time than you might think.
You probably own more than one copy of the Bible. Try keeping copies in different places all over your house. A Bible in the kitchen, another in the bathroom, one in the living room, and a copy by your bed— suddenly, anytime you have a few spare moments, you can grab a Bible and read it. Keep one in your car, too; how many times are you waiting in a drive-through line and could read a verse or two?
Remember that we must be careful not to be legalistic in how much time we must spend reading the Bible to consider it “devotional” reading. Is 15 minutes enough? How about five? How about just one minute, reading just one verse two or three times through? The length of time is not as important as how much God’s Word is hidden in our hearts where we might meditate upon it. If you use a calendar to organize your day, look over it for occasions when you have small windows of time spent waiting. Maybe in the moments between when you get to class and when the lecture begins, the few minutes after you’re ready but before your carpool picks you up, or the time in the grocery store line as you await checkout, you could grab some quick devotional reading.
Routines (Good & Bad)
Sometimes we can find help in routines for our devotionals. At other times, they can become a prison.
Perhaps, like me, you have struggled over the years with the warring desires of rising early for a lengthy and satisfying time spent reading God’s Word, and the lure of a comfortable bed during the sleepy moments of waking. I have tried time and again to develop this discipline, to no avail.
I want to be careful not to fall into a mystical or legalistic concept of morning devotionals. I don’t believe that rising early for devotional time is inherently any more special or powerful than Bible reading at other times during the day. But I love the thought of rising early and spending the waking moments in God’s Word and in prayer.
Your routines, or desires for them, may be different. I had a friend in college who didn’t feel like her devotionals were complete if she didn’t have a cup of coffee with them, sitting in a certain place, and with absolute silence in her apartment. I knew someone else who felt like their time had been violated if they had an interruption— and he would bark at his wife or children if they spoke to them, “I’m having my Quiet Time!” How contrary!
Familiarity can be good, and the routines you establish for devotionals may be a great aid to you for their regularity. But they might also become enslaving, preventing you from any sense of having communed with God in His Word unless things were “just right.” Or they could become mystical, where the very practice of certain activities (like nestling into a favorite chair with a cup of coffee at your side) take on voodoo-like ritual qualities. Use routines well; be careful that they don’t begin to use you instead.
Re-Starting
If you have fallen out of the habit of reading the Bible, all you have to do is start again. I once had a member in a congregation I served who came to talk to me about feel- ing distant from God. I asked her if she prayed regularly; she replied that she did, but that her prayers felt repetitive and dull. Then I asked her if she read her Bible. “Oh, yes,” she said. “I try to read all the way through my Bible every year!” “That’s wonderful,” I said. “How is your progress lately? How far have you gotten?” She thought about it, and she couldn’t remember. I asked her if she had read it that week, and she said no. I asked if she could remember the last time she read it, and she thought for a moment before replying that she couldn’t. After a few more minutes of interrogation, it turned out that she had begun her reading plan in January, but had gotten bogged down in Leviticus sometime around early February and had stopped reading then. (It was June when we spoke.) After a few weeks of unfulfilled good intentions, she never started back up again, because she was so far behind she knew she would never finish her reading plan within the year. She figured she would just wait and start again next year.
I believe her problem is an all too common one: when we think about our aspirations for Bible reading, we often aim too high. We set a goal that we cannot reach, and therefore we are always discouraged. As I told my congregant, I think that reading through the whole Bible in year is a wonderful goal; but I also think that abandoning Bible reading altogether when it becomes clear that the goal won’t be attained is a tragic consequence of too-lofty ambitions.
When you haven’t read the Bible for a while, just pick it up and read. Open to a Psalm and read just one, or if you’re ready for more then read two. Or go to one of the smaller epistles toward the back of the New Testament and have the satisfaction of reading all the way through a letter in one sitting! (Nevermind that it was only 15 verses.) Try the same with one of the Minor Prophets. Or just read the opening chapter of Genesis, John, or Acts.
In other words, ease back into Bible reading; don’t approach it with a level of ambition you won’t yet have the stamina to sustain. Work up to those larger goals.
Notes:
1 I acknowledge that this is true more often in evangelical seminaries than in others; nevertheless, even in a theologically-liberal seminary where the authority and integrity of the Bible is highly challenged, there can be devotional aspects to the most critical exercises. Those men I know who came through a more liberal theological education with their faith intact did so because they saw every note of criticism and every challenge to biblical accuracy to be an opportunity for them to strengthen their own understanding and belief in Bible truths.
Adapted from From M.Div. to Rev.: making an effective transition from seminary into pastoral ministry by J.E. Eubanks, Jr. (Oakland, TN: Doulos Resources, 2011).
Strategies for Bible Reading
If you’re stuck in a Bible-reading rut and need some un-sticking, here are some things to consider.
All Study Is Devotional
The odds are good that even in your last year of seminary, you have one or two exegetical and/or theology classes left. These may be the key to jumpstarting your devotional Bible reading.
“Wait,” you say. “Those classes are part of the reason I feel so stuck!” It’s understandable that, when studying the Bible for a class, your devotional approach to the Bible might seem to dry up. That can be true especially when you’re asked to do things like making an analysis of the keywords in the original language or consider the text-critical differences of the early manuscripts. What do you do about the very technical and academic approach to the Bible that you are asked to regularly assume in seminary?
You must learn to embrace the spiritual value of those things, and you must learn that a division of the academic from the devotional— of the head from the heart, so to speak— is a false dichotomy. Everything that a seminary asks of you has devotional value, no matter how academic.1 Remember, what you are doing in those classes is learning how to more closely and accurately determine the meaning and intention of the text— which means that, through the most minute details, you will learn more of what the Bible says and how it says it.
Seminary is an opportunity to learn how to connect head and heart more fully in Bible study. Like so many aspects of seminary, this is vital preparation for real ministry. You will be faced with the same kind of work on a weekly basis, if not daily, and whatever difficulty you have with this now will carry over then; it won’t get easier, it will get harder. What is more, if you cannot connect the study you are doing for sermon and lesson preparation with the devotional, heart and soul-oriented application, you will rob your congregation of the truths the Bible has for them.
Start learning how to approach your academic study devotionally. As you work through the assignments and exercises, ask yourself what application each assignment draws out for you. Consider how the information you gather through the exercise may aid in explaining the meaning of the text to others, and how it helps you understand the text on a personal level. Think about how this new knowledge might affect the way that you would preach or teach that passage. Determine whether the conclusions you draw lend clarity to the meaning, and decide if those conclusions are necessary and/or useful in a devotional sense.
Finding Time
Approaching your academic work with a devotional spirit is helpful, not only because it re-shapes the way you do your assignments, but also because it means that you’ve done some devotional reading already that day!
But you don’t have those assignments every day, and there are times when you may have trouble finding time to do the devotional reading you want to do. It can be a lot easier to find time than you might think.
You probably own more than one copy of the Bible. Try keeping copies in different places all over your house. A Bible in the kitchen, another in the bathroom, one in the living room, and a copy by your bed— suddenly, anytime you have a few spare moments, you can grab a Bible and read it. Keep one in your car, too; how many times are you waiting in a drive-through line and could read a verse or two?
Remember that we must be careful not to be legalistic in how much time we must spend reading the Bible to consider it “devotional” reading. Is 15 minutes enough? How about five? How about just one minute, reading just one verse two or three times through? The length of time is not as important as how much God’s Word is hidden in our hearts where we might meditate upon it. If you use a calendar to organize your day, look over it for occasions when you have small windows of time spent waiting. Maybe in the moments between when you get to class and when the lecture begins, the few minutes after you’re ready but before your carpool picks you up, or the time in the grocery store line as you await checkout, you could grab some quick devotional reading.
Routines (Good & Bad)
Sometimes we can find help in routines for our devotionals. At other times, they can become a prison.
Perhaps, like me, you have struggled over the years with the warring desires of rising early for a lengthy and satisfying time spent reading God’s Word, and the lure of a comfortable bed during the sleepy moments of waking. I have tried time and again to develop this discipline, to no avail.
I want to be careful not to fall into a mystical or legalistic concept of morning devotionals. I don’t believe that rising early for devotional time is inherently any more special or powerful than Bible reading at other times during the day. But I love the thought of rising early and spending the waking moments in God’s Word and in prayer.
Your routines, or desires for them, may be different. I had a friend in college who didn’t feel like her devotionals were complete if she didn’t have a cup of coffee with them, sitting in a certain place, and with absolute silence in her apartment. I knew someone else who felt like their time had been violated if they had an interruption— and he would bark at his wife or children if they spoke to them, “I’m having my Quiet Time!” How contrary!
Familiarity can be good, and the routines you establish for devotionals may be a great aid to you for their regularity. But they might also become enslaving, preventing you from any sense of having communed with God in His Word unless things were “just right.” Or they could become mystical, where the very practice of certain activities (like nestling into a favorite chair with a cup of coffee at your side) take on voodoo-like ritual qualities. Use routines well; be careful that they don’t begin to use you instead.
Re-Starting
If you have fallen out of the habit of reading the Bible, all you have to do is start again. I once had a member in a congregation I served who came to talk to me about feel- ing distant from God. I asked her if she prayed regularly; she replied that she did, but that her prayers felt repetitive and dull. Then I asked her if she read her Bible. “Oh, yes,” she said. “I try to read all the way through my Bible every year!” “That’s wonderful,” I said. “How is your progress lately? How far have you gotten?” She thought about it, and she couldn’t remember. I asked her if she had read it that week, and she said no. I asked if she could remember the last time she read it, and she thought for a moment before replying that she couldn’t. After a few more minutes of interrogation, it turned out that she had begun her reading plan in January, but had gotten bogged down in Leviticus sometime around early February and had stopped reading then. (It was June when we spoke.) After a few weeks of unfulfilled good intentions, she never started back up again, because she was so far behind she knew she would never finish her reading plan within the year. She figured she would just wait and start again next year.
I believe her problem is an all too common one: when we think about our aspirations for Bible reading, we often aim too high. We set a goal that we cannot reach, and therefore we are always discouraged. As I told my congregant, I think that reading through the whole Bible in year is a wonderful goal; but I also think that abandoning Bible reading altogether when it becomes clear that the goal won’t be attained is a tragic consequence of too-lofty ambitions.
When you haven’t read the Bible for a while, just pick it up and read. Open to a Psalm and read just one, or if you’re ready for more then read two. Or go to one of the smaller epistles toward the back of the New Testament and have the satisfaction of reading all the way through a letter in one sitting! (Nevermind that it was only 15 verses.) Try the same with one of the Minor Prophets. Or just read the opening chapter of Genesis, John, or Acts.
In other words, ease back into Bible reading; don’t approach it with a level of ambition you won’t yet have the stamina to sustain. Work up to those larger goals.
Notes:
1 I acknowledge that this is true more often in evangelical seminaries than in others; nevertheless, even in a theologically-liberal seminary where the authority and integrity of the Bible is highly challenged, there can be devotional aspects to the most critical exercises. Those men I know who came through a more liberal theological education with their faith intact did so because they saw every note of criticism and every challenge to biblical accuracy to be an opportunity for them to strengthen their own understanding and belief in Bible truths.
Adapted from From M.Div. to Rev.: making an effective transition from seminary into pastoral ministry by J.E. Eubanks, Jr. (Oakland, TN: Doulos Resources, 2011).
Friday, July 8, 2011
Refreshing your personal Bible study practices, part 1
In my just-published book, From M.Div. to Rev.: making an effective transition from seminary into pastoral ministry, I have a chapter that focuses on encouraging the spiritual life of the seminarian who is preparing for pastoral ministry. A friend (a non-seminary person!) who was reading a draft of the manuscript encouraged me to consider that this material might be useful to more than just seminary students; therefore, I'll post portions of that chapter on the blog for a few weeks, edited for a more general audience.
You need to be reading your Bible. This always strikes me as an almost-silly thing to say— yet, I find it easy to neglect my own Bible reading, and I know many other pastors who also struggle to read the Bible regularly. I knew a lot of classmates in seminary who were very disciplined about their devotional life, but I also knew plenty of others who, like me, have struggled with the spiritual disciplines.
If you are already disciplined about reading your Bible, I commend you, and congratulate you on a gift from God that not every Christian receives. You will still find some suggestions applicable to you in this post, hopefully.
On the other hand, if you struggle with Bible reading then I want to offer encouragement for you, as well.
Penance
We don’t read our Bibles as a form of penance. Most protestants will zealously reject the Roman Catholic idea of penance in the form of atoning for sin by repetition of certain prayers a prescribed number of times, etc. However, many of us do the same thing in our own way: if we missed a devotional yesterday, we’ll try to do penance by reading twice as much today. If we haven’t read our Bibles for weeks, we’ll demand of ourselves that we read for a half-hour every day without missing one.
We’ll do this for other things, too: if we were mean to our wives, ignored someone’s pain, or wasted time when we should have been working— and we feel convicted about those things— we might turn to Bible reading as a way to make up for them. Whatever our sin is, we frequently turn to self-flagellation of some sort to attempt to make atonement for it. Bible reading can be done as a form of such flagellation.
We don’t need to atone for our sins, through Bible reading or anything else. Christ has already atoned for our sins! If you are in Christ, then you are free from the guilt of your sin, and free of any need for self-atonement. (Good thing, too, because self- atonement isn’t possible anyway!) God doesn’t love you any less because of your sin, and He doesn’t love you any less because you missed a devotional, or a dozen devotionals in a row. God’s love for you is constant because Christ has atoned for all of your failings.
Love-Earning
Likewise, we don’t read our Bibles as a way to gain God’s love. Too often we approach God as if His grace and love for us is one-dimensional: He is gracious and loving toward us in our sin, but in all other ways we have to gain His favor. This leads to a life spent in attempts to earn God’s love and favor, to gain His blessing through meritorious acts.
This can be our motivation in our devotional time, also. We may think, “If I spend my time reading God’s Word, He’ll love me more! He’ll give me more blessings! He’ll be glad He bothered to save me!”
Just as God doesn’t love you any less because of your sin, neither does He love you any more because of your obedience, your service to Him, or your piety. God already loves you as much as anyone can be loved— and He demonstrated that love 2,000 years before you were born, when He sacrificed His own Son to pay the ransom for your soul. God’s love for you is never-ending, and it is already as great as it can possibly be. You do not need to earn God’s love, even through your devotional life, for it is already yours.
Life Expressing
We read our Bibles because we will grow spiritually from reading the Bible. We read them because God communicates with us through His Word, reminding and teaching us of our need and His provision. We read them because we need the truths that the Bible contains. We read our Bibles because of our identity.
We have an identity through our faith in Christ: we, who were strangers and aliens in a foreign land with no home-country, who were orphans without a family or inheritance, who were enemies with the living God— WE are now the opposite of all of these. We are citizens of a holy nation, and part of the celestial city. We are no longer enemies with God, but are reconciled to Him, so much so that He has adopted us as His own and called us children of God! We have an identity, and it is in that identity that we do all that we do— including reading our Bibles.
We read our Bibles because, as children of the living God, we need to hear the words our Father would say to us. They are life-giving, strengthening, faith-building words, and they teach us of ourselves and our identity. They instruct us in what it means to be who we have become in Christ, and in how we might properly live ac- cording to the name we have been given.
Our Bibles are worth reading, not because doing so makes God overlook or forgive our sin, and not because reading them earns His pleasure; either of those perspectives subtracts from God’s sovereignty and places the determination for our spiritual well- being on ourselves. Our Bibles are worth reading because the Word of God is good for our faith and for our spiritual health.
In part two, we'll consider some strategies for refreshing your Bible study practices.
Adapted from From M.Div. to Rev.: making an effective transition from seminary into pastoral ministry by J.E. Eubanks, Jr. (Oakland, TN: Doulos Resources, 2011).
Bible Study
You need to be reading your Bible. This always strikes me as an almost-silly thing to say— yet, I find it easy to neglect my own Bible reading, and I know many other pastors who also struggle to read the Bible regularly. I knew a lot of classmates in seminary who were very disciplined about their devotional life, but I also knew plenty of others who, like me, have struggled with the spiritual disciplines.
If you are already disciplined about reading your Bible, I commend you, and congratulate you on a gift from God that not every Christian receives. You will still find some suggestions applicable to you in this post, hopefully.
On the other hand, if you struggle with Bible reading then I want to offer encouragement for you, as well.
Things to Remember about Christian Devotional Reading
Penance
We don’t read our Bibles as a form of penance. Most protestants will zealously reject the Roman Catholic idea of penance in the form of atoning for sin by repetition of certain prayers a prescribed number of times, etc. However, many of us do the same thing in our own way: if we missed a devotional yesterday, we’ll try to do penance by reading twice as much today. If we haven’t read our Bibles for weeks, we’ll demand of ourselves that we read for a half-hour every day without missing one.
We’ll do this for other things, too: if we were mean to our wives, ignored someone’s pain, or wasted time when we should have been working— and we feel convicted about those things— we might turn to Bible reading as a way to make up for them. Whatever our sin is, we frequently turn to self-flagellation of some sort to attempt to make atonement for it. Bible reading can be done as a form of such flagellation.
We don’t need to atone for our sins, through Bible reading or anything else. Christ has already atoned for our sins! If you are in Christ, then you are free from the guilt of your sin, and free of any need for self-atonement. (Good thing, too, because self- atonement isn’t possible anyway!) God doesn’t love you any less because of your sin, and He doesn’t love you any less because you missed a devotional, or a dozen devotionals in a row. God’s love for you is constant because Christ has atoned for all of your failings.
Love-Earning
Likewise, we don’t read our Bibles as a way to gain God’s love. Too often we approach God as if His grace and love for us is one-dimensional: He is gracious and loving toward us in our sin, but in all other ways we have to gain His favor. This leads to a life spent in attempts to earn God’s love and favor, to gain His blessing through meritorious acts.
This can be our motivation in our devotional time, also. We may think, “If I spend my time reading God’s Word, He’ll love me more! He’ll give me more blessings! He’ll be glad He bothered to save me!”
Just as God doesn’t love you any less because of your sin, neither does He love you any more because of your obedience, your service to Him, or your piety. God already loves you as much as anyone can be loved— and He demonstrated that love 2,000 years before you were born, when He sacrificed His own Son to pay the ransom for your soul. God’s love for you is never-ending, and it is already as great as it can possibly be. You do not need to earn God’s love, even through your devotional life, for it is already yours.
Life Expressing
We read our Bibles because we will grow spiritually from reading the Bible. We read them because God communicates with us through His Word, reminding and teaching us of our need and His provision. We read them because we need the truths that the Bible contains. We read our Bibles because of our identity.
We have an identity through our faith in Christ: we, who were strangers and aliens in a foreign land with no home-country, who were orphans without a family or inheritance, who were enemies with the living God— WE are now the opposite of all of these. We are citizens of a holy nation, and part of the celestial city. We are no longer enemies with God, but are reconciled to Him, so much so that He has adopted us as His own and called us children of God! We have an identity, and it is in that identity that we do all that we do— including reading our Bibles.
We read our Bibles because, as children of the living God, we need to hear the words our Father would say to us. They are life-giving, strengthening, faith-building words, and they teach us of ourselves and our identity. They instruct us in what it means to be who we have become in Christ, and in how we might properly live ac- cording to the name we have been given.
Our Bibles are worth reading, not because doing so makes God overlook or forgive our sin, and not because reading them earns His pleasure; either of those perspectives subtracts from God’s sovereignty and places the determination for our spiritual well- being on ourselves. Our Bibles are worth reading because the Word of God is good for our faith and for our spiritual health.
In part two, we'll consider some strategies for refreshing your Bible study practices.
Adapted from From M.Div. to Rev.: making an effective transition from seminary into pastoral ministry by J.E. Eubanks, Jr. (Oakland, TN: Doulos Resources, 2011).
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Thoughts about Why It's Wrong to Be Sorrowful at the Lord's Table
My (online) friend Valerie recently posted these 14 "stream-of-consciousness" thoughts (man, I wish my streams of consciousness were as cogent!) on her blog. I asked if I could repost it, and she graciously granted permission.
1. When we confess our sins at the beginning of the service, the pastor or elder declares that we are forgiven. That means our sin has been removed as far as the east is from the west. It doesn’t exist anymore. Therefore there’s nothing left for us to be sorrowful about. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we cast doubt on the efficacy of His forgiveness.
2. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. My tears can add nothing to the cleansing process. He didn’t miss any spots that I still need to scrub away on my own. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are trying to accomplish our own salvation by our work of mourning.
3. Self-flagellation accomplishes nothing. By His stripes we are healed, not by ours. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we deny the efficacy of His vicarious suffering.
4. The Lord’s Supper should draw our attention to those with whom we commune—the Lord Jesus and His body, the church. Being sorrowful over our own sin means our attention is consumed with ourselves. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are being self-centered at the worst possible moment.
5. Godly sorrow produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are engaging in worldly sorrow that leads to death.
6. One day a little boy refused to obey his father, threw a tantrum, and talked back in a rather egregious manner. The father took his son aside to apply some tender loving care to his nether region. A few swats, a few tears, a few words of apology and forgiveness, and a few hugs and kisses brought about a general change of attitude, and they abode in peace together for the rest of the afternoon. But that evening at the dinner table, the little boy wept and wailed about how sorry he was for misbehaving. Pretty soon his brothers and sisters were weeping and wailing, as well, over their past transgressions, and the whole family had a rather miserable meal. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are denying the Father’s forgiveness, and we are tempting our brothers and sisters to do likewise.
7. (Same scenario, take 2) One day a little boy refused to obey his father, threw a tantrum, and talked back in a rather egregious manner. The father took his son aside to apply some tender loving care to his nether regions. A few swats, a few tears, a few words of apology and forgiveness, and a few hugs and kisses brought about a general change of attitude, and they abode in peace together for the rest of the afternoon. But that evening at the dinner table, the father recounted the boy’s misdoings and went on at length about how disappointed and ashamed he was of his son. While he was at it, he reminded all his other kids about their past transgressions, and the whole family had a rather miserable meal. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are slanderously saying that the Father’s forgiveness is not sincere, neither for ourselves nor for our brothers and sisters.
8. One day, a wife was quarrelsome and disrespectful to her husband. Later, she was sorry for what she’d done. She apologized and he freely and gladly forgave her. They made up according to the time-honored custom of lovers everywhere. But as he kissed and caressed her, rather than joyfully receiving and returning his affection, she started weeping and kept saying over and over again, “I’m so sorry. I was such a witch today. I can’t believe the way I behaved. You must be so upset with me” and so on. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are faithlessly rejecting His love for us.
9. (Same scenario, take 2) One day, a wife was quarrelsome and disrespectful to her husband. Later, she was sorry for what she’d done. She apologized and he said that he freely and gladly forgave her. They made up according to the time-honored custom of lovers everywhere. But his kisses and caresses were accompanied by reminders of what a witch she’d been that day, how badly she’d behaved, and how he upset he still was about the things she’d said and done. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are slanderously saying He hasn’t truly given us His forgiveness and love.
10. Some people need persistent reminders that their sins have been forgiven, that Jesus loves them, that they are clean. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are throwing an anvil rather than a life preserver to weak-faithed people who are already drowning under a burden of shame.
11. The gospel is like well-functioning toilet. Forgiveness flushes away the contents, and they are gone for good. Why would we want to remember them? Why would we want the pipes to back up so we can continue to gaze upon and smell our filth? Why would we want to keep using (and never emptying) a chamber pot when we’ve got perfectly good indoor plumbing? If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are clinging to our sin and showing that we still love it more than Jesus.
12. Jesus has borne our sins on the cross. The devil wants us to believe that we still bear them ourselves. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are making it out to be the table of demons.
13. He preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies. He doesn’t do so in order to hand me over to them to be tormented with shame and guilt. And He doesn’t do so in order to perpetuate His enmity with me. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we make the good Shepherd out to be a wicked trickster of a wolf.
14. The Lord’s Supper is a foretaste of the Lamb’s wedding feast in the new heavens, where every tear is wiped away. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are bringing hell into heaven.
1. When we confess our sins at the beginning of the service, the pastor or elder declares that we are forgiven. That means our sin has been removed as far as the east is from the west. It doesn’t exist anymore. Therefore there’s nothing left for us to be sorrowful about. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we cast doubt on the efficacy of His forgiveness.
2. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. My tears can add nothing to the cleansing process. He didn’t miss any spots that I still need to scrub away on my own. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are trying to accomplish our own salvation by our work of mourning.
3. Self-flagellation accomplishes nothing. By His stripes we are healed, not by ours. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we deny the efficacy of His vicarious suffering.
4. The Lord’s Supper should draw our attention to those with whom we commune—the Lord Jesus and His body, the church. Being sorrowful over our own sin means our attention is consumed with ourselves. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are being self-centered at the worst possible moment.
5. Godly sorrow produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are engaging in worldly sorrow that leads to death.
6. One day a little boy refused to obey his father, threw a tantrum, and talked back in a rather egregious manner. The father took his son aside to apply some tender loving care to his nether region. A few swats, a few tears, a few words of apology and forgiveness, and a few hugs and kisses brought about a general change of attitude, and they abode in peace together for the rest of the afternoon. But that evening at the dinner table, the little boy wept and wailed about how sorry he was for misbehaving. Pretty soon his brothers and sisters were weeping and wailing, as well, over their past transgressions, and the whole family had a rather miserable meal. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are denying the Father’s forgiveness, and we are tempting our brothers and sisters to do likewise.
7. (Same scenario, take 2) One day a little boy refused to obey his father, threw a tantrum, and talked back in a rather egregious manner. The father took his son aside to apply some tender loving care to his nether regions. A few swats, a few tears, a few words of apology and forgiveness, and a few hugs and kisses brought about a general change of attitude, and they abode in peace together for the rest of the afternoon. But that evening at the dinner table, the father recounted the boy’s misdoings and went on at length about how disappointed and ashamed he was of his son. While he was at it, he reminded all his other kids about their past transgressions, and the whole family had a rather miserable meal. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are slanderously saying that the Father’s forgiveness is not sincere, neither for ourselves nor for our brothers and sisters.
8. One day, a wife was quarrelsome and disrespectful to her husband. Later, she was sorry for what she’d done. She apologized and he freely and gladly forgave her. They made up according to the time-honored custom of lovers everywhere. But as he kissed and caressed her, rather than joyfully receiving and returning his affection, she started weeping and kept saying over and over again, “I’m so sorry. I was such a witch today. I can’t believe the way I behaved. You must be so upset with me” and so on. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are faithlessly rejecting His love for us.
9. (Same scenario, take 2) One day, a wife was quarrelsome and disrespectful to her husband. Later, she was sorry for what she’d done. She apologized and he said that he freely and gladly forgave her. They made up according to the time-honored custom of lovers everywhere. But his kisses and caresses were accompanied by reminders of what a witch she’d been that day, how badly she’d behaved, and how he upset he still was about the things she’d said and done. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are slanderously saying He hasn’t truly given us His forgiveness and love.
10. Some people need persistent reminders that their sins have been forgiven, that Jesus loves them, that they are clean. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are throwing an anvil rather than a life preserver to weak-faithed people who are already drowning under a burden of shame.
11. The gospel is like well-functioning toilet. Forgiveness flushes away the contents, and they are gone for good. Why would we want to remember them? Why would we want the pipes to back up so we can continue to gaze upon and smell our filth? Why would we want to keep using (and never emptying) a chamber pot when we’ve got perfectly good indoor plumbing? If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are clinging to our sin and showing that we still love it more than Jesus.
12. Jesus has borne our sins on the cross. The devil wants us to believe that we still bear them ourselves. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are making it out to be the table of demons.
13. He preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies. He doesn’t do so in order to hand me over to them to be tormented with shame and guilt. And He doesn’t do so in order to perpetuate His enmity with me. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we make the good Shepherd out to be a wicked trickster of a wolf.
14. The Lord’s Supper is a foretaste of the Lamb’s wedding feast in the new heavens, where every tear is wiped away. If we are sorrowful at the Lord’s Table, we are bringing hell into heaven.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Books for June 2011
A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould's Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano by Katie HafnerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Wonderful book. The consideration of Glenn Gould is, itself, delightful and highly readable. But the "biographical" look at a particular Steinway piano is a fascinating and artful way to approach this material. The book is, in all fairness, a good biography-- or at least a memoir-- of both (or all three, considering the attention given to the primary technician behind the grand). Highly recommended.
View all my reviews
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Bits and Tidbits, June 2011
- 10 Coolest Hidden Doors and Secret Passageways. These are so cool, I wish it was the "100 best." I'm seriously designing options for these in our house, in my head.
- The Garden's Secret Is Discovered. Really neat piece about an almost-forgotten building in St. Louis's botanical gardens, that is soon to be re-opened to the public. I wonder how many places there are like this in the world? Probably dozens, if not hundreds.
- The Glorious Ruins of the Erie Canal. How interesting would this excursion have been? Like the previous tidbit, this is another artifact of a bygone era that is worth re-discovering. Is there no use for the canal now?
- The Perils of a Heavy Bottled-Water Habit. A brief piece, mostly reporting statistics-- but hidden within them are some hard facts about bottled water that may make you re-think that flimsy plastic bottle the next time you're on the go.
- Onion-Like Headlines in Real Life. These are really something; hilarious, because they really do sound like something from The Onion (a satire news website).
- Plurality of Americans Believe Capitalism at Odds with Christian Values. Fascinating survey results here. Not that surveys establish truth, but when the predominate views of others-- including our fellow believers-- are that, basically, one of these things is not like the other, we should be ready to reconsider our views.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Sermon texts for July 2011
Well, I've slacked off a lot on listing the sermon texts for our preaching series at HWPC, but here are the texts for July:
7/3/2011 -- Genesis 25:1-18, Life, Death, and Abraham (end of "Life of Abraham" series)
7/10/2011 -- Acts 8:4-25, From Judea to Samaria
7/17/2011 -- Acts 8:26-40, Who Is the Prophet Speaking About?
7/24/2011 -- Acts 9:1-19, Proud Made Humble
7/31/2011 -- Acts 9:20-31, A New Believer's Life & Ministry
7/3/2011 -- Genesis 25:1-18, Life, Death, and Abraham (end of "Life of Abraham" series)
7/10/2011 -- Acts 8:4-25, From Judea to Samaria
7/17/2011 -- Acts 8:26-40, Who Is the Prophet Speaking About?
7/24/2011 -- Acts 9:1-19, Proud Made Humble
7/31/2011 -- Acts 9:20-31, A New Believer's Life & Ministry
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Calvin on the visible church
When I taught my seminar on membership in the local church at General Assembly, I received a number of great questions. One of them-- maybe the best one-- asked whether I took exception to the 4th and 5th membership vows in my firm stance that church membership is nothing more or less than a public profession of faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These two vows speak directly to the professing member's commitment to the church, and therefore some might infer that it is not a part of one's profession of faith in the Gospel.
I would contend otherwise-- that, in fact, our faith in the Gospel and our commitment to Christ's church are inseparable. This is an area where I hope/plan to do more thinking and writing in the next year or so. Meanwhile, here's a quote from John Calvin on the topic:
I would contend otherwise-- that, in fact, our faith in the Gospel and our commitment to Christ's church are inseparable. This is an area where I hope/plan to do more thinking and writing in the next year or so. Meanwhile, here's a quote from John Calvin on the topic:
But as it is now our purpose to discourse of the visible Church, let us learn, from her single title of Mother, how useful, nay, how necessary the knowledge of her is, since there is no other means of entering into life unless she conceive us in the womb and give us birth, unless she nourish us at her breasts, and, in short, keep us under her charge and government, until, divested of mortal flesh, we become like the angels (Matthew 22:30). For our weakness does not permit us to leave the school until we have spent our whole lives as scholars. Moreover, beyond the pale of the Church no forgiveness of sins, no salvation, can be hoped for, as Isaiah and Joel testify (Isaiah 37:32; Joel 2:32). To their testimony Ezekiel subscribes, when he declares, “They shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 13:9); as, on the other hand, those who turn to the cultivation of true piety are said to inscribe their names among the citizens of Jerusalem. For which reason it is said in the psalm, “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; that I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance” (Psalm 106:4, 5). By these words the paternal favour of God and the special evidence of spiritual life are confined to his peculiar people, and hence the abandonment of the Church is always fatal.
John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion (Ford Lewis Battles, trans., John T. McNeill, ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1960), Book IV, p. 6.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Facing "good" idols
At General Assembly, I was talking to a fellow pastor who confessed he and his wife' struggles with one of her "idols." She, it seems, is a perfectionist, and wrestles with it regularly.
What was interesting was my friend's comment about how he struggles with it: he said, "when she serves her idol, I benefit from it." It's nice, of course, to have a clean house, great meals, and other things that are the fruit of her skills and abilities wed to her perfectionism.
Here's the great difficulty with that, as with so many idols: they are rooted in good things. Her perfectionism is motivated out of a drive for excellence, which isn't bad nor is it sinful. The tricky part is, how do you embrace the motivation without serving the idol?
I think our addiction-prone culture has trained us to think of all idols (and addiction is surely one) in cold-turkey terms. In order to fell the idol, we have to stop all association with the activities associated with it. But how does this play out for perfectionism? For overeating? For the right exercise of leadership and power?
The antidote to a perfectionistic home-maker isn't, for example, to become a slob or a hoarder. Instead, it is to learn to serve the Lord, and not the idol, in keeping house.
How does this look for other idols?
What was interesting was my friend's comment about how he struggles with it: he said, "when she serves her idol, I benefit from it." It's nice, of course, to have a clean house, great meals, and other things that are the fruit of her skills and abilities wed to her perfectionism.
Here's the great difficulty with that, as with so many idols: they are rooted in good things. Her perfectionism is motivated out of a drive for excellence, which isn't bad nor is it sinful. The tricky part is, how do you embrace the motivation without serving the idol?
I think our addiction-prone culture has trained us to think of all idols (and addiction is surely one) in cold-turkey terms. In order to fell the idol, we have to stop all association with the activities associated with it. But how does this play out for perfectionism? For overeating? For the right exercise of leadership and power?
The antidote to a perfectionistic home-maker isn't, for example, to become a slob or a hoarder. Instead, it is to learn to serve the Lord, and not the idol, in keeping house.
How does this look for other idols?
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Bangles vs. the Go-Gos
Most of us who grew up in the 80s will remember the two all-female pop/rock bands that dominated the airwaves for a while. (Yes, I realize there were others, but these two were arguably the most successful.)
The Go-Gos, fronted by Belinda Carlisle (with most songs written or co-written by Jane Wiedlin) had some huge hits, including "We Got the Beat," "Vacation," and "Our Lips are Sealed." While they started out as a punk band, they transitioned to new wave and then on to "power-pop" which is the style they were most known for.
Around the same time that the Go-Gos hit their peak, The Bangles also hit the scene. Their break-through single was "Manic Monday," and they subsequently released a handful of other strong offerings: "If She Knew What She Wants," "Walk Like an Egyptian," "Eternal Flame," and a great cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter." With a background more in the folk-rock and "jangle-pop" realm, their sound was quite different from The Go-Gos.
My friend Courtney Thompson has an incredible story about her experience as a Go-Gos fan and concert-goer; if you know Courtney, you should definitely ask her to tell you the story. Prepare to be amazed.
It is out of my love for Courtney and her great story that I offer the following suggestion with some trepidation: while I love The Go-Gos, and still enjoy their music, I think it's safe to say that The Bangles out-rocked The Go-Gos.
Rock and roll (or "rock 'n' roll") has always been a lot about letting loose the cares of the impressions and opinions of others and just expressing oneself truly. For all of their musical talent and creativity, The Go-Gos could never quite get there. Whether it was Belinda Carlisle's hunger for the spot-light or her and Jane Wiedlin's feud over credit, they seemed to be held back by concern over the attention they got and the opinions of others.
The Bangles were all about rock. The media attention given to Susanna Hoffs was unintended, garnered mostly because she happened to front most of their hit songs (and thus was the most recognizable of the band). But the typical practice of the band was to share vocals, even splitting some songs between them. While Hoffs' prominence was essentially the fault of the record company (who chose songs with her vocals to release as singles), it was also a sad and significant factor in the band's eventual break-up.
Here's the litmus-test: can you ever picture The Go-Gos doing "Walk Like an Egyptian"? Of course not; it's the kind of song that preys on self-consciousness. Yet, The Bangles not only recorded it, but it's probably the one time-testing single that they released, and not to their discredit. It's still a good song 25+ years later. That is a tribute to the fact that The Bangles weren't just a good band musically, but they were all about rock and roll.
(And now you have a sample of the kind of thing Marcie has to listen to me ruminate about...)
The Go-Gos, fronted by Belinda Carlisle (with most songs written or co-written by Jane Wiedlin) had some huge hits, including "We Got the Beat," "Vacation," and "Our Lips are Sealed." While they started out as a punk band, they transitioned to new wave and then on to "power-pop" which is the style they were most known for.
Around the same time that the Go-Gos hit their peak, The Bangles also hit the scene. Their break-through single was "Manic Monday," and they subsequently released a handful of other strong offerings: "If She Knew What She Wants," "Walk Like an Egyptian," "Eternal Flame," and a great cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter." With a background more in the folk-rock and "jangle-pop" realm, their sound was quite different from The Go-Gos.
My friend Courtney Thompson has an incredible story about her experience as a Go-Gos fan and concert-goer; if you know Courtney, you should definitely ask her to tell you the story. Prepare to be amazed.
It is out of my love for Courtney and her great story that I offer the following suggestion with some trepidation: while I love The Go-Gos, and still enjoy their music, I think it's safe to say that The Bangles out-rocked The Go-Gos.
Rock and roll (or "rock 'n' roll") has always been a lot about letting loose the cares of the impressions and opinions of others and just expressing oneself truly. For all of their musical talent and creativity, The Go-Gos could never quite get there. Whether it was Belinda Carlisle's hunger for the spot-light or her and Jane Wiedlin's feud over credit, they seemed to be held back by concern over the attention they got and the opinions of others.
The Bangles were all about rock. The media attention given to Susanna Hoffs was unintended, garnered mostly because she happened to front most of their hit songs (and thus was the most recognizable of the band). But the typical practice of the band was to share vocals, even splitting some songs between them. While Hoffs' prominence was essentially the fault of the record company (who chose songs with her vocals to release as singles), it was also a sad and significant factor in the band's eventual break-up.
Here's the litmus-test: can you ever picture The Go-Gos doing "Walk Like an Egyptian"? Of course not; it's the kind of song that preys on self-consciousness. Yet, The Bangles not only recorded it, but it's probably the one time-testing single that they released, and not to their discredit. It's still a good song 25+ years later. That is a tribute to the fact that The Bangles weren't just a good band musically, but they were all about rock and roll.
(And now you have a sample of the kind of thing Marcie has to listen to me ruminate about...)
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