Morning:
November 1 Luke 22:54-23:25 -- Betrayal of the King (Guest Preacher Doug Barcroft)
November 8 Luke 23:26-56 -- The wages of sin...
November 15 Luke 24:1-12 -- He is not here...
November 22 Luke 24:13-53 -- Eyes opened
November 29 Advent part 1

Evening:
November 15 Colossians 1 -- Gnosticism
November 29 Advent part 2 (Chrismon Tree-Lighting Service)

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days, Advent

Morning:
October 4 Luke 22:7-23-- The FIRST Supper
October 11 Luke 22:24-38 -- Service to the King
October 18 Luke 22:39-53 -- Handing himself over
October 25 Guest Preacher Jerram Barrs (Spiritual Life Conference)

Evening:
October 4 The Life of Faith
October 18 The “Tribulation”

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

Morning:
September 6 Luke 20:27-21:4 -- Confusion about what is what
September 13 Hebrews 12:1-3 -- 175^th Anniversary Sermon
September 20 Luke 21:5-36 -- Anticipating the Return
September 27 Luke 21:37-22:6 -- Delighted at betrayal

Evening:
September 20 Daniel 5 -- End-Times Events

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

As I said in my last post on this subject, I’ve started a study with some people in our congregation about our identity in Christ.

Read Part 1

Here is part two of the study; as you can see, we’re moving through Scripture in order; we will skip ahead after a while-- the study isn’t going to go chapter by chapter through the whole Bible! (Though that would be a good, and quite thorough, study.)

Genesis 2

Read Genesis chapter 2, then consider the following questions:

1. Verse 18 is the first time in creation when God says that something is NOT good. What is NOT good in this "pre-fallen" creation? What is God's solution to that which is NOT good? What does this verse tell us about our built-in needs for relationships?
2. Verses 19 and 20 describe Adam's search for a companion in creation. As wonderful as animals are, do you think that they can be adequate companions for people-- that they can offer "enough" companionship? Do you think that these verses support your thoughts on that? In light of these two verses (and what is to come next), do you think it is fair to say that there is nothing in all of creation, apart from God and other people, that can satisfy our built-in needs for relationships?
3. Verses 21-24 describe the creation of woman, who God created as the perfect companion to the man. With an understanding (from verses 18-20) that all of mankind-- even before sin and the fall-- had and have a built-in need for relationships, how do you think we should understand marriage in light of verses 21-24?
4. Verse 25 gives us a picture of the intimacy and vulnerable nature of this first marriage. In what ways is that kind of intimacy missing in the relationships that you have? How is it present in your marriage? How is it missing in your marriage?
5. Genesis 1 and 2 give us two key ideas about who we are: we bear the image of God, and we have a built-in need for relationships. Are these two related? Think about the way that we speak of God as "Trinity" and that there are three persons of that Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Does God exist in a sort of community? Do you think that our need for relationships-- especially a relationship with God-- is a part of the way that we bear God's image?

Tags: Bible, theology, Pastoral ministry, Personal Growth

Last week, I started a study with a couple I’ve been meeting with. Among other things, we are discussing our identity in Christ, and how that identity is our dignity and confidence, our assurance and esteem.

Lots of folks struggle with many different issues that, it seems to me, have their roots in a misunderstanding of this. So I’m starting this study of portions of Scripture with this couple-- and also posting the discussion questions here-- in order to address this great need. Here is part one.

Genesis 1

Read Genesis chapter 1, then consider the following questions:

1. How does God describe what He has made at the end of each day? How does He describe the whole creation at the end of chapter 1? What does this teach us about creation?
2. How was man made? What he made along with everything else, or separately? Is mankind just another part of creation, or are we distinct?
3. Verses 26 and 27 speak very specifically about mankind being created "in the image of God." (This is an idea that we will come back to frequently.) What do you think this says about the dignity that is given to mankind?
4. Verse 28 tells of God's command to man to be fruitful, to subdue the earth, and to rule over the creatures. Were these commands given to man because of his sin? (Remember, the "fall" of man doesn't happen until Genesis 3.) If not, what do you think this suggests about the nature of work, and whether work is valuable to God? Do you think this verse suggests that man was made to work, and that work is part of man's image-bearing?

Tags: Bible, theology, Pastoral ministry, Personal Growth

... in a Wordle:

Tags: preaching, Bible

I know, I’ve been pretty inconsistent about this...

Here’s what I’ve been reading in recent months:

• William the Baptist by James M. Chaney (re-read). Actually, I’ve not only been reading this, but editing/updating it. This is a great book-- one of the best, in my opinion-- about baptism and the Reformed view of it. I cannot recommend it more highly. (10)
• The Pastor As Minor Poet by M. Craig Barnes. This book is excellent. I’m reading through it with a friend, but I went ahead and read the whole thing. Barnes’ take on the pastoral ministry-- and how we might approach it-- is extremely helpful. (10)
• Leading in Prayer: A Workbook for Worship by Hughes Oliphant Old. This is a great workbook that helped me get a fuller and deeper grasp of the significance and place of the various prayers that occur throughout a worship service, as well as giving bountiful examples of each type. Another great resource. (10)
• Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money by Christian Smith and Michael O. Emerson (with Patricia Snell). I’ve grown a bit cold on statistically-based books-- or at least on ones presented like this one, where the bulk of the content is the statistical data itself. Still, this is an interesting book, and it is worth getting simply for the opening chapter, in which the writers dream of what the church could do if we only gave a bit more. (7+)
• What Is the Lord’s Supper? by Richard D. Phillips. This is one of those short, booklet-style books that is designed to offer a quick overview. It does that, and I suppose it does it acceptably-- certainly, it is far better than nothing. I found myself feeling shorted on every point, but that is a problem of format and length, not content (which was excellent). Low marks, therefore, are for the choice to make this booklet TOO short. (8)
• The Living Church by Donald J. MacNair. Another great one. This is one of three in a series (the other two are The Birth, Care, and Feeding of the Local Church and The Growing Church) and it is rich. If you’re looking for good stuff on church health, look no further-- MacNair is the father of church health (or so says Harry Reeder, who knows a thing or two about the subject). (10)
• The Empty Pew: Caring for Those Who Leave by Louis Tamminga. Good-- not great. There is good stuff to be mined here, but it is a bit too formulaic, and it was clearly written for the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) denomination-- nothing wrong with that, but it was so focused on that denomination’s polity that it was, at times, difficult to export. (8)
• Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the Bible by Jay Adams. Good book, examining a subject that is far too neglected theologically. I like Adams’ careful commitment to being scripturally-based in all of his conclusions, and he does some good exegetical work. It’s a bit dry at times, but not prohibitively so. (9)

Books I recently started but decided not to finish:

• Lost and Found: the Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them by Ed Stetzer, with Richie Stanley and Jason Hayes.
• Don’t Sing Songs to a Heavy Heart by Kenneth C. Haugk.
• Great Lent by Alexander Schmemann.

Tags: reading

August 2 Prayer series, part 1: Exodus 17:8-16 -- Learning Intercession from Moses
August 9 Prayer series, part 2: Psalm 51 -- Learning Confession from David
August 16 Prayer series, part 3: Colossians 1:3-14 -- Learning Petition from Paul
August 16 (evening) Obadiah 1-21 -- Pride
August 23 Prayer series, part 4: 1 Peter 1:3-9 -- Learning Praise from Peter
August 30 Luke 20:1-26 -- By Whose Authority?

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

UPDATE: I changed the last week’s text, making it longer (including the next section).

July 5 Luke 18:35-42 -- What the blind man saw
July 12 Luke 19:1-10 -- A wee little faith
July 19 Luke 19:11-27 -- Faithful stewardship
July 19 (evening) Romans 8:31-39 -- Assurance
July 26 Luke 19:28-20:26 -- The King has come

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

I’m back from General Assembly.

Before I left, I offered my hopes and expectations; here’s a follow-up:

Expectations and Anticipations:

• Fellowship-- This was great, of course. I saw many guys I was eager to see, and a number of guys I wish I had time to visit with. Last year I missed most of the floor activity because I was with people; this year I devoted more attention to the floor, at the expense of the fellowship. Still, it was great.
• Worship-- This was great also. My friend Greg literally blew everyone away-- some guy shouted, “now that was preaching!” from the back of the assembly hall when he was done. The rest was great too.
• Doulos Resources-- I am pleased to report that we got Doulos Resources off the ground, and more. This is really going to be a great endeavor.
• Seminars-- My seminar went very well. I actually only went to one other seminar, but I’m grateful that they are/will be available online.

Hopes:

• BCO Amendment-- I missed this part of the reports, but from what I heard and saw it was never addressed. That’s because not all presbyteries have reported their votes on the matter, and it takes a 2/3 majority vote of ALL presbyteries to pass a BCO amendment. Hopefully it will pass by next year.
• Overtures-- As usual, the overtures portion of the floor activities were the best-attended and most interesting, as well as the most contentious. There was an amendment to the BCO which had a number of difficulties, but it passed. The Overtures Committee recommended to answer the overture about the women’s ministry study committee in the negative-- which means they recommended that we NOT erect a study committee. A “minority report” was offered in favor of erecting the study committee. (This is exactly what happened in the 2008 G.A., as well.) The minority report was defeated by less than 20 votes, and in the end that overture was answered in the negative (no study committee). We’ll see this one again next year, I’m certain.
• Ridgehaven-- This was basically a non-starter. Last year’s G.A. installed an audit committee who have basically turned the ship around for Ridgehaven, and they are now in the black and on a healthy trajectory, at the expense of salary cuts and removing most executive staff. Still, Ridgehaven remains intact as a ministry of the PCA, and that ain’t nothin’.
• Brotherhood-- Prevailed. I sensed a greater spirit of brotherhood than before, even in the debates. We have a long way to go, but we’ve also come a long way.

If you’d like to read a great analysis from someone else’s view, check out Joel Belz’s “Closing Comments” at ByFaith online.

Tags: PCA, PCA Polity, presbyterians, General Assembly, Pastoral ministry

The PCA’s 37^th General Assembly is next week. I’ll be attending (which means I won’t be blogging!-- see you soon), and there are a number of things I have hopes and expectations about. I thought I would offer them here.

Expectations and Anticipations:

• Fellowship-- General Assembly is always a great season of fellowship for me. I see guys I haven’t seen in a while, even years; meet new people and get to know others better. I love this part of G.A., even though (as in introvert) it is exhausting!
• Worship-- the worship at G.A. is always great. This year, one of my very good friends, Greg Thompson, will be preaching for one of the evening worship services. Greg and I were in college together, and have remained close friends ever since. Greg is a fantastic preacher, and I love his vision for the PCA, so I have great expectations about this.
• Doulos Resources-- I have been working with a few others to begin a ministry called Doulos Resources, and we will have our first annual Board meeting to incorporate at this General Assembly. I’m excited about the opportunities this ministry offers, and about working together with these men for Kingdom-minded ministry.
• Seminars-- there are always a number of great seminars offered as a part of G.A., and this year is no different. The discussion between Ligon Duncan and Tim Keller on “deaconing women” should be great. A few others I’m looking forward to are: Paul Tripp on the Already and Not Yet; Ken Sande’s lectures on Peacemaking; and Steve Smallman on the continuum of evangelism and discipleship. Oh yeah-- I’m doing a seminar, too.

Hopes:

• BCO Amendment-- there is an amendment of the Book of Church Order of the PCA under consideration that would allow Pastors to use variations of the questions for membership, rather than requiring their precise language. I think this is a great step in the right direction, and I don’t believe it weakens any adherence to the standards for membership at all. I hope this vote will pass.
• Overtures-- there are a bunch of overtures on hand for things like forming new presbyteries, etc. Of course, I hope (and trust) that these will pass. But the overtures I’m most interested in (and so, likely, are most folks) are #5, 10, 13, and 15 which deal with women’s roles in diaconal and other ministry; and #2, 4, 8, 9, and 14, which are all proposed amendments to the BCO that I think are all valuable. I’d really like to see a study committee erected for the women’s roles and diaconal ministry, etc.-- last year’s rejection felt like a procedural matter, not one that had substance. As I said then, many will offer the counter-argument that “we have already decided this issue-- it’s in the BCO”-- but what became clear at last year’s G.A. is that some of the best minds disagree about just how clear the BCO is on the subject, and more work needs to be done to offer pastoral clarification.
• Ridgehaven-- I think Ridgehaven is probably the best-kept secret of the PCA, and a few things came up at last year’s G.A. that suggested that there might be some trouble for this fine ministry. Since then, the long-time director has stepped down, and I know they have been in debt for over a year. I’m concerned about the future of Ridgehaven as a ministry of the PCA, and I hope that steps will be taken to protect and help that ministry thrive. I’ll be serving on the Committee of Commissioners for Ridgehaven, so I’ll probably get my answers before the assembly actually begins.
• Brotherhood-- perhaps my greatest hope and prayer is for ever-increasing brotherhood among the commissioners. Every assembly of recent years has included an issue or two of substance, and one over which it is easy to become emotional. I long to see an attitude of love, deference, dignity, and humility embodied by all who participate in G.A.-- starting with myself.

Are you going to General Assembly? If not, you might tune in to check it out-- for the past several years, they have webcasted the whole thing! Check in here or here to find webcasts. Whether you are going, watching webcasts, or none of the above, please join me in praying for this year’s General Assembly.

Tags: Pastoral ministry, PCA, PCA Polity, presbyterians, General Assembly

We have an antique rocking chair at home that has been in my family for generations. I remember it sitting in my grandmother’s living room for years, with this blue flannel blanket draped over it. After that, it found its way into a barn for a season, before landing in my apartment before I was married. It has been in my possession since.

This particular rocker has a cane seat and back, which makes it very comfortable to sit in. Unfortunately, it also means that the cane periodically wears out. I remember my mother having the back re-caned after recovering it from the barn, before it became mine. Early in our marriage, the seat also wore out. When a caned seat or back wears out, the result is a hole that unweaves more and more until essentially you have nothing to sit or lean on-- so the chair went back into storage for a long time.

Recently, though, I’ve been working on restoring it. I decided to do the caning myself, and even received a few special caning tools as a Christmas present last year. This process has been interesting, and a good metaphor for ministry, I think.

The cane seat of this rocker is held in place by a “spline” which is glued and wedged into a channel that goes around the entire seat. Replacing the cane means removing the old spline and installing a new one with the new cane. The work I’ve been doing so far has been mostly removing this spline.

You should know this about caning and splines: if they’re done well, they are VERY difficult to remove. Naturally, you don’t want the spline simply slipping out and the seat collapsing on you! Thus, getting the old one out is an intense act of labor, where I take a very small chisel and, little by little, begin removing parts of the old spline.

I had to start by finding the end, then gradually working the chisel under it. Once it was wedged in there, I pried out what I could, as gently as I could. From there, I worked my way around. At times, I had to shave off a little at a time until I got to the bottom of the spline. At other times, I had to work the edge away from the carcass of the chair, or split the spline with a larger chisel, or use a razor-blade to trim away parts. Underneath the spline is a good bit of glue, which also must be removed.

At the same time, I must be very careful with the carcass of the chair. While the old spline will be discarded and completely replaced, if I’m not careful I could do serious damage to the body of the chair. A slip of the chisel, or too much pressure from gripping in the wrong place, and my antique could break beyond repair. I also have to be careful with myself: my chisel slipped off of the spline and dug into the pad of my thumb once; now I’m cautious about where I place my hands!

This is laborious work. Sometimes it is quite rough and even violent. At other times it requires extraordinary gentleness. There are times when I must work for a while on an area, then leave it for another area out of frustration. Real, substantial progress is measured in inches and fractions of inches. All of it-- every shave of the chisel-- has a significant part in a larger end-goal.

From my point of view, this is what real ministry is like.

It is slow-paced and careful. It takes a long time. Real progress is made in very incremental ways. It can be frustrating. It can be rough and even painful, but most of the time requires gentleness-- and even the rough parts must be done with care.

Yet, all of it has a part in a larger purpose. And if that purpose is kept in view, every shave of the chisel is worth it.

I finished removing the spline last night. I have just a little glue left to remove, and then I’ll be able to replace the cane seating. I’ll post a picture when I’m done-- may it be a picture of the worthiness of a slow and careful ministry.

Tags: Pastoral ministry, Faith & Life

June 7 Luke 17:1-19 -- Standing firm in the faith
June 14 Luke 17:20-37 -- Your Kingdom come...
June 21 Luke 18:1-17 -- Prayerful faith, faithful prayers (Guest Preacher: Doug Barcroft)
June 28 Luke 18:18-34 -- Learning to Repent

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

One of the leaders of Youth Specialties, a large resource for youth ministry in the Christian church, recently announced that he was cutting out Facebook, Twitter, and blogging because of a re-evaluation of priorities in his life. Good for him.

Several of the comments he received pleaded with him to reconsider. At least one of them (I didn’t read them all) appealed to the goal of “balance” as the solution to continuing these activities. You don’t have to quit altogether, said he, but just scale back.

I have three responses to this:

First-- seriously?!? This guy’s just announced that he has prayerfully considered how he uses his time, and he’s giving up three online time-sponges in order to spend more time on his ministry and with his family. You want him to reconsider because you’d miss reading his blog? (And this is from people who work in vocational ministry...) I don’t have any problem with any of those activities, but I both understand and respect when people thoughtfully decide to purge them from their lives.

Second-- there are dozens of online “social” tools available (and more daily, it seems), and all of them have some value and purpose. But two things stand out to me in this vein: first, if you can’t articulate a good reason (even if it is, “harmless fun”) for using any one of them, then you’re wasting your time. Second, if you’re using them just to “build your brand” then I think you ought to take a closer look at the Scriptures and consider whether “building your personal brand” has anything to do with discipleship.

Third-- and this is the main point: people talk to me often about “balance” in their lives. Some are folks I minister to, others are people I consult with (because I do some consulting in addition to pastoral ministry, and that sometimes includes consulting about “productivity”), and a unifying fact about all of them is that they have too much going on in their lives. The popular solution to this in today’s culture is to look for “balance.”

But as I read the Bible I see nothing whatsoever about balance. Sure, you could argue that the texts on stewardship apply to time as well-- and they do-- but that doesn’t amount to a Divine declaration in favor of balance. In fact, there really isn’t a warrant for balance even in the stewardship texts.

What I see in the Bible is this: learn what are the priorities of the Kingdom, and utterly abandon everything that isn’t them.

If you’re looking for balance, here’s how you accomplish it in a biblical way: cut out some of the busyness that has little or no real value, and suddenly your life will feel balanced. Discern what God has created and called you to do and be, and stop trying to do or be more than this. Spend your time on what God declares to be important, and you won’t feel imbalanced.

Tags: Faith & Life, Leadership, Bible, Sin & Repentance, family life

We’ve just started actively promoting our Spiritual LIfe Conference for 2009. The dates will be October 23-25, and the topic is Prayer. Our speaker will be Jerram Barrs, professor of Covenant Seminary and Scholar in residence of the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute.

The conference will include several lectures from Jerram, a Question & Answer Luncheon with him on Saturday, and he will preach during morning worship on Sunday. There will also be a prayer service Saturday morning, and the sanctuary will be open for prayer all afternoon on Saturday.

One thing that our brochure DOESN’T say is that there will be a Pastors’ Luncheon on Friday, in addition to all of the other activities.

To learn more and to register, visit the website: slc.hickorywithepc.org. And keep an eye on it, because there may be some additions yet to come in the plans and offerings.

Tags: prayer, Faith & Life

Here’s a good piece from Ligon Duncan, a PCA pastor in Jackson, MS, on how to pray for your pastor. Duncan has put together a list of 17 specific ways you can pray for your pastor.

And here’s another good one, this time from Thom Rainer (an author and church leader) on the same. Rainer doesn’t offer a list, but instead a testimony of how vital to ministry is a member (and a congregation) that prays for their pastor.

Tags: prayer, Faith & Life

May 3 Luke 14:25-35 -- Discipleship re-defined
May 10 Luke 15 -- To seek and save that which was lost...
May 17 Luke 16:1-15 -- How much have you been entrusted with?
May 24 Luke 16:16-18 -- The difficulty of the law
May 31 Luke 16:19-31 -- We have enough!

Tags: preaching, Easter, Pentecost

Update: I accommodated my changes for the last two weeks.

April 5 Luke 23:34 -- Jesus prayed for our forgiveness (Palm Sunday)
April 12 Mark 15:34 -- Jesus suffered for our suffering (Easter-- sunrise service)
April 12 Luke 23:46 -- Jesus died our death to gain our resurrection (Easter-- 11am service)
April 19 Luke 13:17-35 -- Who will be in the Kingdom?
April 26 Luke 14:1-24 -- A banquet for the unlovable

Tags: preaching, Lent, Easter

There are lots of things I like about the PCA. Two things that have come to mind recently, both of which seem to be on the rise, and both of which make me quite content to minister in the PCA, are these. We could do a much better job at both, and there is plenty of room for growth. Still, I love these:

• Striving to be inclusive when we don’t have to be exclusive. There is a certain required exclusivity in the church, and the Gospel presents that clearly. I’m OK with that. And I certainly acknowledge that there is a very vocal minority in the PCA that would prefer that we be as exclusive as we can be. But it seems to me that the majority (and a growing majority, at that) strives for being inclusive when we do not have to be exclusive. This is an encouraging counterpoint to dangerous sectarianism, and makes the PCA a friendlier environment to minister (and, incidentally, a friendlier place to hear the Gospel and get converted!).
• Willingness to admit when we’re wrong. The Westminster Confession of Faith says plainly, “All synods or councils, since the apostles’ times, whether general or particular, may err, and many have erred. Therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith, or practice; but to be used as a help in both” (WCF 31.4). The more we remind ourselves of this, the better-- this sort of humility ought to ooze out of our meetings of Session, Presbytery, and General Assembly. I love the fact that this is a part of our confessional standards, and that I see more and more men in the PCA approaching their leadership with this spirit.

Tags: PCA, presbyterians

Not long ago, I was talking with an acquaintance about the liturgy at Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church. I specifically mentioned that we were beginning to make use of the liturgical calendar more intentionally. He wrinkled his nose, furrowed his brow, and replied, “I don’t know... that’s sort of like the Roman Catholic and orthodox churches.”

I said, “Sort of.”

He responded, “But aren’t you a Presbyterian church?”

Even though we talked about it for a few more minutes, I could tell the conversation was over at this point.

This fellow, and many like him, approach such matters from the same perspective: they are inherently suspicious of anyone-- or anything-- that is different from what they understand and practice. In this case, his experiences and personal practices had suggested to him that all Presbyterians had plain, unadorned, even stoic worship that varied not by season nor circumstance. Therefore, he concluded, any church that diverged from this path, even though they may be Presbyterian, was not practicing proper Presbyterian worship. They-- and in this case, we-- must be in error.

Why must this be the case? Is it so that the Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox are utterly wrong? Could it be possible that they might teach and/or practice some things with which we might disagree, but not all things? Couldn’t the same thing be true of other Christian traditions?

When faced with questions such as these, I’ve found that “Suspicion because of difference” will grant my premises. Yet, when it comes to actually practicing this, they have no interest, and in fact they are sometimes fearful.

This is natural, I think: we are all fearful of what we don’t know and understand. Most of us are insecure enough to interpret differences as a conscious and active condemnation of our point of view, rather than simply a thoughtful and purposeful acceptance of another point of view. And we are prideful enough to look on something that is different from what we do, think, or feel as wrong by default.

But we must be careful when our default position is to be suspicious of something simply because it is different. Look at it this way: most, if not all, of how you spend your time today, what you think about, and the beliefs that you hold, are inherently different from what you did, thought, or believed a decade or two ago. In many of us, the differences are drastic-- and we are grateful that they are! In fact, if someone cannot honestly say that this is at least somewhat true of them-- that they are a good bit different today than 10 years ago-- then they either aren’t being honest with themselves or they haven’t demonstrated any personal growth over that time.

If I, 10 years ago, had met the “me” from today, would I even recognize myself? Would I be suspicious of the differences I saw in this other person? If that is true of me-- and you-- then shouldn’t we give those who are different from us some benefit of the doubt?

What are we looking for when we demand conformity to our own images in this way? Are we simply looking for affirmation? Are we attending to some deep insecurities that cause us to second-guess ourselves, and therefore others as well?

Or are we asking for some shibboleth that Scripture itself doesn’t require? Tim Keller once said, “No matter where you are, there is someone to your right, as it were, who thinks you sold out the Gospel.” Is this what we’re getting at when we get so suspicious so quickly?

Two nights ago I had a conversation with someone who noted that, in visiting a different Presbyterian church, he had observed a surprising number of things that harkened back to Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic practices. He was surprised.

“Why?” I asked him. “I think John Calvin and Martin Luther would have wanted it that way.”

“Do you really think so?” He asked.

“Yes-- after all, Luther and Calvin didn’t want to not be Roman Catholic-- they simply wanted the Roman Catholic church to be biblically faithful.”

But we forget that. And we forget that our differences-- whether they be about worship practices, liturgical calendars, theologies of baptism, or how actively we must pursue a certain social agenda-- ought not be something that we are inherently suspicious of.

One of my favorite TV shows was (and is!) The West Wing. In one episode, a group of Chinese refugees were trying to flee religious persecution in their homeland, and President Bartlett (played by Martin Sheen) was seeking affirmation that they were legitimately Christians and not just being coached. Meanwhile, China is demanding that the refugees be returned.

Instructive. After all, this is the sum of it, and any further shibboleth that I construct is wrong. Let’s be a bit less suspicious.^*


*Don’t get me wrong here: I’m not suggesting that it is wrong to have theological standards for, say, ordination-- but simply that when I don’t “get” the way another Christian practices their faith, I must be careful not to assume that their faith therefore isn’t real.

Tags: Faith & Life, love, Liturgy, community, Church Universal

I’ve actually posted this video before. It’s an amazing video-- both because the song is so great, and also because the video is so creative (and fitting).

The song is “Family Man” by Andrew Peterson, and I’m planning to use this song as an illustration in my sermon on Sunday. I’m only planning to read the lyrics, though, and songs always have more impact if you’ve heard them before. Therefore, if you’re planning to be in worship on Sunday (or if you’re not!) then I offer you here the opportunity to hear/see Andrew’s fine song visualized:

Tags: preaching, Music

An acquaintance recently pointed out that she has noticed the tendency for the news anchors to refer to our President as “President Obama.” This wouldn’t be that peculiar, except, as she noted, they preferred to call President Bush simply, “Mr. Bush”-- though they were thick with “President Clinton” before then. She noted this as possible evidence of media bias, but asks, is she being paranoid?

She isn’t paranoid; neither is this phenomenon something unique to the media, nor to "liberals" in general. What she has noticed is simply the fruit of the degrading of the concept of "office" in American culture: we (the people of the United States, not necessarily “we” as individuals-- though it certainly can and does include some of us as individuals) no longer have respect for the Office of the Presidency; now we only regard the man who occupies that office.

This is a problem that, i believe, can be traced back to two primary (and probably surprising to many) sources: Charles Finney (and the Second Great Awakening), and Rush Limbaugh (and like-minded talk show hosts).

Finney's teaching on the church-- and particularly the pastor-- led to a predominant mindset in Christianity that the pastor is no one special, that he is no different from anyone else, and that he isn't due any particular regard or respect simply because of his role as pastor. This is only a small fraction of the problems that Finney introduced into the evangelical church, but it is a substantial one.

In the 80s and 90s, a number of Finney-esque pastors (self-appointed, often with no theological education or training, following Finny's very teaching about what a pastor is and should be) rose to prominence nationally, largely leading revival-style meetings that were much in the way of charismatic/pentecostal churches (though they are in no way a fair representation of charismatic/pentecostal faith and practice, any more than they are representative of pastors in general). The multitude of scandals involving these men led to the broad-spread acceptance of Finney's view of the pastorate. No longer could we trust someone implicitly, because of the office they held; not even pastors were properly due a certain amount of trust or respect.

Limbaugh, and others like him, indirectly took this concept to ALL offices in the 90s. To hear Rush Limbaugh speak of President Clinton was to hear contempt. Period. There was no restraint in his discussion of the man or his politics, simply because of the fact that he held the office of President of the United States of America. I remember Limbaugh railing against President Clinton after the truth of the Lewinsky stuff came out, saying that the media ought to always refer to him thenceforth as, “known liar Bill Clinton.” Whatever you believe about the man Bill Clinton, surely the fact that he then occupied the office of the President should have reigned in the vitriolic language from Rush. I quit listening to him with any regularity back then, but from all I know and have heard, he is still a source for the same sort of contempt.

Now, we are reaping what we have sown. Ironically, so much of this originated under banners that are historically conservative-- but it comes back around to bite us in the end. Almost no one values offices any longer-- even within the church, and even though the concept of “office” is literally ALL OVER Scripture. While there are still latent acknowledgements of it-- for example, my recent reference to how frequently people recognize my clerical collar as an indication that I am someone they can turn to for spiritual counsel-- the active, intentional, and thoughtful acknowledgement of an office is diminishing.

This is a shame, at very least because it means that a new pastor has to work from scratch to begin his ministry to his flock. More than that, however: if and when it truly diminishes completely, many of our social structures that we now take for granted (such as our system of elections in a democratic republic, order within our churches, even basic leadership among groups like civic service groups) will begin to fall apart due to implicit lack of trust.

But worst of all: our understanding of the gospel itself will be threatened. How can we grasp what Christ did for us as Prophet, Priest, and King, if we do not understand the very concept of office itself?

Tags: Pastoral ministry, Politics

March 1 No services due to snow
March 8 Guest preacher Doug Barcroft -- Prayers of lament
March 15 Luke 12:13-34 -- What do you treasure?
March 22 Luke 12:35-53 -- Ready to finish...
March 29 Luke 12:54-13:17-- Being set free

Tags: preaching, Lent

Many of you have seen me wearing my clerical collar. I started wearing it not very long after I was ordained, but I don’t wear it all the time so many others have NOT seen it on me. Almost a year ago, I wrote about why I wear a robe in worship. Recently, a friend (and fellow pastor) saw me in mine asked that I write a similar post on them.

There are a handful of good reasons why I wear a collar.

First of all: It makes me recognizable as the pastor. When you go into the hospital, it is clear who is the doctor; when you walk into a courtroom, you can easily tell which person is the judge. They are wearing distinctive clothing that sets them apart. Likewise, when a police officer or a fireman comes to your home, you recognize them for who and what they are by the clothing they wear. So, when someone comes into the church-- or when a pastor visits someone in their home, at the hospital, etc.-- then he should be easily recognized as the pastor.

Which leads to the question, why can’t a pastor simply wear a coat and tie, or a suit? This brings up the second reason: It serves as the “uniform” of the pastor. Many professions have their uniforms, and it would seem odd for one to adapt the uniform of another. For example, it would seem strange for a court judge to start wearing a white lab-coat. When a pastor puts on a suit and tie, he is adopting the uniform of the secular business world. But I am NOT a business man; I am a pastor, and I ought to dress accordingly.

Contrary to popular misconception, the clerical collar is not Roman Catholic in origin. The current form of the collar (detachable) was actually invented in the early 1800s by a Scottish Anglican named Donald Macleodl however, its origins are actually thought to reach as far back as the 17th century as the daily street clothes of a pastor. It has historically been worn by Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, and even Pentecostals, as well as Roman Catholics (who didn’t adapt the clerical collar as streetwear for priests until the 19th century).

Also, and to me this is one of the most important reasons: It presents me in the office I hold, not just as an individual. I am a pastor, not exactly because of who I am, but because of what God has called and appointed me to do. This calling and appointment has been verified by the local congregation I serve as well as the larger body (the Presbytery) that ordained me. When I show up for an event or circumstance that needs a pastor-- at the hospital, for example-- very often I don’t offer any real value as a person. When I show up in the capacity of my office, though, what I offer is the presence of something that is bigger and greater than just me: I offer the presence of a pastor. This is vitally important, and the clerical collar marks that capacity and presence distinctively.

Somehow we instinctively understand this; that fact brings to bear the next reason: it offers me opportunities for ministry that I wouldn’t otherwise have. Like many others who wear a clerical collar, I have been surprised at the number of times when a perfect stranger has approached me for prayer or counsel-- because I am wearing my collar. (Without exception, this has NEVER happened without it-- even when I have been introduced to someone as a pastor.) In the store, on the street, or at the hospital, I have had a number of occasions already where I have found this to be the case (and I only began wearing one last summer).

Similarly, it gives me access FOR ministry that I wouldn’t otherwise have. At least, I wouldn’t have it inherently. When I go to the hospital (without a collar) and identify myself as a pastor, then they are typically cooperative and allow me to visit my congregants wherever they are. When I’m wearing my collar, however, I don’t have to explain myself or make special requests-- I am instantly granted access to wherever I want to go. (I’ve joked with the son of one of our church members, who works at a local hospital, that my collar gives me as much access as his key-card!) This is true at a nursing home or funeral parlor as well. The benefit here is that, in moments that are timely or somewhat awkward, the collar answers questions before they need to be asked.

Finally, it “completes” my representation of the church. I’m firmly convinced that the pastor is always the public face of the local church. Regardless of whether he intends to be, the community around the church will regard him as such; this is a big reason why we have big problems church-wide when one of our pastors commits a significant act of indiscretion, no matter whether it would normally be “private” or not. Wearing a collar reminds others of this, and it reminds the pastor of this, too: I am conscious of the fact that I am a representative of the church more when I’m wearing my collar than when I’m not. (Some might argue that this would be a reason for all Christians to wear a uniform, which might be a bit odd; I don’t think it quite goes that far, though I think uniforms do have that benefit.)

A fellow PCA pastor in St. Louis has written a very helpful article about this, entitled, “Why I Wear a Minister’s Uniform.” If you read it, you’ll see that I share a lot of these reasons in common with him. That’s not simply because he and I agree, but, I believe, more because these things are all true of clerical collars.

Tags: Pastoral ministry, Church Universal, Evangelism

Paul Washer has a lot of insightful and worthwhile comments. His video is a little lengthy, but worth the time:

(HT: Dane)

Michael Wittmer has a good point about where things are and/or are headed in terms of the need for emphasis. Take a look at this short clip:

(HT: Koinonia)

Designing (or redesigning) a website? Here’s all you need to know about it:

(HT: Jon)

Should the evangelical (and Reformed) church be concerned about the emerging churches? Probably not if they are like Mark Driscoll, a Calvinist/emerging/hipster pastor in Seattle who is introducing hundreds, if not thousands, to the gospel. Watch this ABC News Nightline spotlight on Driscoll:

(HT: Matt)

The power of multiplying discipleship-- visually illustrated:

(HT: Mark)

Finally, here’s one to make you laugh, cry, shake your head, or all three:

(HT: Caroline)

Ah, the power of YouTube.

Tags: Links

I mentioned a while back that I would talk about our “Ministry Focus” soon, so I’d better do it!

Our Session (the body of the Ruling and Teaching Elders, gathered to lead the church) has decided that we will establish a “Ministry Focus” for each church year, where we will focus on one aspect of spiritual life and formation and order the ministries of our church around it. We are committed to doing the following as a part of this:

• Providing specific resources related to the Ministry Focus for individuals and households
• Enfolding the Ministry Focus into our existing congregational ministries and activities
• Developing new events, activities, and ministries to advance the Ministry Focus as necessary

Our Ministry Focus for 2009 is Prayer, obviously.

As an example of how our Ministry Focus is going to take root, here are a few things we’ll be doing over the coming couple of months (if not already) to integrate a Ministry Focus of prayer into our worship:

1. We have expanded our Prayers of the People a bit, including a few new elements that we will pray for weekly.
2. I will take a moment to briefly describe a part of our corporate prayers immediately before the Prayers of the People.
3. We will have several sermons and sermon series on prayer during the course of the year.
4. I will be including prayer in my explanation and/or application in every sermon.
5. During the liturgical season of Lent, we will focus on personal and congregational mourning and repentance of sin, and will utilize prayers of lament during our time of corporate confession of sin.

I’m very excited about the idea of Ministry Focus in general, the Ministry Focus on prayer in particular, and how things are already beginning to develop. Keep a watch for regular posts on prayer.

Tags: prayer, community, Faith & Life

February 1 Luke 11:14-36 -- Hearing and sight, darkness and light
February 8 Guest preacher Doug Barcroft --- Prayers of thanksgiving
February 15 Luke 11:37-54 -- The dangers of legalism
February 22 Luke 12:1-12 -- Confidence in the face of opposition

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

Our “Ministry Focus” for 2009 is prayer-- which I’ll give more details about soon.

As a part of that, I’m going to incorporate thoughts, reflections, quotes, and resources about prayer into my blogging for this year. Here is the first, from Pastor Stuart Briscoe, about how vital prayer is for ministry (of all types-- including vocational ministry, but also the ministry of the laity, Ruling Elders, Deacons, etc.):

Gifting was not enough! Practice might make perfect, but it wouldn't address need in its rawest form. Sharpening skills and improving methodology, polishing technique and being innovative and relevant could not effectively counter the presence of evil I was confronting on a daily basis. I was dealing with issues supernaturally conceived and devilishly exacerbated, and only supernatural counteraction would suffice. I needed to put into practice the third foundational principle of my ministry: Pray that the Spirit moves. I freely admit that my prayer life has been deficient and my growth in this area less than stellar. I believe in prayer but don't always do it. I understand that I'm told to pray, but I don't always obey. I am an activist by nature; I am not contemplative by temperament. I am not happy with this state of affairs and have given much thought to what prayer is, what it does, and what I need to be doing about it. Of a few things, however, I am sure; and over the years I have formulated my convictions as follows: Prayer must be a declaration of dependence-- a heartfelt cry from a frail human being commissioned to speak in the name of the Almighty and to be the agent of his working among strife-torn people. This agent must be painfully aware of his or her limitations of ability and suitability for such a task and cry out for empowering and enabling that alone will suffice to achieve divine ends. Prayer must also be a litany of longing. The promise of overflowing blessing in John 7:37-38 is made to those who are "thirsty"-- those who in recognition of their own needs are willing to freely confess them, are eager to address them, and are ready to "Come and drink," to take whatever steps will release the promised provision, because the desire is so strong and the need so pressing. Bein thirsty signifies a sense of divine discontent with thins as they are, a growing conviction that things could be much closer to what they ought to be, and a willingness to pursue whatever is prescribed. And finally, prayer must also be an expression of expectation-- a humble claiming of the immutable promise of blessing made by the Son of God who cannot lie and a settled assurance that the promised Spirit, through whose activity alone the blessing will flow has been given, is resident within and is more than ready to accomplish that for which he has been sent in and through obedient, dependent servants. This, I am sure, is the kind of praying we need and for which I strive. And in response to this kind of praying, I believe the work will continue to thrive. Thank God that we have many people in our community of faith whose praying is infinitely more effective than mine.

[From Flowing Streams: Journeys of a Life Well-Lived by Stuart Briscoe. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008, p. 151-152.]

Tags: prayer

Here are the sermon texts for January.

Hickory Withe PC members: if you aren’t doing so already, may I encourage you to read each week’s text (and all the other months as well!) before you come to church on Sunday? Perhaps you could close out the day on Saturday with them, or read them with your family after supper on Saturday.

January 4 Luke 11:1-13 -- Learning to Pray, part 2
January 11 Luke 10:1-24 -- The work of the disciples
January 18 Luke 10:25-37 -- Won’t you be my neighbor?
January 25 Luke 10:38-42 -- Two choices

Tags: preaching, Epiphany, Ordinary Days

The title came from a description that a pastor gave about what his church was doing by offering refuge to folks fleeing the path of Hurricane Gustav. This ironic statement echoes exactly what my friend Craig and I recently dialogued about on his blog. What’s wrong with this picture?

This quote demonstrates how thoroughly the ideas of “postmodernism” have influenced even the church. Without getting deeply into all of the aspects of postmodern philosophy, one thing that is notable is how the shifts in philosophy have led to consequent shifts in the seat of authority-- when, by “authority,” I mean the arbiter of truth, stability, and purpose. Follow with me:

Whether he realizes it or not, this pastor (quoted above) has clearly become convinced of the Post-Modern position, at least as far as whose role and duty it is to care for those in need. Historically, the Church has been the default institution that would be assumed to be charged with caring for the needy. In that sense, it would be just the opposite: the governmental services would be filling the gap the Church left.

How is that our mindset? Do we recognize that the Church’s job-- not the government’s-- is to attend to the needs of those in need? Do we understand the implications of this for the way that we vote or take up political activity? When we believe that the fundamental and primary solutions to our social and community problems is to vote the “right” person into office, have we sold out our biblical view of the church for a Postmodern illusion of solutions?

Tags: Cultural Discernment, Faith & Life, Philosophy, Church Universal

I read some really great stuff in November-- very refreshing, challenging, and re-shaping. Not a lot of books, but quality made up for quantity. Here’s the list:

• Living Streams: Journeys of a Life Well-Lived by Stuart Briscoe. This memoir is from a pastor/preacher I had heard of, heard some lectures by, and even read an article or two he had written, but didn’t know very much about. (I was mostly familiar with him through his wife’s ministry, which publishes the magazine Just Between Us for ministry wives.) I found in him a wonderful and humble man who God has clearly used in mighty ways, telling the story of how God uses His saints. Briscoe began preaching at age 17, and now at 80 has a wealth of wisdom and insight into ministry, which oozes out of every page. (9+)
• The Crucifixion of Ministry by Andrew Purves. A great book on how ministry isn’t all about us. Think of this one as a pastoral theology of sorts, with the brunt of the focus on how the Gospel is primary at all times. There’s some helpful discussion of how this looks, and a healthy dose of rebuke and humility. I needed this book, even though in some ways I didn’t feel ready for this book: there is a base assumption in Purves’ writing that most of us have gone astray in this manner, and I’m not sure I’ve been in ordained pastoral ministry long enough to be as entrenched as he assumes-- but maybe that in itself affirms how much I needed it. (8+)

Tags: reading, Cultural Discernment, Pastoral ministry

December 7 Romans 8:25 -- The gift of patience
December 14 1 Peter 1:3 -- The gift of hope
December 21 Hebrews 1:1-4 -- The gift of revelation
December 24 Isaiah 12:3ff -- The gift of joy (Christmas Eve Candlelight Service)
December 28 Luke 11:1-13 -- Learning to pray

Tags: preaching, Advent, Christmastide

With the twins being born, I didn’t get as much reading done this month as I would have liked. Nevertheless, here’s my list for October:

• Churched by Matthew Paul Turner. I’ve already reviewed this book here. (9+)
• Preaching to a Post-Everything World by Zack Eswine. Nevermind that Zack is a friend and a former professor of mine; this was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It was like a post-graduate course in homiletics (the study of preaching), and a much-needed and appreciated re-charge of my vision for my own preaching. Zack picks up where Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching leaves off and runs many miles further down that road. My one regret of reading this book is that I was only able to absorb about 10-15% of it, which means I need to re-read it every 6-12 months for the next several years. If you’re a preacher or teacher, this should go to the top of your must-read list. (10)
• How Would Jesus Vote? by D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe. I’ve reviewed this one already, too. (5)

Tags: reading, Cultural Discernment

November 2 Guest preacher: Doug Barcroft
November 9 Guest preacher: Doug Barcroft
November 16 Luke 9:37-62 -- (Mis)Understanding discipleship
November 23 Luke 10:1-24 -- The work of the disciples
November 30 Isaiah 25:6-26:6 -- The gift of anticipation
November 30 (evening) Various texts-- The gift of presence (Chrismon Service)

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days, Advent

• Good thoughts here (from a generally creative set of guys) on why stories are so effective.
• A while back, I recommended a set of lectures on Denominational Renewal. More recently, those lectures have received new attention as the Common Grounds blog has hosted a series of discussions on those lectures and their ideas. Some of the comments, in particular, ought to be taken with a grain of salt (or a block of it), but overall the articles themselves are helpful thoughts. I’d encourage you to listen to the lectures, then check out the discussion.
• Here’s a good piece on the Osteens, and it gives a taste of why they are both as popular (among the masses) and as unpopular (among theological conservatives) as they are. (If you want a little more than a taste, check the comments in the Internet Monk’s link to the same article.)
• My friend and classmate from seminary, Joel Hathaway, has penned a pretty good article on elections and politics for the current issue of byFaith magazine.
• This is an interesting insider piece about the growing bias in the mainstream media. (HT: Nick)

Tags: Links

• Ben Witherington has a very good guide to basic principles of hermeneutics (the study of the study of the Bible-- no, I didn’t stutter). Worth reading. (HT: John Allen)
• Who says Latin is dead? (Of course, I’ve known this for years, as I taught for six years at a school that offered Latin.)
• In case you don’t know, Zondervan books has a very good blog with regular posts from their most-known authors. My favorites are Mondays with Mounce (Biblical Greek insight from William Mounce, author of a popular seminary Greek text) and Hebrew Corner (from John Walton, an Old Testament professor and Hebrew scholar).
• What do you do with poo? Some creative conservationists in Asia and Europe have some good ideas.
• The Internet Monk has an interesting discussion, asking the question, “is it a sin to be a stay-at-home dad?”
• Too funny: the battle of the church signs.
• For those who are interested: Marcie has started a blog.

Tags: Links

To the generation of faithful men who, as Pastors and Elders, led the formation of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA):

Dear fathers in the faith,

Thank you for the work that you did 35 years ago, in the years leading up to then, and in the years that followed. You stood against attacks on orthodoxy and biblical truth and refused to compromise in your deep commitments to the authority of Scripture and to the faithful teaching and preaching of the Bible. At great sacrifice, personally and-- in many cases-- professionally, you remained faithful to the essential convictions that the truth of Scripture was the final authority for faith and practice.

With grief and mourning, you fought for orthodoxy in a denomination that seemed committed against it, and when you recognized that you would not win that battle, you chose to separate and form a denomination for whom the commitments to the authority of Scripture, the faithful teaching of the biblical gospel, and the brotherly association of congregations would always remain pre-eminent. What you did was difficult and costly, yet, unselfishly, you did it for the sake of the gospel and Christ’s church.

Thank you. For your convictions, commitments, sacrifices, and leadership, Thank you.

The PCA is a wonderful denomination to serve in, and I am so grateful for her. Since her foundations, she has grown substantially through the efforts of church planting. Other congregations, seeking a friendly orthodoxy, have found refuge here. The uniting of two like-minded denominations increased the PCA’s size, stature, and reach in many ways. Ministries conventional and unconventional, in all manner of contexts and to all manner of people-groups, have spread the good news of Christ’s Kingdom where it was absent before. A worldwide emphasis on missions has made the PCA one of the strongest missionary denominations in the country. All of this had its seed in your labor to form this new denomination.

I hope you hear in my words above a sincere admiration, appreciation, and gratitude for your labor and service. I have only respect and praise for you. I know that you love the PCA deeply. I have come to love the PCA too-- not in the same ways that you do, of course, but deeply nevertheless. So I hope you will therefore receive the following questions in all sincerity, not as attacks or dismissals, nor as trick questions or traps. They are asked out of love, for you and for our denomination, and most of all, for Christ and His gospel.

• Through the years, you have remained vigilant in your efforts to protect the PCA from “liberal” theology. Again, thank you for this. But are there other things that we must be vigilant against as well? In the past 35 years, our culture has largely shifted from a world that generally believes in Christianity-- or at least something close too it-- and needs the perfecting of their belief, to a world where Christianity and anything close to it falls under suspicion. Is the new fight for the PCA not merely a battle against liberalism, but also against unbelief itself? In your wisdom, how might we find a balance between these two fronts?
• Surely theology is essential; we must have sound, biblical theology taught in our churches, as you have, for so long, labored for. But is not orthopraxy as important as orthodoxy? I’m thinking of Luke 8:21 and James 1:22-25 in this question. Of what use is our sound theology if it is not merely taught, but also practiced? How deeply do we understand our commitments to the doctrines of grace, if we are not consequently gracious? How much have we understood the Father’s mercy, if we are not merciful as the Father is merciful? From your experience, how might you advise the next generations of Pastors and Elders to live out the grace of God?
• You have shown through the years a great effectiveness for building and growing the church, and we are indebted to your capability in this way. The Book of Church Order is a model of efficiency and the very embodiment of gracious church governance, and the practices of worship and other ministry that have defined the PCA for the past decades have driven many to have a deeper heart of worship and a greater understanding of the truth. Are there ways to accomplish ministry in strict accordance with the principles that undergird our denomination without following the form and practice those have taken historically? As I consider Paul’s ability to adjust his ministry style and approach to accommodate the hearer without compromising the truth (Acts 17; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23), I wonder if we have granted the freedom of our ministers to do the same. Have we constrained our people not only in principle but in practice?
• Your readiness to defend against true theological threats is so valuable, and needed. Yet we often perceive threats where there are none, particularly when we have been attacked before. Is there a way to remain vigilant against heterodoxy without operating from a default posture of suspicion? Practically, it seems that an initially defensive response becomes a hindrance to growth and ministry. Biblically, Paul challenges us to deal lovingly with each other, even when declaring-- and defending-- the truth (Ephesians 4:15), and to hope and believe out of love that our brothers are acting in earnest (1 Corinthians 13:7). Shouldn’t our attitudes toward one another at presbytery and General Assembly meetings-- toward fellow Ruling and Teaching Elders in good standing-- embody this loving, trusting spirit?
• You were right to depart from a body that had abandoned its commitment to biblical truth. Yet, could it be that a contributing factor that drove them toward liberalism was a deep association of conservative theology with unloving, ungracious practice? Christ is a model of commitment to true orthodoxy in the face of bad theology, yet his manner toward even those with whom he disagreed was vitally loving and gracious (Mark 10:17-22; Luke 13:34). Ought not our practice toward one another-- and even toward those who oppose us-- be so gracious and loving that they may not mistake false teachings and poor theology as more closely following the model of Christ?

I am among the newest to join you as a Teaching Elder, Pastor, and Presbyter-- I haven’t yet been ordained for a year, and I’ve barely been a member of my presbytery a year. I wasn’t yet one year old when you were instrumental in forming the PCA. While I have enjoyed membership in the PCA for almost 20 years, and service in (non-ordained) ministry for 12, I realize that, often, I may be too young and too inexperienced, too brash and overconfident to know very well what I speak of. Had I not been confirmed in my thoughts by many other brothers-- some of whom have many more years of experience than I-- I may be inclined to second-guess myself here, as well.

I pray that these questions might be received for what they are: a genuine hope for the ever-increasing fulfillment of our vows to be zealous and faithful in maintaining the truths of the gospel and the purity, peace, and unity of the Church.

Your servant,
Ed Eubanks, Jr.

Tags: presbyterians, PCA, PCA Polity, Pastoral ministry

I like books-- especially free ones. And I really like author Thom Rainer, and his son Sam.

That’s why I was excited to see this: their book Essential Church? is available for free as a downloadable e-book (PDF format). Only until Monday. Get it here.

Tags: reading, Cultural Discernment

In the front pews the old ladies turn up heir hearing aids, and a young lady slips her six-year-old a Life Saver and a Magic Marker. A college sophomore home for vacation who is there because he was dragged there, slumps forward with his chin in his hand. The vice-president of a bank who twice this week has considered suicide places his hymnal in the rack. A pregnant girl feels the life stir inside her. A high school teacher, who for twenty years has managed to keep his homosexuality a secret for the most part even from himself, creases his order of service down the center with his thumbnail and tucks it under his knee... The preacher pulls the little cord that turns on the lectern light and deals out his note cards like a river boat gambler. The stakes have never been higher. Two minutes from now he may have lost his listeners completely to their own thoughts, but at this moment he has them in the palm of his hand. The silence in the shabby church is deafening because everybody is listening to it... Everybody knows the kinds of things he has told them before and not told them, but who knows what this time, out of the silence, he will tell them.

Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth. New York: Harper and Row, 1977, pp.22-23. (Quoted in The Power of Speaking God’s Word by Wilbur Ellsworth, Fearn, Ross-Shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2000.)

Tags: preaching

As we approached October, I’ve been really excited about our study in Luke and how it is progressing and developing.

As before, take these dates as tentative, since the twins may come at any point!

October 5 Luke 8:1-21 -- The work of the Word
October 12 Luke 8:22-56-- Wonder-working power
October 19 Luke 9:1-17 -- Power to the people
October 26 Luke 9:18-36 -- What it means to be the Christ

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

• Slate has compiled a fascinating transcript of last Friday’s debate, complete with redacted fact-checks for every factual statement made (more than 200).
• Everyone seems to be blaming the Bush administration for the economic crisis, but it’s clear that it began during the Clinton administration and was perpetuated by Democrats in Congress. Also, get a better grasp on what is going on. (HT: Leslie, Mark & Adam)
• A fascinating look at the practice of rebaptism-- part 1 and part 2.
• What is business casual? A great line: use the detergent test. (HT: Daily Saint)
• How does Bon Jovi understand worship in a way that most churches don’t? Very good points here.
• Watch the last three minutes of this video for a real laugh. I laughed harder at the end than I have in a long time (and if you know me, that’s really saying something). Boom Chakka-Lakka.

Tags: Links

I have believed for a long time that the essence of my ministry-- regardless of where it is or to whom-- is to teach people of the truth of the Gospel, our need for it, and its transforming power to give us new identities in Christ. My primary goal at Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church has been, and is, to focus on that.

Here is PCA pastor Tim Keller talking about that transformed identity, in a better way than I am able to explain it:

Tags: Faith & Life, Pastoral ministry, theology

An interesting discussion on counseling and medication over at another blog raised a good point that I’ve often found is a stumbling block to Christians. David Powlison, quoting the Director of the National Institute on Mental Health, said:

Psychiatric medications can sometimes take the edge off symptoms, but they can't give people what they really need. People need meaning and relationships. Psychiatry can't give that. Medication can't give that.

This is something that is apparently difficult to understand for those who have not had immediate contact with the effects of this kind of medication (known as “psychotropic” medication).

I once had a student whose comment revealed that even those who HAVE had contact sometimes misunderstand. She said in an off-hand manner, “I’ve taken anti-depressants. They make you happy!”

The truth is, they don’t. They might help you to be normal (in a chemical sense), but they don’t make you “happy.” My concern deepened as I counseled this student about this, because she had faced mild-to-moderate depression for so long that she had come to assume that her depressed state was “normal”-- thus, having that edge of depression taken off was “happy” feeling to her.

Here’s my best analogy of what psychotropic drugs offer: Suppose you love running, and have your heart dead-set on running a marathon in a year. In preparation for a training regimen, you visit your doctor, who informs you that the slight pain in your knee is actually a problem that needs to be addressed surgically; in short, if you don’t have your knee scoped, you won’t be able to train for the marathon, let alone complete it.

Here’s the analogy: if you have your knee scoped, is that going to make you ready for the marathon? No. You’ll still have a lot of work to do to condition your body (and your mind) for running the marathon. But if you don’t have your knee scoped, you are guaranteed that you won’t be able to run the marathon.

So it is with psychotropic medication: they won’t overcome your depression for you, but they might address the physical/physiological obstacles that would keep you from being able to do the work of overcoming depression. (Likewise with anxiety and other clinical mental health issues.)

Tags: Science & Technology, Cultural Discernment, Faith & Life, Grace, Grief

Following up (again) on my recently completed series on the Lord’s Supper, I thought this brief (< 1 min.) video from Tim Keller might be another helpful summary of what happens in the sacrament of Communion.

Tags: Faith & Life, worship, community, love

As I wrapped up a brief sermon series on The Lord’s Supper yesterday, I thought it may be helpful to summarize the applications, or “answers” to the questions I posed about the sacrament (which were, “what is it?” “when is it?” and “how is it?”):

• The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is a covenantal meal, which means it is a family meal-- thus, it’s not primarily an individual thing, but much more of a group thing, and in a mysterious spiritual way, it is a time of true, living fellowship with God Himself, through which He nourishes our souls with grace.
• The sacrament is something that we should be devoted to doing: devoted to doing it in the context of worship, accompanied by Word and prayer, because these are the spiritual food that God has given us for nourishment; and devoted to doing it often-- as often as we are able-- because we long to be fed and nourished all the more on the grace of God.
• The sacrament is something for believers gathered together, not for unbelievers: if we know salvation through Christ alone, we are welcomed through the Gate to take part in this spiritual feast; but if we approach it wrongly-- in an unbelieving way, whether because we misunderstand what the sacrament is for, or because we presume on it meaning that it doesn’t have-- then we are warned of the consequences of judgement being increased on us.

Tags: preaching, worship, Sacrament, Bible, theology, community, Faith & Life

Happy Labor Day, everyone. Here are the sermon texts for the month of September, with the continuation of the series on the Lord’s Supper, and then resuming Luke.

One thing to note: as we move through the fall (even starting in September, though I certainly hope this won’t be the case then), you should take these published texts with a grain of salt. Chances are, the schedule might change last-minute if Marcie should go into labor and the twins arrive. I’m planning to have some guys in the Presbytery “on call” to pinch-hit for me should I need it.

UPDATE: I made a slight adjustment to the last text.

September 7 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 -- What is the Lord’s Supper? Part 3: How is it?
September 14 Luke 7:1-17 -- Great power and humble faith
September 21 Luke 7:18-35 -- Following a prepared path
September 28 Luke 7:36-50 -- How great is the debt?

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

In August, we’ll take a little break from Luke after wrapping up the Sermon on the Plain (Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount). During that break we’ll work through a three-part series looking at the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.

UPDATE: I’ve adjusted the schedule to reflect Bruce Farrant’s sermon from last Sunday.

Here are the texts for August:

August 3 Luke 6:37-42 -- Dealing with others’ faith
August 10 Luke 6:43-49 -- Dealing with your own faith
August 17 Guest Preacher Bruce Farrant-- Proverbs 18:14; 1 Peter 3:15
August 24 Matthew 26:26-30 -- What is the Lord’s Supper? Part 1: What is it?
August 31 Acts 2:42-47 -- What is the Lord’s Supper? Part 2: When is it?

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

Following up on my previous post, I’ll continue my reflections from the fascinating conversation I got to be a part of earlier in the week.

At another point in the conversation, one of these formerly legalistic teenagers commented on the damage that was done through this oppressive environment. Specifically, she said that she felt like no one was given any sense of their right to read the Bible for themselves. Instead, they were told what the Bible taught and what it meant for them.

This is oppressive-- and brings to mind a significant part of the Protestant reformation, which was to translate the Bible into the language of the people (instead of only into Latin), so that people of than the priests and bishops could read it. There is an essential aspect of the faith that comes from reading Scripture; it is the Word of God for the people of God. And it is important that people know their Bibles so that they can test the teachings of others against the Word of God (remember the Bereans, who were praised for this in Acts 17:11).

At the same time, the approach of the leaders in the legalistic community are a good example of how we tend to take sound principles too far, when there is actually a “middle ground” balance needed.

Christians today too often take the “democratization of the Bible” too far; because the Reformers saw that it was important that people other than only the authorities of the church be able to read Scripture, today we have many who have decided that their interpretation of the Bible is as good as anyone’s-- and maybe better.

In fact, not everyone can interpret the Bible equally. Some have been trained extensively for interpreting the Bible-- learning the original languages of Hebrew and Greek, studying the history, archeaology, and peoples of biblical times, training in methods and approaches of how to study and interpret Scripture, and other ways of being trained. Others have read and studied their Bibles many times over, and they simply know the Scriptures well. Still others are, frankly, not familiar enough with the Bible to make the confident assertions of interpretation that they do.

This isn’t to say that not everyone ought to read their Bibles and, yes, make efforts at interpretation. But it is to say that all of us ought to remain teachable about even those biblical texts that we feel the most familiar with. And when we recognize that an interpretation we have made is at odds with an interpretation that others have made, we ought to be willing to hear the reasoning behind their interpretation with an open mind.

Imagine, if you will, the person who dogmatically insists that his translation of a text, though totally at odds with everyone else, is the accurate one:

Dogmatist: This is what I believe the text is saying...
Elder: I don’t see how you got that from Scripture; instead, I think the text says this...
Dogmatist: You’re wrong. It says what I said.
Elder: Well, let’s consult these commentaries, written by contemporary scholars... and, yes, they disagree with your interpretation, also.
Dogmatist: It doesn’t matter. I’m sticking with what I said.
Elder: Okay, but now I’ve consulted with the historical confessions, and they all assert that your interpretation is incorrect.
Dogmatist: That’s what they think. I know what my Bible says.
Elder: But look here, where the early church fathers wrote about exactly that... and they all say the text means something different.
Dogmatist: They can say what they want, but I still say it means what I said.

This sounds a little far-fetched-- but I’ve actually met people who were so convinced that their interpretation (and it always seems to be a “new” take on something) is right that they are willing to disagree with pastors, scholars, and others over 2000+ years of church history and interpretation of the Scripture. A wise pastor once said to me, “if your interpretation is in complete disagreement with 2000 years of church history, you’re very likely wrong.”

This is one of the reasons why I find the presbyterian approach to “doing church” so helpful. As presbyterians, the default position is that my voice alone is not the final word, nor is anyone else’s. Instead, we constantly defer to one another with humility. As presbyterians, we trust that God is at work in the others in our congregation, our presbytery, our synod, or our assembly, at least as much as He has been at work in us to reveal the truth. There will always be times when it is possible that the larger bodies are wrong-- but then we turn to the greater history of the church and test our perspectives against that. The deference to the higher bodies is always present, and always keeping us accountable for our interpretation.

We must read our Bibles, and we must work at interpretation. But we must also be ready to be shown that we are wrong. If we aren’t, then we have made ourselves the author of Scripture-- for only the author can be utterly certain of the meaning of a text.

Tags: Bible, community, Leadership, Faith & Life, presbyterians

The other day I was with a group of people who were talking about an especially legalistic environment that some of them had been a part of as teenagers-- a place where they were literally told what to believe, and that if they disagreed they would go to Hell. The leaders in this environment were, clearly, abusing their authority and making claims that no one person or group has a right to make.

One person commented on the fact that I should get a lot of sermon illustrations from these stories! (He was right...) That got me to thinking about what the real applications really were. I’d like to reflect on two broad applications here, over two posts.

At one point I asked the question of this group: how did your parents (who were all Christians) continue to believe that it was good for you to be a part of this? After all, I said, you would surely come home and tell them all about it.

Their first response demonstrated how powerful the authoritarian environment was:

No, we were told that if we reported on them we would go to Hell.

[Note, by the way, the similar nature of this environment to a classic abusive relationship-- where the victim is told that THEY (the victim) would get in trouble if they told.]

But as they went on, something else became clear. One of them said:

I was glad to be there. I needed a place where I could belong, and this place felt safe-- partly because of the rules.

And there I saw my first sermon illustration: when it comes down to it, we all gravitate toward legalism. We are all legalists.

When we’re offered an environment where the rules are known, it becomes very easy to settle into that. We know where we stand in the pecking order; we are then able to proclaim with confidence precisely why we have merited the favor of God and men.

I think this is what makes grace so threatening, so terrifying to all of us. If the work that earns us favor isn’t our work (through legalism) but Christ’s work imputed to us (by grace), we are actually dependent on something (grace) and someone (Christ) other than ourselves.

This also illustrates why even communities that are defined by Christ’s grace (namely, churches) quickly return to legalism. Dependence is very uncomfortable. Dependence is often humbling, sometimes awkward, and frequently at odds with pride. Someone who is dependent has just reason to lose some confidence in themselves.

Here’s the irony in it all: we are always dependent. Even when we think we have every reason for confidence (as with the group of teenagers who knew exactly their place in the social order of that legalistic community), we are still dependent on something: for the legalist, it is the rules and laws that we subscribe to, and the authority who creates and enforces them.

Legalism-- that idea that “I can earn merit/favor/righteousness through obedience, and take confidence and pride in myself”-- is a lie.

Tags: Bible, Faith & Life, community, Leadership, Grace

I’ve recently read two posts from bloggers who, somehow, have managed to candidly capture in their posts the shock, the depth of pain, the sense of loss that they have experienced.

Amazingly, both of these writers appear to have written their words even during their experiences. Their words are as beautiful as they are tragic, in part because they are so vulnerable and exposed in them. They are also beautiful because they seem to be inviting others-- not to share their pain, but to understand it.

So many Christians I have known are afraid of pain, many because they have been so sheltered from it. But our world is full of pain, and it is quite likely that more than half of the people you encounter today are facing suffering of some sort. What would you do if you knew of it? How would you come alongside them in their pain? As one friend (who pointed me to one of these posts) wrote, “I am currently working on a doctorate in biblical studies... a Ph.D. does not address this.”

I think the heart of these two ladies is right: to come alongside them, we must understand their pain. We don’t have to share it-- I think many who are the midst of suffering feel strongly that the only way others can understand IS to share it, but I disagree-- but we must understand it. I’m grateful for the vulnerability of these two who, in the moment of their suffering and pain, invite you and me to have a glimpse of what pain looks like, that we might understand.

I invite you to read the stories of:

Rae (AKA SmockLady) who faced her first miscarriage
Denny (AKA Songstress) who lost her husband at age 33

Tags: love, Faith & Life, family life, community, Grief

How did you choose the translation of the Bible that you use? What was the process for evaluation? What factors did you consider?

My guess is that many folks “chose” somewhat arbitrarily. Maybe they were given a nice Bible as a gift, and they decided that would become their main Bible. Maybe a friend showed her a study tool in his Bible, and she thought she would like to have those tools as well. Perhaps they’ve simply used the same Bible since they were a child-- and they can’t even remember where they got their Bible!

When I was first beginning at Hickory Withe PC, one of the members asked me, “which Bible translation will you be preaching from?” It turns out that he and his wife wanted to do their devotional reading in the same Bible that they would use on Sunday mornings-- which they wanted to be the same translation that the preacher would be using.

This is a great idea-- and an easy way to make what is becoming a more and more difficult decision: which Bible translation should I use?

There are a lot of factors that go into a Bible translation, and there is an increasing number of useful and good translations. Evaluating them can be tricky.

Thankfully, there is a new website whose intended purpose is to guide people through understanding the different translations: Best-Bible.org. Whether you’re looking for a new Bible, curious about the differences between your translation and others, or wondering what translation philosophy went into the Bible you love, you’ll find a great amount of helpful information over there.

[Full disclosure: I had been meaning to mention this helpful tool already; however, by linking to them today I’m entered in a drawing to win a free copy of the forthcoming ESV Study Bible.]

Tags: Bible, reading

All is well as we spend this week at Ridgehaven, the PCA’s camp and conference center in the mountains of North Carolina. I’m speaking for the Senior High group that is here-- about 40 campers-- and we’re also enjoying something close to a vacation at the same time.

So far, I’ve spoken twice; tonight, I’ll speak on the idea that we are saved by grace alone. During the course of the week, I’ll be presenting the essentials of reformation theology-- the “Solas”-- over the course of nine talks. I pray that these are useful for the Spirit to work truth into the hearts of these students.

Needless to say, I won’t be blogging much this week. If you don’t hear from me again, this is why!

Please pray for our trip to be both restful and a good ministry to those around us. See you soon...

Tags: Pastoral ministry, Faith & Life

Here are the texts for this month’s sermons. You’ll note that again this month, I’ll be gone for the last Sunday of the month, and a guest preacher will bring the Word for us.

UPDATE: I won’t have a guest preacher on the last Sunday after all.
UPDATE #2: I adjusted the text for this Sunday!

July 6 Luke 6:1-11 -- Sabbath Restrictions? Or Sabbath Freedom?
July 13 Luke 6:12-16 -- Appointing Twelve
July 20 Luke 6:17-26 -- Blessings & Woes
July 27 Luke 6:27-38 -- Love for others

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

June was full of travel, which in this case meant substantially less reading for me. I feel a little bit starved of books, and hope that I’ll recover somewhat in July and August.

At any rate, here are the couple of books I read in June:

Effective Small Churches in the Twenty-First Century by Carl S. Dudley is a very helpful book that is based on thorough and useful research. Dudley deals with the data and concepts that arose from his study, so many of the ideas here are fresh and not found elsewhere (in other words, this one takes you beyond the "conventional wisdom” about small churches). A bit of a slow read at parts, but generally good stuff. (8+)

“The Vision Thing” by Don K. Clements. Clements is a retired PCA Pastor who now does consulting through Metokos Ministries, working with churches in helping them develop a useful vision for their congregation. He freely admits that he has borrowed heavily from Aubrey Malphurs’s Developing a Vision for Ministry in the 21^st Century, but he does a good job of summarizing that book in this small volume. Clements clearly knows how to coach churches in this process, and his knowledge comes through in the book. He writes with a conversational style, and it’s not difficult to get a fair grasp of what is needed for vision-casting through this little book. (8)

Tags: reading, Cultural Discernment

We’re just back from vacation, and as I wind down I thought I would throw out a couple of thoughts about the Psalms I had while driving home. These are motivated from things I saw and heard during our trip.

First, unlike the rest of Scripture the numbers don’t represent chapters; they represent the Psalms themselves. Thus, it is not correct to say, “I’ll read from Psalms 23, verse 2” because that would connote that you’re reading from chapter 23 of the Psalms. In fact, you are reading from Psalm #23, or simply Psalm 23 (note the lack of a plural “s” on the end). By the way, it’s the same in your hymnals: you aren’t turning to page so-and-so, but hymn # so-and-so.

Next: someone was telling me about what they do in their worship service (as far as readings go), and they said, “we have an Old Testament reading, a reading from Psalms, and a New Testament reading.” I’ve also heard before someone describing their devotional practice thusly: “I read a chapter from the Old Testament, a Psalm, a Proverb, and a chapter from the New Testament daily.” Here’s the thing, folks: Psalms is a part of the Old Testament! (So is Proverbs, incidentally.) So it is redandant and unclear to say, “we have an Old Testament reading and a reading from the Psalms.” I assume that these are two separate readings; one from the Psalms and one from another part-- perhaps the historical books? Or the major or minor prophets? It’s great that your liturgy includes two Old Testament readings, and that there is a weekly reading from the Psalms. And it would also be helpful to more accurately describe the other reading. (If it sounds like I’m nit-picking, realize that this person said something about this several times in the conversation, leading me to believe that it wasn’t just a semantic mistake.)

Finally, the Psalms include a peculiar aspect that isn’t present anywhere else in Scripture: they have verses that aren’t numbered. At the beginning of many Psalms, there will be a comment that reads something like, “a Psalm of ascents” or “to be sung to the tune of ‘Doe of the morning’” or somesuch. These comments are part of the original text, and are a part of the inspired Scripture just like the rest of the verses. During my vacation I heard a sermon on one of the Psalms, and this pastor included this unnumbered verse in his reading; but I have heard many other people (including some pastors) read a Psalm in its entirety, only skipping over this opening comment. It’s part of the text! So it should be read and considered just like the rest of the text. (The numbers to the Psalms are NOT part of the original, inspired text.)

Tags: Bible, Pastoral ministry

My friend Paul commented that it has been a long time without a blog post-- right you are, Paul, and I do beg your forgiveness. What folks in my congregation know (but you blog readers of course have no way of knowing) is that I’ve been on vacation all week, having come to South Carolina to visit my family and friends and participate in a wedding.

In fact, we’ve just returned from the wedding a few moments ago (or from the reception, actually). My dear friend who was married today is someone I knew since before she was old enough to be in my youth group, and part of a family that considers me to be something of an adopted member. Her father, also a PCA pastor, and three other pastors-- including me-- officiated in the wedding today, so we tied the knot really tightly. Congratulations, Suzanna and Johnathan.

I’m delighted to report that my small part in the wedding went fine. I was asked to do the prayer of invocation only, which is an admittedly straightforward and fairly simple portion. Still, ever since seeing Four Weddings and a Funeral I’ve been concerned that my first wedding-- or part of a wedding-- might possibly present similar problems. Not so today, so perhaps I’ve avoided the “first wedding jitters” or what-have-you.

And so, in honor of the bride and groom, Johnathan and Suzanna Stenbeck; in honor of my first wedding being behind me; and as an effort to apologize for not blogging this week; I offer you the following, for your viewing and laughing pleasure:

Tags: family life, love, Pastoral ministry

Here are the sermon texts for the month of June. The one exception is the last Sunday; I'll be in South Carolina on that Sunday, so we will have a guest preacher.

UPDATE: I’ve changed my text for Sunday, 6/22.

June 1 Luke 5:12-16-- A Gospel for Outcasts
June 8 Luke 5:17-26-- Spiritual Healing
June 15 Luke 5:27-39-- A Call to Sinners
June 22 James 5:19-20-- Wandering souls
June 28 Guest Preacher: Justin Westmoreland

Tags: preaching, Ordinary Days

I’ve mentioned before (twice: here and here) that a significant issue facing this year’s General Assembly was the question of women and how they fit into diaconal ministry. In what my friend Steven Estock called “the year of the woman,” there were no less than five overtures before the assembly that spoke to this matter, most of them asking the assembly to erect a study committee that would apply high-level scholarship to the issue.

After some substantial discussion (and some interesting moves of parliamentary procedure), the primary overture (and the rest as well, as related overtures) was answered in the negative (in other words, we voted against it) on the grounds that:

...the presbyteries should work through the implications in their own local contexts.

Their response was centered around the basis that the overtures were intended essentially to amend the Book of Church Order, and they pointed out that there are processes to amend the BCO that don’t require the time and resources of a study committee.

Already there is quite a bit of stir about this decision. Some will continue to debate the matter in a way that suggests that the vote hasn’t yet happened. Others will continue to insist that the questions being asked are such simple matters that the motives of the questioners must be suspect. (For a glimpse of some of this, you might read some of the responses to ByFaith’s report of the decision.)

While I’m disappointed with the vote, I don’t think either of these responses is the most helpful or appropriate. Part of our presbyterianism-- a large part, actually-- is that we acknowledge that God works through His body, at least as much as (if not more than) through individual believers. So we need to trust that, if the assembly voted against this overture, God has good purposes for that.

What’s before us, then, is to receive the advice and instruction of the assembly and take up study of the issue in the lower bodies. I’m sure many are already beginning to do exactly this-- I certainly am-- and I’ll be curious to see how many overtures are presented next year with, not just questions about the issue that MIGHT lead to an amendment, but actual amendments.

Tags: PCA, PCA Polity, theology, Bible

I’m at the PCA’s General Assembly this week, which means I’m enjoying a week of visiting with old friends and new, gathering resources, ministering to friends and acquaintances, and meeting with over 1000 delegates to handle some important decisions for our denomination.

Over the week, here are a few things that I’ve noticed, heard, or been a part of that I’ve found delightfully surprising (I’ll update this list as the week goes on):

• I served on the Committee of Commissioners (which essentially serves to audit the minutes and reports of the agencies of the denomination) for Covenant Theological Seminary. Our committee invited Bryan Chapell, who is the president of the seminary, to share with us any personal and pastoral needs and concerns that he, his family, and the community of the seminary may have. Let me add, this was a sweet and touching time. Here’s the surprising thing: Dr. Chapell said that no one (which I take to mean no committee) had ever asked him about that.
• Friends old and new: I’ve seen three friends that I’ve known since high school or earlier, two of whom are pastors and one is the wife of a pastor. I’ve also seen and met with two friends who I have gotten to know over the past months and years only through my blogs and through e-mail exchanges.
• Gary Campbell, who is the director of the PCA’s Retirement and Benefits, Inc. agency, was extended a pay increase that was reported on in the assembly. Here’s the surprise: Gary actually asked the board to REDUCE the pay increase that he was offered, out of concern that the resources of that agency be best utilized. The good news also is that the board refused to reduce it, recognizing that this act was a microcosmic representation of why Gary deserves a pay increase in the first place.
• Presbyterians eat, right? And I’ve shared every meal with a friend, classmate, or new acquaintance. Here’s the fun surprise: my generous and hospitable friends have bought most of my meals, and I’ve actually only paid for one meal so far (as of Thursday morning). For that one, I took the opportunity to buy my companion’s meal, so that I could pass along the goodwill and hospitality. UPDATE: well, the trend continued. All told, I bought three meals all week. May I take this opportunity to say, THANKS! to all my friends who were so gracious.
• Dr. Kooistra (who served as moderator for this assembly) is quite witty, and was able to bring an element of fun and lightheartedness even to some of the more serious discussion. It was wonderful to see this man of such stature and accomplishment not take himself too seriously (while not belittling the tasks or discussions before him, either).

Tags: PCA, PCA Polity, General Assembly

A few links and fun stuff for the weekend:

• Good thoughts on listening to a sermon can be found here (dealing with action) and here (dealing with reaction). Go forth and do likewise.
• A problem I just don’t have... yet?!?
• There’s been a bit of interesting stuff about transracial adoption lately. For one, there’s this piece from the NY Times on de-emphasizing race. Here’s another, from Touchstone magazine, discussing how the Gospel affects the issue. The Washington Post chimes in about it, and Thabiti Anabwile offers his thoughts on the Times piece and others. Thoughtful stuff. (HT: Between Two Worlds for some of these.)
• John Piper is starting a seminary at Bethlehem Baptist Church. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Will there be any other professors but him?
• Thoughtful ideas about both sides of the now-FINALLY!-decided Presidential race: is Barack ready? Is McCain ready?
• What are Christians NOT allowed to say? Here’s one piece on “cussin’” and foul language. Here’s another piece on the same topic, with a slightly different take. Here’s an entirely different idea-- with some surprising responses-- on what ideas Christians aren’t “allowed” to say. (I’ll come back to this soon, I think.)
• From Will Smith... who knew? Here’s some great marriage advice from the guy who brought us “Parents Just Don’t Understand” and “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” as well as Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Independence Day, Hitch, and The Pursuit of Happyness. I’ve always known he was a great talent; now I see that his talent extends into understanding people, as well.
• An interesting way to express yourself... create your own fonts. What’s so fascinating about this is that, 20 years ago, this artform was so obscure and difficult to accomplish that those who actually did it could be counted by the hundreds, if not the tens.
• Is your favorite ice cream in this list? Here are the top six most-fattening ice creams in the U.S. I’m so glad someone finally did that study.
• My friend Dane has some good questions for the emerging church. Very thoughtful-- I’d like to know that too, Dane.
• Okay-- 10 is enough for this week.

Tags: Cultural Discernment, Faith & Life, Politics, family life

The Work of the Pastor by William Still (re-read). This brief volume is a help, challenge, and rebuke for all of us. Still, who pastored a single flock in Scotland for 51 years, here presents the sum of the pastor's duties, distilling it down to the essence of shepherding and feeding the lambs on the Word of God. For such a short book, there is much to be found here, and it is one of those books I believe should make its way into the rotation of every pastor. (10)

Wiring a House by Rex Cauldwell. Yes, I actually read this book cover-to-cover. And, in fact, I thought it was a great read. When I was in seminary, a friend who was a former electrician taught me how to wire lights and outlets; now, as I face the work of our attic renovation, I realized that I had a bit more wiring to do than simply a light socket here and there. This book answered every question I had remaining, and gave me the knowledge and confidence to move ahead with the electrical part of the job without fear (or at least without more fear than is a healthy amount when working with electricity). This writer is a seasoned Master Electrician, and he does a great job of telling the industry secrets while introducing concept after concept in a very readable and didactic manner. He also goes the extra mile with "Above Code" comments in every chapter, telling you where the code standards aren't quite enough for one reason or another. A great book, and a must-read for me in my current status as part-time contractor! (9)

With Reverence and Awe by D.G. Hart and John R. Muether. This book, subtitled, "Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship," was a difficult read for me. I agreed with 90% of the content, and found it engaging in that manner; however, I agreed with about 30% of the tone-- how they brought about communicating their ideas. Like most forms of communication, tone matters so much when conveying sometimes difficult and/or confronting content. Even though they claim not to do this (of course they would!), there was also a little edge of "if you're not worshiping like us, then you're not worshiping the way God wants you to" in the book; that sort of arrogance gets under my skin quickly, even in small doses. There is some good content in this book, and they do a fair job of driving the discussion toward the Scriptures-- it might be worth reading just as an introduction to relevant biblical texts for thinking about worship (though other books do a better job at that). (5)

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero (re-read). I first read this book a few years ago, but decided that it might be, well, healthy to read it again. It was just as good. Scazzero deals with a difficult subject honestly, with clarity, and with practicality. He discusses what emotional health is (on a primarily individual level), and how a church might (or any relational group) might embody good emotional health. While there are some shortcomings in the book, and while I want for more help and information on some of the points (another post on this is coming), I'd like to think that every church CAN aspire to what Scazzero sets forth as something like an ideal. (8+)

Ruling Elder by Leonard Van Horn. Here's a (very) brief little booklet that is great for orienting Elder candidates to the office. It is quite basic, offering a short examination of three questions: Are you called to be an Elder? What is your view of the church? Are you qualified to be an Elder? Van Horn works through each competently. By no means is this little book sufficient for all officer training needs! But I plan to use it as a give-away to all nominees (in complement to the training they are already receiving) to help guide them in considering their nomination. (8)

Framing Floors, Walls, and Ceilings by the editors of Fine Homebuilding. You can tell by the fact that I read two books on home remodeling-type subjects that I'm in the midst of a big project at the house! Unfortunately, this one wasn't nearly as good as the one above. It looks to be essentially a compilation of articles by these editors, all of which are moderately helpful. But because this one was cobbled together-- rather than written step-by-step with comprehensive planning involved, like Wiring a House was-- there are big holes of information. Since I've done some basic building and remodeling before, I was mostly able to follow along; someone with no experience in this area would easily get lost. I'll still use this for reference at times, but it's likely that I'll look for another (better) book on the subject to round out my knowledge-base. (4)

Tags: reading, Cultural Discernment

Sort of a slow week on the blog this week; sorry about that. Here are a few links to keep you busy...

Here's a cool tool for helping you with your Bible memory: BibleMemory.us. This cleverly-named program makes use of e-mail and daily reminders to keep you focused on Bible memory. (HT: Adam)

Sam Rainer has good reflections and summary of a recent Ellison Research study on what sort of churches folks swap to when they swap churches.

PCA Pastor Bob Smallman will hit 30 years serving at the same church in November; read his reflections (written at the 25-year mark) on the long pastorate here. (By the way, PCA Pastor Rob Rayburn also hit 30 years.)

My friend Craig's two posts reflecting on California's decision to legalize "gay marriage" generated a lot of discussion and debate; catch the initial post here, and his followup here. Joe Carter interacts with a lot of data and research on the same topic; check out his thoughts here. Together, there's a lot to think about.

How do you define "failure" in a school? I thought this was already pretty well understood; it's hard to believe that this article is from USA Today, not The Onion.

Wow-- an actually helpful set of disclaimers and identity-markers about evangelicals. This article is a sort of "rubber meets the road" approach to the same problem the Evangelical Manifesto sets out to correct, in brief (and very readable) form. (HT: Joe)

Cleaning out your parents' home has become a major factor in our culture; I found this brief post (and the comments that followed) from Unclutterer to be really helpful.

I'm more glad every day that I'm not in high school anymore. Here's the latest reason why... which is more important: actually being liked, or perceiving that you are liked? Ugh. (HT: Joe)

Teachers in the midst of grading papers will resonate with this one: a community college professor reports that remarkably few students do well in his English 101 classes. (HT: Heidelblog)

Tags: Links

Here are a few ideas that don't warrant a full post in themselves.

• C.S. Lewis' second Narnia book (Voyage of the Dawn Treader) has hit the theaters. Some have pointed out that there are some significant changes from the original story line (probably some spoilers in there for some of you). Some people think this is actually an improvement on the story line. Some feel the true meaning of the original has been adulterated. Others are somewhere in the middle. I haven't seen it-- what do YOU think?
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• Hilary's almost certain loss is striking some odd chords-- including the idea behind THIS piece from the New York Times, which argues that the advancement of women will be hurt from her loss. Apparently, Hilary has simultaneously positioned herself as NOT benefiting from the gender question while at the same time answering it. (Being a male, I was obviously ignorant of such high-level ideas.) Ironically, if she has marketed herself on the women's lib vote then she doesn't deserve to win. As my friend Sam Murrell suggested, to vote for Hilary Clinton ONLY because she is a woman (or Barack Obama ONLY because he is black) is to also undercut your own argument opposing others who vote AGAINST them for the same reason. Hilary can't say, "vote for me because it's time to have a woman in the White House" and then hold it against those who vote for her opposition because they don't want a woman President. Logical consistency at its simplest.
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• If you've been tracking with me on the stir and kerfuffle surrounding the General Assembly overture (#9) about Deacons, Deaconesses, and Women, you may be interested to know that Wayside Presbyterian Church in the Chattanooga area has posted a page that aggregates (or at least attempts to) all of the discussion from around the web. You don't have to look far to see the sort of hard-line, slippery-slope thinking I've mentioned. (WARNING: if you love the church and are discouraged by ungodly treatment of pastors and others, read with caution. Many of these discussions are not for the faint of heart.) I DO appreciate their work, especially, in their words, that they "are not making any effort... to sort the articles into 'pro,' 'con,' or neutral. These articles come from several different viewpoints. We are just providing information."
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• Along the lines of the previous item, my personal hope is that the 2009 General Assembly will appoint a study committee to consider what guidelines, if any, ought to be offered as measures of godly character and discussion for those who choose to use blogs, websites, discussion forums, and other Internet tools to debate theological and denominational matters.
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• Following up on my words about the Evangelical Manifesto, Ed Stetzer released the word late last week that Ergun Caner, President and Dean of the Seminary at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School, asked that his name be stricken from the charter list on the basis of his claim that he never signed it. For those who don't immediately make the connection (I didn't), Liberty is the school that the late Jerry Falwell founded and led for many years; ironically, Caner's own website describes him as "a leading voice for evangelicalism on the national stage." For another take on the Evangelical Manifesto, check out this post from Scot McKnight, Professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (UPDATE: see this response to McKnight from PCA Pastor Andy Jones), and this alternative version offered by Dave Burchett, ESPN producer and Christian writer.
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• If you've been following the stuggles and difficulties in the wake of the natural disaster in Myanmar (Burma), you may be interested to know that missions boards and relief organizations are now succeeding in getting funds and other aid into the area. The PCA's Mission to the World (MTW) is asking for financial assistance through its "Minutemen" program; World Vision International is also appealing for help. Both sites have ways that you can donate online.
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• Here's a video I overlooked for my media tidbits on Friday: Possessed, a documentary which gives an amazing look at the worlds of hoarders. Very well done, with no commentary other than what the hoarders themselves offer. You can watch the whole thing online.

Tags: Cultural Discernment, Faith & Life, Links, Politics, PCA

What is the most crying need of the church in America today? A handful of key thinkers answer this question thoughtfully and helpfully.

I mentioned the various comments and discussion of the Evangelical Manifesto; you can find some of them here: Os Guinness, Doug Wilson, Darrell Bock, Joe Taylor, Denny Burk, Alan Jacobs, Guinness again, Al Mohler, Ed Stetzer, Justin Taylor.

A great quote from Spurgeon on looking to Jesus, courtesy of my friend Paul Bankson.

My friend Adam has a great list of resources on suffering. 'Cause all of us face it.

Why are some Reformed folk so unpleasant? Thomas McCall of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School has some good remarks here; see also this (now dated) post and this Christianity Today article. Shouldn't grace beget grace?

What's going on in Myanmar? And why are we hearing more about it? Note these two posts from Justin Taylor (first, second) about some of the problems. How can the average American local congregation do something to help?

Tags: Links

In this interesting article from Christianity Today, PCA Pastor Tim Keller claims that the Gospel is more than only justification. He's right-- for generations leading up to our individualistic age, Christians have understood this. It has only been in recent years (and coinciding with-- or due to?-- the individualism of our day) that the concept of salvation has been limited to a one-time experience, an almost gnostic approach to spiritual life.

Here's a key excerpt from the article:

Keller answered this year's question for the Christian Vision Project, "Is our gospel too small?" (The article is not yet available online.) In so doing he took a stab at defining the gospel. "Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from the judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever."
Is God's plan to renew creation part of the gospel message? If so, is it the center of the gospel or a peripheral component of the Good News? Again, how you answer these questions affects how you will live, and how you will expect fellow church members to act.
"When the third, 'eschatological' element is left out, Christians get the impression that nothing much about this world matters," Keller wrote. "Theoretically, grasping the full outline should make Christians interested in both evangelistic conversions as well as service to our neighbor and working for peace and justice in the world."

Your salvation is bigger than just your conversion or justification, and it's bigger than just something that happens to you in isolation from others.

Tags: Evangelism, theology, Bible

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Philadelphia Presbytery has submitted an overture to the PCA's General Assembly asking the GA to erect a study committee on Deaconesses. That overture has been echoed by the Western Canada Presbytery, and if I'm able to read this sort of thing at all, the committee will almost certainly be erected.

It may be needless to point out that this issue has caused quite a bit of stir and discussion. The PCA's own magazine, byFaith, has posted a summary of the announcement of the overture and that has generated quite a bit of discussion in the comments. Other, less "official" sources have also hosted a significant amount of discussion as well. A good bit of the discussion is quite helpful, offering finer points and perspectives that would simply be impossible to gather were it not for this Internet/Information Age that we live in.

Sadly, a lot of the discussion has also deteriorated into mostly or totally unhelpful rant, name-calling, and fear-mongering. A few of the points of discussion may be summed up as follows:

• "Scripture is clear on this matter (OR, arguing that Scripture isn't clear is a sign of our cultural liberalism and feminism)." The thought process here: because the NIV translates 1 Timothy 3:11 with reference to "their wives" instead of (the equally possible) "the women;" and because it translates "diakonos" Romans 16:1 as "servant" because it refers to a woman, then the issue is clearly settled. But who is to say that these translations are filled with cultural bias or the influence of a historical patriarchalism? Anyone who says, "Scripture is clear" has probably only been looking at English translations.
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• "The Book of Church Order (BCO) already prohibits ordaining women as Deacons." The line of thought here: The BCO is a finished, completed document that is utterly faithful to Scripture and never need be changed or amended to be brought closer to the Bible. This is difficult to reconcile with (common sense and) the Westminster Confession of Faith, which says, "All syonds or councils since the apostles' times, whether general or particular, may err, and many have erred; therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith or practice, but to be used as an help in both" (WCF 31.4).
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• "The word that is translated 'Deacon' in the Bible for men is obviously translated as 'servant' for women." Thought process: meaning changes substantially, even fundamentally, based solely on gender. This is an interesting foundational principle-- and one I'd like to hear more support for by other examples before accepting, which the arguers haven't provided.
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• "The Apostles' recognition of Phoebe, and other women in the New Testament, was a function of their cultural role-- something that doesn't apply to us." The appeal here is to the historical context, which of course is a fundamental principle in Bible interpretation. The problem is that these same folks will argue that historical context trumps literary context (or the language of the text itself-- see previous bullet) when Phoebe is mentioned, but when dealing with, say, 1 Timothy 3:11, quickly jump to the next argument...
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• "The historical context doesn't apply, since Paul was writing normative principles to Timothy about the qualifications for Deacons." Line of thought: somehow historical context is disposable for any normative portion of biblical text. The problem with that is that it would rule out the context of the deliverance and redemption of Israel out of Egyptian slavery as the setting for the 10 commandments, for example-- which most would agree poses some problems about a classic Reformed understanding of the 10 commandments.
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• "Allowing women as Deacons (even if the Bible permits it) will inevitably lead to handing over all authority in the church to women." The thinking here is a classic slippery slope notion: if one thing is bad or prohibited, then we dare not go near anything close to that thing. (This was a problem that the Pharisees often had, by the way...)
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• "Allowing women as Deacons is granting them authority and leadership that is unbibilcal." The thought trajectory in this argument is that Deacons have authority of the same sort that Elders have, and the Bible forbids women to have such authority. The problems here are rooted in the (mistaken and unbiblical) idea that Deacons are some kind of "Junior Elder" and therefore share in the role of authority with the Elders. But two problems immediately arise from this line of thought: first, the BCO itself defines the office of Deacon as "one of sympathy and service" (BCO 9.1) while it defines the Elder as office of exercising "government and discipline" (BCO 8.3)-- very different roles, one with clear distinction of authority and the other with, at best, less clear distinction. Secondly, the Deacons are "under the supervision and authority of the Session" (BCO 9.2), which begs the question: what authority do they have that, for example, a Sunday School teacher or WIC (Women in the Church) leader doesn't also have?
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• "We already have the WIC; what do we need women as Deacons for?" The idea here being that the WIC serves as a functional body of "Deaconesses" and we should simply let things remain as they are. Here again, there are two problems with this: first, Scripture does not define for us something like a WIC, and if we desire to pattern our bodies of leadership after Scripture then we should be careful about casually assuming that the WIC fulfills a role that Scripture defines for women. Secondly, and more importantly: the WIC is a ministry of leadership, structured specifically to minister to the women in the church; yet, the office of Deacon is broader than just women. Frankly, I learn a lot from women and have benefited from the ministry and teaching of many women-- and I find the suggestion that women should only minister to other women (and children) short-sighted.
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• "We ought to just do like ____ [insert name of a very large PCA church in the south] with the way they handle Deacon's assistants." I was surprised to see this argument made by more than one or two people. The thinking here: So-and-so has figured it out, and they should set the pace for all PCA churches. Again, problems arise: setting aside the very big assumption that the leadership there really has figured it out and has hit upon the perfect biblical solution, what does this have to do with what the BCO says about Deacons and women? But a closer look at the proposed practices reveals the truth: said PCA church's solution is to hire out the work of "serving tables" to outsiders (many of them unbelievers, all of them African-Americans).

I'm not convinced that blogs and discussion boards (mine included) are completely helpful in matters like these. It seems to me that folks are getting so entrenched in their positions, long before GA, that the possibility of healthy, profitable discussion on a study committee-- and even a good appointment of that committee-- is diminished.

I'm not decided about the matter. I've held back from my inclination to dig into the issue and study it to the point of deciding what my mind is about it-- though I'll take the time to do that before GA. But I am struck by this: most of the arguments against the study committee (summarized above) go against my logical inclinations-- committing fallacies and demonstrating inconsistency frequently-- and these weaken the case against a committee significantly. So I'm obviously in favor of erecting a study committee, even if I'm not decided on the issue of women as Deacons/Deaconesses.

Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised that brothers and sisters in the PCA can't have a more constructive conversation about all of this. As much as anything, reading some of these discussions have caused me to grieve the lack of brotherly love and charitable grace within our denomination, and my heart has frequently been heavy about it over the past few weeks. Why is an overture to study ANY part of the BCO to consider if it is fully and truly based on Scripture so threatening?

One commenter (Scott Truax of Peace Presbyterian Church, Cary, NC) at the byFaith page summed it up the best: "If we follow Scripture, we have nothing to fear."

Tags: Bible, Biblical Theology, theology, PCA Polity, Systematic Theology, PCA, Pastoral ministry, Politics, community

Apropos to the wrap-up of the series on the cross yesterday-- the cross in our suffering, the cross in our glory-- I find this quote from the late James Montgomery Boice, who faithfully pastored 10^th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for over 30 years before succumbing to liver cancer:

If God does something in your life, would you change it? If you’d change it, you’d make it worse. It wouldn’t be as good. So that’s the way we want to accept it and move forward, and who knows what God will do?

(HT: Paul Bankson)

Tags: Faith & Life, community, theology

The Living Church by John Stott. This was a good book on pastoral ministry in the church by a man who is a hero of Christendom. John Stott has served in ministry for over 60 years, most of those as the Rector of All Souls Church in London. His insights about ministry in the church are made valuable in part because of the testimony that stands behind them-- his many years of faithful service. There are good insights here, and it is worth reading even if it's not the "best" book on pastoral ministry out there. (8+)

The Cross of Christ by John Stott (re-read). That's right-- two books by the same author in one month! Actually, I started reading this one two months ago, and have used it extensively as I prepared my series on the cross. This one was written 20 years before the other, and is THE definitive work on the theology of the cross, in my view. It's quite readable, even though it digs deep, and Stott does a great job of taking in a broad swath, making the scope of his focus quite comprehensive, while still following a clear and direct path to understanding the thrust of the cross. I first read this one for my "Christ and Salvation" class in seminary, but frankly I've read it more thoroughly this time through. (10)

Surviving Your First Year as Pastor by Angie Best-Boss. Especially because of my interest and work with pastoral transition, I really want to like a book like this. But perhaps because of my research in the area of transition, or maybe due to my prior experience in ministry, I found this book to be a disappointment. The coverage is good-- what she talks about is a comprehensive field of topics. But she doesn't present much here that is extraordinary, or that a fairly intuitive seminary graduate wouldn't already be looking for. The best thing about it is the suggested reading at the end of each chapter, which IS quite good. (5)

If It Could Happen Here... by Jeff Patton. This was a nice little book that did a good job of presenting familiar concepts in a new way. The sub-title, "Turning the Small-Membership Church Around," is a fair summary of the content. To a certain degree, if you've read on book on revitalizing small churches, then the concepts in the rest won't be fresh; it's the way they are presented or the additional information that makes them worthwhile. This book tells the story of one pastor and his work with one small congregation-- what they did, how and when they did it, what worked, what didn't. It's not written in a prescriptive way, but more like a memoir or brief history; thus, it's not overbearing, and it leaves the reader free to take what they want and leave the rest. Overall, it's a good read, and I found some useful material there-- especially the first-hand testimony of how effective certain aspects of revitalization can be. (8+)

The House that Jesus Built by Dale Ralph Davis. This one was sent to me in the mail yesterday, and it's a good little introduction to church membership. Davis covers essentially the same things that I would cover in a "new members' class" except, of course, details about the local congregation, and he does it in a very readable and digestible book. It's short (only about 60 pages), yet it touches on the materials in a good introductory manner-- leaving the explanation and expansion on his introduction to pastors and leaders in a congregation. I'm not sure whether I'll use this as required reading for an Introduction to Hickory Withe Church class next time, but it's certainly a good resource to put in the hands of those who miss a class or two. (10)

Eucharistic Bread-Baking as Ministry by Tony Begonja. Although this book was clearly written for more Catholic- (and by that I mean Roman Catholic) leaning churches, it still has obvious value to any church that observes the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Since I've been baking the bread for our congregation's sacrament, I've come to delight in serving my flock in this way; still, I wanted to learn more about the unleavened varieties of sacramental bread, since there is at least some question about using leavened bread. This book offered a good introduction to the spiritual approach to baking bread for sacramental purposes, and the writer showed good sensitivity to matters that might be more pointed in certain environs (like whether a recipe produced very crumbly bread, which might concern those who believe that the bread becomes the actual flesh of Christ!). I haven't tried the recipes yet, but there is good practical advice on baking, as well. Overall, I'm glad to have this one on-hand. (8+)

Tags: reading, Cultural Discernment

I was reading this article in Christianity Today about Jim Wallis, who is a leader among a Christians with a progressive political perspective, and I was struck by the fact that Ted Olsen (who interviewed Wallis) asserted that, for some, the issue of blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples is, in Olsen's words, "a gospel issue."

It's not.

Make no mistake: it IS an important issue. And it certainly is an issue of biblical authority. But it is NOT a gospel issue.

There's a key difference between an issue that is a matter of biblical authority and a "gospel" issue. A Gospel issue is one that actually threatens the truth of the Gospel-- such as a challenge to the incarnation of Christ, an assertion that the resurrection didn't happen, a claim that Jesus didn't live a sinless life, etc. Something that questions the underlying concepts of salvation is a Gospel issue. Thus, when folks in the PCA express their concern about the Federal Vision's position on Justification, for example, they are demonstrating concern about a Gospel issue.

There are a number of issues of biblical authority that aren't Gospel issues. Questions of infant baptism vs. believer's baptism, or of the function of the sacraments, are issues of biblical authority. These are very important issues. But they aren't matters of Gospel integrity, in the same sense that Jesus being God in the flesh is a matter of Gospel integrity.

Take note of this: it is possible for someone to be in error on an issue of biblical authority and still be a Christian, and it's possible for them to remain in their error and not be considered a heretic. This is because there are differing degrees of error in terms of understanding matters of biblical truth and authority:

Working through this concept, then, Here's how these break down:

• Truth: these are the real "gospel issues" that are universally agreed-upon as aspects of salvation, as well as a few other core beliefs (which include biblical inerrancy and authority, by the way). You might think of these as that which is required for membership in the church.
• Mistaken opinions: Minor matters of conscience typically fall here-- someone who is of the opinion that liberty in Christ allows them to drink as much alcohol as they want on occasion, for example, holds a mistaken opinion about biblical truth. In terms of agreement or disagreement, you might think of these matters to be often matters of "semantic" differences-- where often our language and the way we say things suggests differences that suggest differences that aren't really there.
• Errors: These are problematic, but not necessarily matters to divide over. Issues like "paedocommunion"-- where a child is offered the sacrament of communion on the basis of baptism, not on the basis of a profession of faith-- have been judged to be in this category. As such a matter was recently described by our presbytery, these might be judged as more than semantic, but not out of accord with the fundamentals of our system of doctrine.
• Systemic errors: When we get to this stage, there are concerns that may lead to division, without requiring that we dismiss those who differ as "unbelievers." For example, in the PCA we hold that the Assemblies of God theologians have instituted systemic error in the way they view the gift of tongues. I would also argue that matters such as the one discussed with Wallis, regarding the blessing of same-sex unions by the church, falls into this category. Presbytery would label these as beliefs which "strike at the vitals of our system of doctrine."
• Heresy: These are matters that violate the essence of the Gospel-- in other words, they are true "gospel issues" in the same way that the category of "Truth" above is, only in an opposing sense. When the remonstrants challenged the idea of the total depravity of man-- arguing that man in not inherently sinful, that he can, in fact, act in true and pure righteousness-- they were guilty of heresy. (Incidentally, they were judged as such by the courts of the church, and the response to their various points of doctrine was what we call the "five points of Calvinism.")

(Credit to David Jones and Michael Williams for this concept.)

I think it is not just useful, but essential for Christians to gain a better understanding of this. We all disagree on something-- and if you view disagreement as strictly a black-and-white, right or wrong, truth or heresy matter, then you are asserting that someone who is or may be a true brother or sister in Christ has given up the gospel.

Worse, you are asserting that your perspective is completely right and biblical-- which is never the case.

Tags: Bible, Biblical Theology, Systematic Theology, Cultural Discernment, Faith & Life

May brings two significant changes in our preaching schedule: first, we will finish the series on the cross on the first Sunday, so after that we will return to Luke and begin the discussion of Jesus' public ministry. Second, we finish out the liturgical season of Easter, which spans the 50 days following the resurrection, and have Pentecost and then the "ordinary days" that follow. (I'll blog more about these seasons soon.)

So, for the month of April, here are the

5/4/08: Romans 5:1-11 -- The cross and our suffering, the cross and our glory (last Sunday of Easter; "Ascension Sunday")
5/11/08: Luke 4:14-30 -- Setting the agenda for a new community (Pentecost)
5/18/08: Luke 4:31-44 -- Putting his words to work: Jesus and the new agenda (1^st Sunday after Pentecost)
5/25/08: Luke 5:1-11 -- Calling in the next generation of leaders: Jesus appoints his disciples (2^nd Sunday after Pentecost)

Tags: preaching, Easter, Pentecost, Ordinary Days

In the big scheme of things, I don't know much about missions. That's something that I'm working on-- but my lack of knowledge doesn't keep me from thinking about it, especially when I see opportunities.

One of the big areas that has emerged as a theme in my ever-vigilant watch of technology is the development of new concepts and technologies to supply water and other resources to third-world communities. Allow me to point you to a few examples:

• Martin Fisher wins the Lemelson-MIT award for sustainability for the SuperMoneyMaker Pump. Fisher has devised a $100 water pump that can pull water from a 30-foot well to irrigate up to 2 acres of land. (He's also developed a $35 tool called the "Hip Pump" that uses a farmer's body weight to operate it.)
• The PlayPump System is an utterly brilliant concept that links a well pump and cistern to a kids' merry-go-round toy, so that as they play on the merry-go-round they are actually supplying water for their community from the well (which is stored in the cistern). The whole system costs $14,000, and can supply 2,500 people with water for 10 years. (PlayPumps International gets extra props for setting up a system where you can donate as little as $6 toward the installation of these-- and that $6 will supply one child with clean water for 10 years.)
• Dean Kamen has built the Vapor Compression Distiller, which is a chemical, membrane, and filter-free water purifier (meaning it doesn't require substantial maintenance and consumable goods to continue filtering). Kamen believes this could eradicate a huge amount of disease worldwide.
• The Hippo Water Roller is designed to alleviate the difficulty and physical stress required for a human body to retrieve and transport water from long distances. It allows 200 pounds of water to be reduced to an effective weight of only 22 pounds for easier transportation, even over difficult terrain.
• Daniel Sheridan has won three separate awards for developing a see-saw designed to provide enough electricity to power a classroom for several hours through 10 minutes of play.

All by themselves, each of these is a very good idea. It strikes me, though, that the missing piece for all of them is the infrastructure to distribute and install these.

Sure, the Peace Corps and similar secular groups are all over the place doing this kind of work. But why not missionaries? Why couldn't some of the many missions boards with teams of people in third-world countries send short-term teams that would bring and install these as a support and extension of the existing ministry?

One thing I DO know about missions is this: it is almost universally agreed that long-term sustainability of Gospel ministry depends on developing local, indigenous leaders to take over the ministry. That sort of sustainability, it seems to me, demands that stability of resources also be in place-- so water supply, irrigation, agriculture, medical care, and education must become immediate concerns for pastors and missionaries in a third-world context.

All of the above projects seem to offer affordable solutions for exactly that: stabilizing resources. It seems like a no-brainer to me. Am I missing something? What do you think?

Tags: Missions, technology, Stewardship, Evangelism

As we continue through the series on the cross, we've reached a pivotal point in the series: the first few weeks introduced the prominence of the cross, while the last several weeks have focused on the accomplishments of the cross. Now we reach "the response to the cross" or a study of what life at the foot of the cross looks like. There are five studies remaining-- just enough to complete the season of Easter. We'll cover four of those five in April:

4/6/08: Hebrews 13:11-16 -- The community of celebration
4/13/08: Romans 6:1-18 -- Understanding ourselves through the cross
ANOTHER UPDATE (!): 4/20/08: John 13:3-17 -- Self-denial and self-affirmation in response to the cross
4/27/08: Matthew 5:43-48 -- The cross enables us to love our enemies

Tags: preaching, Easter

Two ideas I've recently encountered that might get some discussion going about what it means to be "poor."

First, Jeff White of New Song Community Church in New York city recently spoke at a conference called A Conversation on Denominational Renewal in St. Louis (click here to find audio for all of the talks from that conference). All of Jeff's talk was great (as were the rest of them), but one thing he said stood out as an interesting idea: Jeff said he would like to expunge the church of the term "mercy ministry" because to extend mercy in a biblical sense means to give someone a second chance even though they don't deserve it, and this does not apply to poor people in most ways.

Second, the humor blog Stuff White People Like did an interesting post called, "#62: Knowing what's best for poor people." A big idea from the post: "It is a poorly guarded secret that, deep down, white people believe if given money and education that all poor people would be EXACTLY like them. In fact, the only reason that poor people make the choices they do is because they have not been given the means to make the right choices and care about the right things." And, as is apparent to these bloggers, making "the right choices" and caring "about the right things" are, in white people's minds, always identical to what white people (in this case, upper-middle class white people) choose and care about.

Both of these ideas, in their own way, represent challenges to the way I think about the poor and those in need. What do you think about these quotes and ideas?

Tags: Faith & Life, Cultural Discernment, community, Stewardship

"I hate to meet a man whom I have met ten years ago and find that he is at precisely the same point, neither moderated nor quickened nor experienced but simply stiffened."
~Oswald Chambers

I recently saw this quote on the blog PastorHacks, and it reminded me of how much some people really do change over the years, while others surprisingly don't. It also reminds me that sometimes, the change is not 100% for the better.

I was once interviewing for a ministry job and, naturally, had mentioned one of my good friends as a reference. This particular friend had been a PCA pastor for some time, and had been to seminary with the Senior Pastor at the church I was interviewing with. My friend, who was then and still is a wonderful, humble, and godly man of grace, had exhibited less gracious tendencies while in seminary, and this Senior Pastor remembered that well. "If you hold yourself out as someone like 'so-and-so' then I don't think this will work out," he said to me point-blank. What a shame that this man hadn't bothered to get acquainted with the great man that I knew.

In a similar incident, a man I know was interviewing (also for a staff position) with a Senior Pastor who had gone to seminary with the fellow's former boss. While the former boss was a good guy, he had softened over the years to the point where he had become a poor supervisor, yet according to my friend the boss was unwilling to accept any of the responsibility for the failures of those he supervised poorly. It happened to be that circumstances involving this poor supervision had led to my friend leaving this position. The two former classmates talked to discuss my friend, and naturally the Senior Pastor took the boss's word about the young candidate-- even though he other references contradicted the boss's account. As far as the Senior Pastor was concerned, the boss was still the same great guy he knew in seminary.

I think of people I knew 10 years ago-- especially people I served in ministry, sometimes poorly. How would they receive me today? Would they extend me grace, expecting and looking for ways that God had matured me since they last knew me well? A verse comes to mind as I consider this...

[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
~1 Corinthians 13:7

And then I think of the guys I went to seminary with. Some of them were great guys who were a bit too full of themselves; others had a touch of immaturity to shake off. I'm sure I struck many of them in similar ways. How will the Lord mature them over the coming years? How will he change me in that time? I pray that I would be able to see them with fresh eyes down the line.

To rest in the fact that "love always hopes" (or as another translation phrases it, "love hopes all things") encourages me that those who knew me when I was not yet the man I am today might, in love, see me without prejudice-- and that those who know me today, when I am not yet the man I will, Lord willing, become, might also.

Tags: community, love

One of the more difficult questions facing many churches (and I say "many" because some churches have answered the question for themselves, not because it isn't a question for them) is, what is the role of women in leadership in the church?

The PCA has, since its inception, proclaimed a "complementarian" position on women in leadership. The "complementarian" view stands squarely between the egalitarian (with unequivocal removal of distinction between men and women in terms of leadership and/or authority) and the patriarchal (with unequivocal denial of any sort of leadership or authority to any woman). How to implement this has frequently been in dispute: at worst, the complementarian position appears little different from the patriarchal position, with perhaps the exception of allowing women to minister to other women (and usually children); at best, applying the complementarian view is summed up in the idea that a woman may perform any act of service or leadership (apart from preaching in public worship) that a non-ordained man may also perform.

One complicating factor in applying the complementarian position has been that the PCA's Book of Church Order (BCO) does not currently allow for women to be "ordained" to any leadership office-- Elder or Deacon. An overture for the upcoming General Assembly, from the Philadelphia Presbytery, may bring some modification to this, or at least clarification for how it is to be implemented. I appreciate the spirit of this overture, and how it asks for clarification even if the "status quo" is maintained. Should the BCO be amended to allow women to serve as Deacons, it might actually make the issue more complex-- but in this case simplicity hasn't historically proven to be beneficial, when it comes to the application of seemingly simple ideas. Simplicity in this issue usually results in either denying women opportunity or ignoring biblical guidance.

Another complicating factor, ironically, is the difference between leadership and authority. Ironically, because for years (centuries? millennia?) this has been the argument that I have heard tossed back at women who argue that they are denied opportunity for service and the exercise of their gifts. Yet more recently confusion on this point has been the justification for relegating women to only teaching children or perhaps other women. Why is granting women a role of leadership a tacit breech of biblical distinctions for authority?

As a counterexample: if leadership somehow equals authority to the point where biblical boundaries are crossed, why have a two-office view (Elders and Deacons) in the first place? Isn't the granting of authority to male Deacons at least raising the possibility that the boundaries will be crossed? Of course it is-- and sometimes those boundaries ARE crossed. Yet we don't eliminate the office of Deacon to protect the authority of the Elder. We don't eliminate the organization of a presbytery to protect the authority of the local congregation, either. Thus, we shouldn't prevent women from having a role of leadership simply to limit their authority.

I'm glad for the Philadelphia Presbytery overture, and I look forward to seeing the PCA mature through this discussion. What do you think?

Tags: Faith & Life, PCA Polity, Systematic Theology, Stewardship, PCA

The Importance of the Local Church by Daniel Wray (re-read): This is one of the Banner of Truth Trust booklets, of which I am a big fan. Wray does a good job of capturing the essential need and value of the local church, which is a vital word for today when many Christians take church membership so lightly. (9+)

When Bad Christians Happen to Good People by Dave Burchett: The subtitle of this book summarizes it well: "where we have failed each other and how to reverse the damage." Burchett does a good job of highlighting a number of problems and failings with the church today; his assessment is fair and not mean-spirited, but neither is it a soft-sell. He also does a fair job of working on the how-tos of "reversing the damage" though this part left a bit to be desired. (I suspect he expands on it a bit in his follow-up book, Bring 'Em Back Alive.) Overall, a good book and worth reading. (8)

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson. I already offered my thoughts on this book in a previous post. (8)

Proper Confidence by Lesslie Newbigin. Probably one of the best books I've read in a while, this book is a good union of philosophy, theology, and basic, practical thinking about how a Christian finds confidence in what he/she believes. Newbigin does a great job of summarizing the influence of a few significant philosophers (Aristotle and Descartes, in particular) on how we think about truth, and demonstrates that we (in contemporary western culture) have in many ways abandoned a more biblical view of truth because of them. I thought the book was very helpful; others might find it a little dry, because of the discussion of philosophy, etc. It's not for everyone-- but it was certainly a good read for me. (9+)

Tags: reading, Cultural Discernment

I have been finding such delight in this series on the cross. I hope you have been, as well.

As we approach Easter, I am all the more encouraged as I see how the sequence for these sermons, which was determined by an orderly approach to understanding a theology of the cross (not simply by what message seems appropriate for a certain date), nevertheless is so fitting for this season of our year. As you'll see below, the sequence fits perfectly with Easter meditations (FYI, Palm Sunday is the 3^rd Sunday in March this year, and Easter is the 4^th Sunday).

Here are the texts for the month of March:
Hosea 11:1-11-- The price of our sin
Exodus 12:1-28-- God's substitutionary atonement
Galatians 3:21-29-- Salvation for sinners through the cross
Luke 24:13-35-- God reveals himself through the cross (UPDATED 3/17/2008)
Colossians 2:13-17-- Evil is overcome through the cross

Tags: preaching, worship

When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.
~~Michel de Montaigne

As you may have picked up, I love to read. More than that, I love books, and what they represent: accessibility to knowledge and understanding of subjects that are unknown or less known than we want them to be.

Someone once said, "There is no such thing as a learning congregation without the pervasive habit of reading." Getting good books into the hands of the people in our congregation strikes me as one of the most helpful things I can do as a Pastor. It represents an extension of the teaching ministry of our church, opens doors for further discussion on a variety of important topics, and affords congregants an opportunity to fortify themselves and their faith with sound instruction.

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.
~~Sir Francis Bacon

Toward this end, our Session has determined to set up a book table in the education wing of the church facilities where good books will be provided at affordable prices. Some books have already been purchased and made available; others will follow in the coming weeks.

Why sell books at church? A book table offers two unique benefits to our congregation. First, it enables me, as Pastor, to exercise discernment on behalf of the congregation by choosing which books may, at this particular point in time and in the face of the circumstances immediately facing us, are relevant and needed for growth and encouragement. Not everyone is familiar with authors, publishing houses, and topics enough to be as discerning as they need to be for the investment of time and money into a book. As a Pastor trained for ministry, I am in a better position to make initial judgment across a wide array of topics, presenting to the congregation a selection of options. (In other words, it allows me to exercise what one friend called my "spiritual gift of bibliography!")

Second, it increases the accessibility to good books for our congregation. The closest Christian bookstore for many of us is a good distance away. Further, we are more mindful of spiritual things while involved in church activities than we are at other times. Our book table increases access in both proximity and mindfulness for our congregation. It also makes more accessible books related matters that may come up in sermons, classes, or in individual counseling. Having these books ready-at-hand makes it possible to extend the impact of our church's teaching and counseling ministries.

In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.
~~Mortimer Adler

Philippians 4:8-9 encourages us for what our minds should dwell upon. Reading good books is a certain practice that helps us to think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable." The apostle Paul himself was a model of commitment to reading (even toward the end of his life asking Timothy to bring him his scrolls in 2 Timothy 4:13), even though he apparently struggled with his eyesight. Thus, when Paul says in Philippians 4:9, "whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me," he clearly meant also a life committed to reading.

We, too, might take up this example. It is my prayer, and that of our congregation's leadership, that reading might be a tool that God uses to teach and grow His people of Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church. As Les Parrott said, "A congregation that doesn't read is missing one of God's greatest means for providing personal and spiritual growth" (Serving as a Church Greeter, p. 49). May God bless our congregation as readers.

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
~~Mortimer Adler

Tags: reading, Cultural Discernment, Faith & Life

UPDATE: I reposted this with the video embedded-- some of the feedback I got was that clicked through to another page was causing trouble. (Thanks to Eden Worship Center in Topeka, Indiana for the video montage you see.)

Tom Brady might be one of the greatest success stories of our day. (Okay, so he would be more of one if he had completed that perfect season a couple of weeks ago for his FOURTH Super Bowl victory...)

Yet, Tom Brady feels empty. In an interview just before the recent Super Bowl, Brady described his emptiness; watch the video.



My response when watching this video was: you're absolutely right! There IS something more to life than reaching record-breaking heights in the first few years of your career; there is something more than being considered one of the best-looking athletes around; there is something more than dating an international supermodel; there is something more than having all the money and fame you could ever ask for.

Oh, and by the way Tom: you don't need any of those things to obtain that thing, that "something more."

I hope you can see this as easily as I can: the "something more" that Tom is seeking is only found in Christ.

(ht: Fred Harrell & Big Hair Preacher)

Tags: love, Evangelism, Cultural Discernment, Faith & Life

Here's an overview of the books I finished in February, and my recommendations about them (including a ranking on a 1-to-10 scale).

How Your Church Family Works by Peter L. Steinke: This is a great book, though the audience for it is something of a niche. It's really a book for Pastors and maybe church leaders; I could see a Session reading through it together, if the Pastor did a fair amount of additional explanation and teaching. (But it would be a good exercise.) The book takes basic family systems theory, a valuable practice in individual counseling, and applies those concepts to congregations as a broader spiritual family system. If you loved the Marriage & Family Counseling class in seminary and learned a lot from your genogram, you will love this book. The first half is fairly dense with theory, but well-done and important; the second part, where he gets into the practical application, really soars. A very good book. (9)

The Challenge of Jesus by N. T. Wright (skim): Once I realized that this book was a summary/lay-level version of Jesus and the Victory of God, which I read in detail for seminary, I switched to "skim" mode and worked through it quickly. Both books are the fruit of Wright's participation in the so-called Third Quest, which has produced some quite useful (though sometimes controversial) materials about the historical Jesus. Wright is a thoughtful, smart fellow who has many helpful insights into Jesus' life and ministry. At the same time, Wright's work is frequently provocative (though less so in this book, as the theological themes are toned down a bit), and the focus of these books on (among other things) the life of Christ led many to believe he denied the resurrection (which he answered with the third book in the original series, The Resurrection and the Son of God). While this one is a good summary, it's still far from light reading, and I would recommend it mainly for those who have some theological reading under their belts, and who have honed their theological discernment a bit. (A qualified 7+/8)

Benedictions by Robert Vasholz: Here's another more esoteric read for many-- though Pastors (and seminarians) will love the accessibility of this tool. In a search through the whole of Scripture, Vasholz has identified 109 distinct benedictions, and formulated them into the sort of poetic pronouncement common at the end of a worship service. Vasholz also included a (very) brief history of the benediction in Christian worship, penned by his colleague at Covenant Seminary, Church Historian David Calhoun. This book is published as a reference for Pastors, and as such doesn't make for a great bedtime reader; nevertheless, I read through it (I really did-- I read every benediction) and I'm thrilled about the possibility of pronouncing a different benediction every week for two years. (9)

The Shadow of the Cross by Walter Chantry (re-read): I was given this little volume years ago by my friend Richard Burguet, and have re-read it several times. It's subtitle is "Studies in Self-Denial" and it was, in my early 20s, exactly the tempering approach to Christianity that I needed, brash and over-confident as I was. Now, in my mid-30s it still holds similar value, reminding me of my call to servanthood and selflessness in life, family, and ministry. While it's not a long book (79p.), it's not necessarily a quick read. Still, I don't have many books on my shelf that I try to make a point of re-reading every couple of years or so-- and thus I don't have many books on my shelf I would recommend as highly as I do this one. (9+/10)

Tags: Cultural Discernment, reading

This clip from NBC's E.R. perfectly illustrates the emptiness of believing in nothing much at all. In the end, the "hope" that comes from the warm, sweet, sentimental stuff of "whatever works for you" and "we're all just trying our best" is empty, shallow, and pretty hopeless. "Sometimes it's easier to feel guilty than forgiven" sounds great when the realities of eternity are distant and objective; when eternity is near, however, I would respond just as this man did: "what does that even mean?"

The work of the cross, though-- while difficult to face in its true, unvarnished reality-- is a work that offers substance when real hope is needed. When you're facing the hard facts of death, judgment, and condemnation, you need "someone who will look [you] in the eye and tell [you] how to find forgiveness."

The only hope-- the only answer to the question, "is atonement even possible? What does God want from me?"-- is the hope of the cross.

(ht: Ed Stetzer)

Tags: Systematic Theology, Faith & Life, Evangelism, Cultural Discernment

As I mentioned in a previous post, I wear a stole over my Geneva gown for worship. There are lots of stoles, though-- and most of them have a particular meaning. What about the stoles I wear?

My stoles follow the traditional colors that correspond to the liturgical seasons. Clothes are inevitably colored; the historic church took advantage of this fact to bring symbolism and reminders into worship in new ways, though we often take them for granted. In liturgical observance, there are four basic and traditional colors:

• Purple signifies wealth, power, and royalty-- primarily because the dyes required to make purple were very expensive until more recently. Thus, purple is a kingly color, and signifies a celebration of the coming of the King. The seasons of Advent and Lent are times of preparation for the King, so purple is worn during these times.
• White is used throughout scripture to signify purity, and especially purity in Christ. It is also a color associated with angels, as well as resurrection. White is the color that is appropriate during the seasons of Christmastide and Easter.
• Red is also a color that is found throughout Scripture, signifying blood, sin, and death. It has also been a color associated with martyrdom and fire. Thus, red is the color for the last week of Lent, also known as Holy Week, and for Pentecost Sunday (when fire descended on believers as a sign of the Holy Spirit).
• Green is the "default" color, and is worn during the days following particular days (that is, ones that have a definitive day where the celebration takes place; the Sundays in these seasons have no particular names, just numbers) such as Pentecost and Epiphany. These days are sometimes called "ordinary days." Green is an earthy color, and as the color of vegetation has always been regarded as a color signifying life and health.

There are other colors that are used less frequently, and these also have significance (though they are not required as replacements of the traditional four colors): gold and ivory are accepted alternatives to white, rose (a color associated with joy) is sometimes inserted for the third Sunday in Advent and, occasionally, for the fourth Sunday in Lent; natural (un-dyed) or "hemp" colors are sometimes used on Maundy Thursday; blue is a color of hope, and is used by some during Advent; and black is used, though very infrequently, on the most solemn days.

Likewise, there are special days when colors change: white is used for weddings, for any secular holidays that the church might observe, and also for funerals (think resurrection)-- though some will use black for funerals instead. Black is also occasionally used on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and All Souls' Day. Red is used for ordinations and installations, as these are times of particular recognition of the Holy Spirit's presence.

As we move through the seasons, the colors we use are helpful reminders of the many seasons and emotions of life. I hope you will find them a useful addition to our worship in these ways.

Tags: Liturgical Seasons, worship

Now that I'm ordained, I'll start to wear a robe for worship. Some will inevitably wonder why... so I'd like to pre-emptively answer that publicly.

Why wear a robe? There are several reasons:
1. It fits our worship style. We have a fairly traditional worship style at Hickory Withe. It isn't stuff or overly formal, but it is traditional and a little bit "high church." A ministerial robe fits into this worship style well.
2. It serves as a sort of "uniform." Many professions have their uniforms-- doctors wear lab coats or scrubs, lawyers wear suits, Uniforms distinguish people in their particular roles. What is the uniform for pastoral ministry? Some would say it is a robe.
3. It fits a long-standing tradition. Not only have pastors, priests, and bishops worn robes for centuries, but many of the pastors of Hickory Withe have, too. I get to participate in a great heritage when I wear mine.
4. It eliminates concerns about wardrobe. With a robe, it removes the distractions and concerns of other wardrobe options. I'm not distracted by the fact that I have limited options, or whether my shirt is untucked, etc. My congregation isn't distracted by whether my tie is too loud or whether I'm wearing the same suit two weeks in a row.
5. I like it. I was given the generous gift of an ecclesiastical robe as a seminary graduation present, and I like it.

What sort of robe do I wear? Some would argue that the proper robe for a Presbyterian pastor to wear is a white one, also known as an alb. (As Ken Collins said: "people in robes are dressed like Calvin. People in albs are dressed like Jesus.") Personally, I never saw a white robe on a pastor growing up in the south, and most Presbyterian Pastors I know who wear robes wear black ones.

On the other hand, I appreciate the (probably apocryphal) story of how John Calvin re-introduced the robe to worship in Geneva: his pulpit was drafty, and he was cold, so he grabbed his academic gown before leaving his study and wore it! What IS known is that Calvin established the practice of wearing robes for protestants, and wore an academic robe because he wasn't ordained.

In light of that (and because I love its simplicity), I asked for a Geneva Gown when picking out my robe. It is all black, with a plain, pleated front (no velvet bands as some black robes have). And I wear a stole with it, with appropriate colors, to mark the liturgical season.

Tags: worship, Pastoral ministry, Liturgy, Liturgical Seasons

Starting this Sunday, I'll begin the series I mentioned last week on the Cross. This series, which will be in 14 parts and will carry us through Easter, will start off with the following messages and texts in February:

2/3: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5-- The Centrality of the Cross
2/10: Romans 3:9-26-- Why Did Christ Die?
2/17: Colossians 1:19-23-- The Accomplishment of the Cross
2/24: Genesis 3:1-24-- The Problem of Forgiveness

UPDATE: This list is a work in progress, since I'm working off of a planned series of topics instead of going directly through a book. As I study for each sermon, the Holy Spirit is shaping the direction of this series, and a better text may emerge as fitting for future sermons. When I update the list (as I did this morning) I'll bump it up to indicate the change.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I changed the final text for this month this morning; as you see, it is truly a work in progress!

Tags: preaching, Bible

I was briefly distracted this morning by our church's list of Pastors-- the succession of Pastors through the 173-year history of Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church. If you haven't taken the time to look through this list, you should; it's a fascinating list of men.

I am the 28th Pastor of Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church. Of the remaining 28, 22 of them served the church for less than five years, and three more served for right around five years. Only three Pastors in 172 years have served this church for more than five years.

One of these men is my new hero: Pastor S. S. (Scott) Gill served Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church for 44 years, 2 and a half months, from 1861-1905. Noticing those dates, I'm struck by the fact that, in his first year of ministry, Rev. Gill would have begun shepherding his flock through the difficulties of four years of the War between the States. Following that, he pastored them for another 40 years-- a simply astounding tenure in our day, and from the looks of the aforementioned list, an impressive tenure in his day as well.

I heard mega-church Pastor Rick Warren comment recently that, in his preparation for ministry, he contacted the 100 largest churches in the U.S. and asked them, "what makes a church healthy?" (Whether you agree or disagree with Pastor Warren's choice of source for this information, I hope you'll agree it's an interesting perspective to pursue.) One thing emerged from them: in all of these churches, the Pastor had been there for a long time. Thus, Pastor Warren began to pray specifically about his pastoral call: "Lord, I'll go anywhere you want, as long as you take me there for life." He and his wife Kaye said that, when they went to plant Saddleback Church, they were 25 years old and made a 40-year commitment to that area.

Marcie and I have long hoped for the same thing: that we might move only once after seminary. While we're barely four months into this pastorate-- let alone 40 years or more!-- and I still face ordination trials (tomorrow, by the way), I'm renewed in my desire for that by the example of Scott Gill.

Tags: Pastoral ministry, Faith & Life, community, family life

I love to read, and those who know me are aware that I read heavily: I regularly have multiple books that I'm reading concurrently, and I probably have averaged 50-75 books a year for the past decade and more. (I first realized that I had a higher-than-average tendency for reading when I set a personal goal to finish 25 books in a year my sophomore year in college and my friends and family finding this quite surprising; I hit 25 around August that year.)

As a result, I have a high awareness of good books on a variety of subjects. I've been told that I have the spiritual gift of bibliography-- I almost always have a book recommendation for a particular problem or issue. And, as an extension of that (and following in the pattern of several friends and others whose blogs I read), I thought I would start logging my reading habits here.

Most months, I finish at least two or three books during the month and begin others. Every now and then, I hit a peculiar month: while I continue to read, I don't actually finish any books! Whether its because I've spent a good bit of time writing, I've been reading magazines or other periodicals, or I've been reading parts of lots of books, I just don't make a lot of progress through any single volume.

January was one of those months. Thus, my first post sharing my reading with you is somewhat anti-climactic, I freely admit.

Just so that I don't leave it at that, here's the list of books that I am currently reading:

• 
  
• The Cross of Christ by John R. W. Stott
• 
  
• The Shadow of the Cross by Walter Chantry
• 
  
• The Challenge of Jesus by N. T. Wright
• 
  
• The Attributes of God by Arthur W. Pink
• 
  
• How Your Church Family Works by Peter L. Steinke
• 
  

Tags: reading, writing, Cultural Discernment

There are a lot of great causes that I think are important. Be they social causes, political movements, efforts for promotion of ideas, many people are involved in many things that give value to our culture and world. Some of them are things that, in another life, I would be willing to step into and personally assign my name to, either in support or in opposition.

But I won't do it. Not now, and not as long as the Lord has called me to serve Him in pastoral ministry.

A Pastor is, by profession and function, something of a "face" for the church, especially his local congregation. In some cases this is taken way too far-- and in almost every case, it is something that Pastors must be diligent to keep in check. They are not the church, or even in charge of the church, but they are the most prominent leaders in the church. And in many people's minds, they are the face that people think of when they think about the church. This is even more true outside of the church than it is inside it.

Thus, as a Pastor I must not be an activist. Why? Because an activist puts a priority on something other than the centrality of the Gospel and the faithful teaching of Scripture.

This isn't always bad-- there are times when an issue needs to be the front-and-center concern, and the Gospel's relationship to it must be secondary in that discussion. There are issues of political or social change that the Scripture doesn't directly speak to, and those who try to make the discussion all about the Scriptural principle that indirectly relates only serve to muddy the waters.

(Let me make this disclaimer: I'm not saying that Scripture is insufficient to give guidance for godly thinking and living in all spheres of life; Scripture IS sufficient for that. But Scripture isn't exhaustive in offering prescriptive conceptual thinking about all issues that face us today, and it is irresponsible to assert that it does.)

Some examples: while Scripture offers help in understanding the concept of just war, it doesn't directly speak to whether a particular war or military action is just. Scripture does discuss the stewardship of our world and environment, but it doesn't offer direct teaching about global warming. And although Scripture speaks to how a believer ought to behave in relation to his governmental officials, it doesn't address whether we should be in favor of states' rights over federalism.

And here's where the divide comes for me, as a Pastor: if my charge is to proclaim the truth of Scripture in season and out of season; if I am to preach, not myself, but Christ as Lord and myself as a servant; if I am to know nothing before my flock except Christ and Him crucified-- if these are what I am to be about, then I MUST not be an activist. To take an activist position would be to turn my focus away from this charge.

If the church is charged with demonstrating the historical marks of the church-- Word, Sacrament, and discipline-- and only that, then a church must not assume a particular position on an activist cause. And I, as the Pastor and "face" of the church, must not do so either.

Scripture DOES teach a lot about how we might think about social and political issues, and over the course of my ministry (and even over the course of the next year or so) I will address these as they present themselves in Scripture. But I must stop short of waging judgment on particular political leaders, individual social causes, or specific political or social issues (and whether I agree or disagree with them).

I have opinions on them, and I'll even share some of my observations at times. If I'm doing my job well, however, you'll walk away without certainty about what my exact political and social positions are. That is as it should be-- because I am not an activist, I am a Pastor.

Tags: Pastoral ministry, Politics, preaching, community, Cultural Discernment

I overheard a young first-year seminary student talking with a couple of others in the bookstore a few years ago. He was talking about his sense of call to ministry, and they asked him if he wanted to be a Pastor when he finished. Yes, he did, but he quickly (and haughtily) clarified: "I'll go overseas to do missions, of course. The U.S. is way too full of churches and Pastors."

This video is a good presentation of a bunch of amazing statistics about the church in the U.S., and in a matter of minutes utterly refutes this young man's jaded viewpoint. (HWPC folks, may I ask that you be sure to take a few minutes to watch this?) What's clear from the data presented is that the local church has never held a more important place in the community, even if most of that community doesn't realize it.

While it is clear that the statistics are presented with an intent to promote church planting, they offer great insight into the mission and importance of established churches, as well. In my view, those figures regarding the established church's less effective outreach are simultaneously an indictment and a call to action.

What struck you as the more interesting aspects of that presentation?

Tags: Evangelism, community, Faith & Life, Pastoral ministry

I recently read a book on the nuts and bolts of pastoral ministry by two seasoned Pastors called On Being a Pastor. There were many great lessons from this book (thanks to my friend David Dennis for the book recommendation), and one key take-away was regarding preaching a series.

They commended the practice in general-- and affirmed its value to a congregation. But they also recommended that Pastors take regular breaks from a series, offering a change of pace and direction for a time.

One danger of expository preaching-- especially when we begin-- is the tendency to be too long in one book or subject. Expository does not need to be synonymous with exhaustive and exhausting!

We've been working through the book of Luke since I began at Hickory Withe. While we started with a brief (4-week) series on the Parable of the Lost Son, we've spent every Sunday morning in Luke since October 14! By mid-November, we started with Luke 1:1 and will finish chapter 3 on Sunday. We've studied the foundations of the book, the announcements of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus, and the events of those births.

We're approaching a natural break in Luke-- in the middle of chapter 4, the end of Jesus' preparation for ministry concludes; starting with 4:14, Jesus begins his public ministry. Luke's account of the public ministry of Jesus continues until chapter 19, where the account of the triumphal entry begins the account of the passion of Christ. Clay Harrington will join us next week, and will preach on Luke 4:1-13-- the last text on Jesus' preparation for ministry. This will be our twelfth week of sermons in Luke, done in sequential order.

At that point, I plan to take a break from the sequential preaching of Luke's gospel, and will begin a new, 14-week series on the cross. This series will carry us through the liturgical seasons of Lent and Easter, and is fitting for both. Following that series, we'll return to Luke to begin working through the public ministry of Jesus (though we'll probably take another break down the line before we finish that section of Luke!).

This series will be topical, though most or all of the sermons will still be expository sermons. Here's the plan for the series, week by week:

1. The cross as central to Chrstianity
   
2. What did Christ die for?
   
3. The accomplishment of the cross
   
4. How forgiveness works
   
5. The price of our sin
   
6. God's substitutionary atonement
   
7. Salvation for sinners through the cross
   
8. God revealing himself through the cross
   
9. Evil is overcome through the cross
   
10. The community of God as a celebration of the cross
    
11. Understanding ourselves through the cross
    
12. Self-denial and giving of ourselves in response to the cross
    
13. The cross enables us to love our enemies
    
14. The cross and our suffering, the cross and our glory
    

Tags: preaching, Pastoral ministry, Faith & Life

Most of you may know, I was examined by the Covenant Presbytery credentials committee today, as one of the final steps toward completing ordination. I was approved by the committee, and will be recommended by them for ordination.
Thank you for your prayers and support through this process. The final two steps are the oral exam before the entire Presbytery (on February 5), and the ordination service (date TBA). I look forward to finishing out this process, as it allows me to serve Hickory Withe Presbyterian Church as Pastor.

Tags: Pastoral ministry

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
~II Corintians 4:5

Yesterday at lunch, Jack asked me, "Daddy-- are you in charge of part of the church?"
What a profound question! I'm thrilled that Jack is asking questions like this, and thinking about these things. I wonder how many people have actually thought about this question...
Here's how the rest of the dialogue went (roughly!):
Me: "Jack, daddy's job is to be the Pastor at the church, which is not about being in charge, it's about serving them."
Jack: "What does 'serving them' mean?"
Me: "It means that I help them when they need help, I encourage them if they are sad, and I teach them about Jesus and how He is what they need."
Jack: "Sometimes it seems like you're in charge..."
Me: "Well, sometimes people act like they want me to be in charge; but when they act like that, what they really want is for me to teach them how Jesus is in charge."
Jack: "That's good."

Tags: Pastoral ministry, community, Faith & Life

If you've ever read my other blog, Placement Reflections, you may know that I started it as a repository for data, insights, and interaction with the research that I started in 2004 on pastoral placement. I initially did that research for personal reasons (e.g., I wanted to know how to place well!) but quickly became burdened for anyone who is going through a pastoral transition. As I've continued to study this subject, I'm convinced that I have developed some helpful nuts-and-bolts ideas about how to do pastoral transition well, from both the pastor's side and the church's.
At some point, I wondered if there might be a book-length project in this material, or even more than one. I first posted about this idea in July 2006-- so it is something that has been percolating for a while. Since then, I've gone through different stages of prepping for that-- including copying all of my posts into a very useful writing application (and discovering that I had more than enough material already for a book-length project-- and also realizing that about half of the book had barely been discussed); drafting a book proposal; getting great feedback from a trusted friend and fellow writer that I should divide the material into two books; writing a grant (that was rejected) for additional research for my book; actually losing the final draft of my book proposal; and putting all of it (including the Placement Reflections blog) on indefinite hold as I transitioned into pastoral ministry.
Now, the time is right for me to pick it up again over the coming months. I think there are several reasons why the timing is good:

• For starters, I've actually done the transition now, and I'm finishing up my examinations for ordination; Lord willing, I'll be ordained by mid-March. Since I first began to discuss doing a book, this has been the biggest hang-up for those who I've interacted with, and while I still believe that the research I've done could stand on its own in this regard, the added (and possibly fundamental) credibility of having actually done it means a lot.
• Next, approaching the completion (hopefully!) of ordination means that a major item that has been on my plate is finished. I'm settling into ministry well, and the other consulting and side work I'm doing is also reaching a manageable pace. So I have the capacity, I think, to re-focus on this project. Worst case, I'll start up and then slow down again, but we'll see.
• I'm eager to publish this material-- mainly because I really want to see men (and women) helped with their transition into ministry. Like I said above, I have a burdened heart for this.
• Finally, my friend Craig is setting his sights on finishing his (latest) book up this year, too-- and I think it would be cool to go through that together. Maybe we'll covenant to pray for one another in that, or at least be good support; Craig has been a great encourager of my writing in general.

Since Placement Reflections has been a great tool for prepping the book up to now, I fully intend to continue using it that way. I'll develop new ideas there on different levels over the coming months. 

Tags: writing, Pastoral ministry

I've always been fascinated with technology, and over time I've developed a lot of thoughts and ideas about how faith and technology collide. A few of these thoughts made their way into an article that I recently wrote for ByFaith magazine, which ended up being called, "Looking for Love in a Few Wrong Places". That article, which focuses particularly on how technology and the Internet allow communities to be built in new ways, is now available on the ByFaith website, in case you're interested.

By the way, if you don't already subscribe to ByFaith, I would highly recommend it (and not just because I write for them)-- it is a good magazine that offers a helpful look at many diverse topics.

Tags: writing, community, Science & Technology, Faith & Life

My friend Megan posted a challenging post on her blog a few days ago. It turns out that Megan read an interesting article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the struggles that many food banks and food pantries face around this time of year: they simply run out of food, and are forced to limit their services or close doors altogether.

The article points to the unexpected downside of our technological advances: the accuracy of inventory systems in grocery stores means that stores seldom over-purchase, and food packagers don't over-produce, in the quantities that they used to. The net result is that food banks and food pantries don't have the supply of food from the grocery stores and food packagers that they used to. As a result, they run out of inventory themselves.

Megan asks a hard question: what is their personal family responsibility for this problem? I love this question, as it reveals Megan's faith as real and practicable. I also love it because it forces me to consider this for myself, and my family.

In her post, Megan invites interaction about this subject, and I wanted to bring that discussion here, as well. I've also invited my friend Russell Smith to join the conversation. I'd like to work together toward some real answers to this problem-- something that we (as a community) can put into practice on a regular basis.

What do you think? We have a food pantry right here, through Fayette Cares-- my guess is that they are facing the same struggle. How can we answer? What should our personal responsibility in this problem be?

Tags: Faith & Life, love, community

Why do we say, "amen?" We read it in the Bible. We say it when we pray privately, and when we pray together. We find it many times in our worship service. It used to be common to end every hymn with a sung "amen." Some might even be inspired to shout it in response to part of the sermon! What does this mean?

Literally, the word "amen" means "truly" or "verily." When we say this in response to something someone else has said, it means, "I fully agree" or even, "may it be for me as he has said." It is as if someone has issued a statement and we are, so to speak, signing our name to the bottom to demonstrate our agreement.

Interestingly, Amen is more appropriate as a response by others than as simply a conclusion by the one speaking. If someone is praying, we might agree with them in prayer by saying, "amen" when they have concluded (or even during their prayer, in a subtle and quiet way). If someone proclaims a needed or particularly poignant word in preaching, someone might call out, "amen!" to show their embrace of that word. It is an act of participation. This is why those leading a group in prayer might conclude with an invitation to the group to say, "amen" by saying, "and all of God's people said..."

Tags: worship, Faith & Life, Liturgy

One of our members asked that I post the lyrics to the song I sang as my opening illustration in Sunday's sermon. Here they are.

Show the Way by David Wilcox

You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason we should dream
That the world could ever change, you're saying love is foolish to believe
Because there'll always be some crazy with an army or a knife
To wake you from your daydream, and put the fear back in your life.

Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify what's stronger than hate
Would they not arrange the stage to look as if the hero came too late?
He's almost in defeat, it's looking like the evil side will win
So on the edge of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing begins.

Chorus:
It is love who makes the mortar, and it's love that set these stones
And it's love who made the stage here, although it looks like we're alone.
In this scene set in shadows like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us, but it's love that wrote the play
And in this darkness, love can show the way.

So now the stage is set, you feel your own heart beating in your chest
This life's not over yet, so we get up on our feet and do our best
We play against the fear, we play against the reasons not to try
Playing for the tear that is burning in the happy angel's eye.

[Chorus]

Tags: worship, preaching

I'm fascinated by the Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry that is structured by a pattern of syllables in each line: 5, 7, 5. Periodically, I will take a moment to construct a Haiku as both an expression of what I'm thinking or feeling and a brief exercise in writing. Here is the first:

studying Bible
sermon is for this Sunday
will it be worthy?

Tags: Haiku, writing

The other day I was with a group of people who were talking about an especially legalistic environment that some of them had been a part of as teenagers-- a place where they were literally told what to believe, and that if they disagreed they would go to Hell. The leaders in this environment were, clearly, abusing their authority and making claims that no one person or group has a right to make.

One person commented on the fact that I should get a lot of sermon illustrations from these stories! (He was right...) That got me to thinking about what the real applications really were. I’d like to reflect on two broad applications here, over two posts.

At one point I asked the question of this group: how did your parents (who were all Christians) continue to believe that it was good for you to be a part of this? After all, I said, you would surely come home and tell them all about it.

Their first response demonstrated how powerful the authoritarian environment was:

No, we were told that if we reported on them we would go to Hell.

[Note, by the way, the similar nature of this environment to a classic abusive relationship-- where the victim is told that THEY (the victim) would get in trouble if they told.]

But as they went on, something else became clear. One of them said:

I was glad to be there. I needed a place where I could belong, and this place felt safe-- partly because of the rules.

And there I saw my first sermon illustration: when it comes down to it, we all gravitate toward legalism. We are all legalists.

When we’re offered an environment where the rules are known, it becomes very easy to settle into that. We know where we stand in the pecking order; we are then able to proclaim with confidence precisely why we have merited the favor of God and men.

I think this is what makes grace so threatening, so terrifying to all of us. If the work that earns us favor isn’t our work (through legalism) but Christ’s work imputed to us (by grace), we are actually dependent on something (grace) and someone (Christ) other than ourselves.

This also illustrates why even communities that are defined by Christ’s grace (namely, churches) quickly return to legalism. Dependence is very uncomfortable. Dependence is often humbling, sometimes awkward, and frequently at odds with pride. Someone who is dependent has just reason to lose some confidence in themselves.

Here’s the irony in it all: we are always dependent. Even when we think we have every reason for confidence (as with the group of teenagers who knew exactly their place in the social order of that legalistic community), we are still dependent on something: for the legalist, it is the rules and laws that we subscribe to, and the authority who creates and enforces them.

Legalism-- that idea that “I can earn merit/favor/righteousness through obedience, and take confidence and pride in myself”-- is a lie.

Tags: prayer, Pastoral ministry