Though you do not see him now...

A few paragraphs I wish I had read prior to preaching from 1 Peter 1:8-9 yesterday morning. From Paul Miller, A Praying Life, 193-4:

"Many of us wish God were more visible. We think that if we could see him better or know what is going on, then faith would come more easily. But if Jesus dominated the space and overwhelmed our vision, we would not be able to relate to him. Everyone who had a clear-eyed vision of God in the Bible fell down as if he were dead. It's hard to relate to pure light...

"When we suffer, we long for God to speak clearly, to tell us the end of the story and, most of all, to show himself. But if he showed himself fully and immediately, if he answered all the questions, we'd never grow; we'd never emerge from our chrysalis because we'd be forever dependent....No one works like him. He is such a lover of souls."

Why There are No Perfect Pastors

From Desiring God:

In my imagination, I sometimes fancy I could [create] a perfect minister. I take the eloquence of ______, the knowledge of ______, the zeal of ______, and the pastoral meekness, tenderness, and piety of ______. Then, putting them all together into one man, I say to myself, “This would be a perfect minister.”

Now there is One, who, if he chose to, could actually do this; but he never did it. He has seen fit to do otherwise, and to divide these gifts to every man severally as he will. (Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, p. 107.)

Till Death Do Us Part

The other day I received two books that beautifully picture the permanence and joys of marriage, even in the face of severe health difficulty. A Promise Kept was written by Robertson McQuilkin, former president of Columbia International University and accounts for McQuilkin's extraordinary care for his wife, Muriel, who suffered with Alzheimer's disease from 1978 until her death in 2003. One of the most striking moments in the book was when McQuilkin was told that the reason his story impacted so many was that in times of sickness, women are generally true to their men, but men are rarely loyal to their wives. It was a moving, brief story of faithfulness over a lifetime experienced before the darkness came.

Historian Gene Genovese wrote the little book, Miss Betsey: A Memoir of Marriage. Here is a delightful, witty, honest, and grace-filled story of the marriage of two prominent historians of the American South. As Betsey suffered and died from multiple sclerosis (among other health issues), both Genoveses experienced strength in the Christian faith, each having converted to Catholicism late in life.

In the face of so many marriages which dissolve because one of the partners no longer feels invested or loving or committed, the recounting of a long love in the same direction--recountings given by men who are far more often the ones who abandon a marriage--is stirring. Even more is the basis for their faithfulness: both Genovese and McQuilkin found the strength that sustained their love in the gracious Gospel of Jesus. The one who bore the death that we deserved enables us to sustain marriage till death do us part.

Grace

From U2's album, All You Can't Leave Behind:

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

Spiritually dead

This morning, I'm preaching on Ephesians 2:1-6 (tonight, we'll take up 2:7-10) on the theme of grace. My first point is to talk through what it means to be "dead in the trespasses and sins": namely, as those ruined by sin, we are unable to see and savor spiritual things. Our worldview is limited to the material and sensual, to this world.

I ran across this little testimony from the New York Times Magazine that illustrates this perfectly (but to which I won't have time to refer in my sermon). Written by a novelist, Dana Tierney, it depicts the inability of an individual in their natural condition, ruined by sin, captive to the course of the world, to see beyond this world. She writes, "My friends and relatives who rely on God -- the real believers, not just the churchgoers -- have an expansiveness of spirit. When they walk along a stream, they don't just see water falling over rocks; the sight fills them with ecstasy. They see a realm of hope beyond this world. I just see a babbling brook. I don't get the message."

Ultimately, the only one who can get in people's hearts and open their eyes so that they are able to see, truly see, is God himself. That is Paul's point in 2:4-6--without God, without grace, we are unable to see the excellency of Christ or his way of salvation. But when God acts to make us alive with Christ, raise us with him, and seat us in the heavenlies, when God grants us faith as a gift, when God saves us, then we can see.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see!"

Real humility

From Thomas Charles of Bala: "To talk much about ourselves, of our own experiences and discoveries, though under pretence of giving glory to God, is a sure proof that we are as gods to ourselves, and that we would have others filled with admiration of the distinguishing favors we enjoy, and have them know what eminent saints we are...Real humility takes nothing to itself, but sin and shame; and it gives all the glory to God, who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift" (Thomas Charles' Spiritual Counsels, 22-3).

The Tragedy of Steve McNair

In about an hour from now, the funeral service for former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair will be taking place on the University of Southern Mississippi campus here in Hattiesburg. Because McNair grew up about 45 minutes away in Mt. Olive, MS, and because two of his sons live in Hattiesburg, our local news coverage has been dominated by the his tragic story.

And it is tragic: if you don't know, McNair was gunned down by his girlfriend while he was asleep on the couch in an apartment leased to him and used by them both. He leaves behind four kids and a wife as well as heart-broken family, friends, and communities who looked up to him. In many ways, it was a senseless act by a woman who was beginning to lose her grip on her life.

But it was tragic in a different way as well. As I was thinking about it this morning, McNair's death demonstrates the tragic consequence that comes from violating what Randy Alcorn calls "the purity principle": purity is always smart; impurity is always stupid. While most impurity does not end in a violent murder-suicide, the effects are wide-ranging, destructive, and devastating all the same.

The Book of Proverbs bears this out: "The lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander and she does not know it" (Prov 5:3-6).

Again, "Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless...and you say, 'How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation" (Prov 5:8-9, 12-14).

Again, "Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; none who touches her will go unpunished" (Prov 6:27-29).

Again, "With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he followers her, as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life" (Prov 7:21-23).

In many ways, McNair's tragic and untimely death causes these biblical wisdom texts to come to life. While sexual impurity make not bring someone to the grave in the immediate and horrifying way that it did McNair, the consequences are always devastating--Sheol, the grave, the place of the dead, lurks around sexual impurity.

Why is that the case? Because throughout the Bible and especially the OT, idolatry and sexual immorality/adultery go hand-in-hand. The case of Hosea's wife Gomer was the most graphic illustration of a basic truth: when we are not satisfied with the Triune God who has come near to us in Jesus, we inevitable turn our hearts to other idols who promise satisfaction. And frequently, those gods promise sensual pleasure and delight that can calm our aching hearts. But in the end those gods--the gods of significance and security, the gods of power and influence, the gods of self-sufficiency and Independence--cannot deliver anything but the grave.

Wisdom (a.k.a. the smart life) consists of fearing and delighting in the only God who can deliver on his promises: the Triune God of the Bible, the God who came near to us in Jesus Christ and comes near to us by the Spirit of Jesus. This God's steadfast love is better than life (Psa. 63:3); this love can satisfy the deepest longings which we have, both longings of our souls and our bodies.

The tragedy of Steve McNair is a tragedy played out on a small scale in so many of our lives, including my own: it is the tragedy of failing to be utterly satisfied in God himself, the only one who can fill the eternal longings of our being.

Six week "vacation" over

Just wanted to note that the six week vacation that I've taken from blogging is over. We've been a little busy: we moved our stuff to Hattiesburg, MS, the first week of June; drove to Brevard, NC, for a week of vacation; drove to Orlando, FL, for the PCA General Assembly; drove back to Hattiesburg to unpack; and on June 30, began a regular pastoral routine. Now that I'm settling in, I feel like I return my attention to the wider world...

We're number 1...

...and living large!

Moving

It seemed fitting to post on the fact that the moving trucks are here today. Our movers sent four guys to pack us; we are hopeful that they will be done packing tomorrow and begin shuttling stuff out of here. Lord willing, we will be heading down I-55 toward Hattiesburg, Mississippi, with the early light on Thursday, June 4.

This is my 17th move: Stratford, NJ [where I was born]; Radford VA; Manchester, England; Williamstown, NJ; Spring, TX; Westfield, NJ; Reston, VA; Taylors, SC [my first apartment and beginnings of my moves as an adult]; New Castle, IN [first apartment after Sara and I got married]; Philadelphia, PA [three moves here--Bensalem, Yardley, and Abington, PA]; Louisville, KY [two moves here--Crestwood and Bedford]; St. Louis, MO [two moves here--St. Charles and Creve Coeur]; and now Hattiesburg, MS.

It is interesting to reflect on this whole process of moving--saying goodbye, seeing bookends to your time, packing up, throwing away, loading and unloading, saying hello, settling in, hoping people like you and you find friends. It is hugely unsettling and yet it is also very exciting. Incredibly stressful and yet a bit boring. Hurrying up, yet waiting. 

There is a sense in which my Christian life has reflected this rootlessness, homelessness; one of my favorite texts is Hebrews 11:13-16: "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."

I think more than most people, I have had this sense of being a stranger, an exile--not quite fitting in, always being the "new kid," never sure if I'll be accepted by the host culture. I have also had this sense there is a home that will never falter or fade, a better city from which I'll never leave because I will always feel at home. 

Our prayer is that our new place will give us echoes of home, but that it will never really be home--because there remains a rest for the people of God, a place of final and full welcome, love, and joy. I want the mansions prepared for me by the Father because that is where Jesus is--everything here is an echo, a shadow, a penultimate something that points to the ultimate reality.

Why Kentucky Should Pay Attention to Indiana

Been a while since I've given an opinion on college basketball beyond my Tournament picks. After all, Hoosier fans don't have a lot to say about ethics in basketball in the post-Bob Knight era.

But really, the Sampson debacle should give Kentucky fans pause. Indiana basketball, determined to climb back to the top and recover its mojo after Mike Davis' reign, hired an ethically-challenged but nationally-known coach to lead its program back to the promised land. Sampson landed two top recruiting classes, but repeatedly was in trouble with the NCAA for violations first at his previous head coaching job and then at Indiana. In addition, he brought at-risk kids to surround his one prize recruit; it all came tumbling down toward the end of the 2007-08 season. When Tom Crean came in to fix the program, he had two scholarship players left who averaged 1.8 points between them.

The news from John Calipari today reminded me so much of the Sampson fiasco. Let's see: according to Coach Cal's bio, he took UMass to the Final Four and was the national coach of the year in 1996; what he didn't mention was that the season and Final Four appearance was vacated by the NCAA for major program violations. And according to his UK bio, he took Memphis to the Final Four and was the national coach of the year in 2008. But now we discover that his program that year also had major violations and will most likely lead to vacating the season and the championship game appearance.

Which means that at least during his two best seasons, Coach Cal (or his staff, who reports to him and for which he is responsible) cheated. Which means if I was a Kentucky fan, I'd be very nervous. UK just needs to look across the Ohio River to see what happens when an ethically-challenged coach leads your history-rich program. The aftermath is a painful thing to watch.

Back on Calvin Blog

This week is my second week on the Reformation 21 Calvin's Institutes blog. The first two posts are here and here. 

True repentance rests on God's goodness

"Yet we must remember to exercise restraint, lest sorrow engulf us. For nothing more readily happens to fearful consciences than falling into despair. And also by this stratagem, whomever Satan sees overwhelmed by the fear of God he more and more submerges in that deep whirlpool of sorrow that they may never rise again. That fear cannot, indeed, be too great which ends in humility, and does not depart from the hope of pardon. Nevertheless, in accordance with the apostle's injunction the sinner ought always to beware lest, while he worries himself into dissatisfaction weighed down by excessive fear, he become faith. For in this way we flee from God, who calls us to himself through repentance.

"On this matter, Bernard's admonition is also useful: 'Sorrow for sins is necessary if it be not unremitting. I beg you to turn your steps back sometimes from troubled and anxious remembering of your ways, and to go forth to the tableland of serene remembrance of God's benefits. Let us mingle honey with wormwood that its wholesome bitterness may bring health when it is drunk tempered with sweetness. If you take thought upon yourselves in your humility, take thought likewise upon the Lord in his goodness" (Calvin, Institutes, 3.3.15).

Grace Precedes Repentance

"We mean to show that a man cannot apply himself seriously to repentance without knowing himself to belong to God. But no one is truly persuaded that he belongs to God unless he has first recognized God's grace...No one will ever reverence God but him who trusts that God is propitious to him. No one will gird himself willingly to observe the law but him who will be persuaded that God is pleased by his obedience. This tenderness in overlooking and tolerating vices is a sign of God's fatherly favor" (Calvin, Institutes, 3.3.2).

Thoughts on Dan Brown

These were excellent thoughts on Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. I thought the salient paragraph was this one:

In the Brownian worldview, all religions — even Roman Catholicism — have the potential to be wonderful, so long as we can get over the idea that any one of them might be particularly true. It’s a message perfectly tailored for 21st-century America, where the most important religious trend is neither swelling unbelief nor rising fundamentalism, but the emergence of a generalized “religiousness” detached from the claims of any specific faith tradition.

What is so ironic is that this view--that religion is in a separate sphere, one that is only accessible by intuition or sentiment and one that is not verifiable by typical canons of knowing that characterize the rest of the world; hence, all religions actually are useful for "spirituality" or "religiousness" and not for truth--is the fundamental worldview of modernity. This modern worldview developed from the work of Immanuel Kant, who separated Phenomena (the appearance of things verifiable by scientific testing) from the Noumena (the substance of things that are unverifiable and ultimately reside in the mind of God). 

The result of Kant's philosophical move was to create a dualistic world that separated science from faith, matter from Spirit. Theologically, this worldview was best articulated by Protestant Liberalism, which sought to distinguish "abiding truths" from "changing (theological) categories" and which ultimately tried to cordon off theology from the acids of history. In our day, this generally pervasive attitude that separates truth from religious claims is actually based on a worldview that is only about 200 years old and which finds its best proponents among mainstream Protestants who have generally set aside the historically-based truth claims of Christianity. 

What is odd to me is that the upshot of Dan Brown's work has not been to turn people back toward mainstream Protestantism, but to turn people away from the church (and Christianity) completely. It reminds me of C. S. Lewis' The Last Battle in which the cynical creation of Tashlan ultimately inoculates the Narnians against the truth of Aslan--because truth and reality itself was drawn into question on the behalf of a pluralistic, general religiosity, the Narnians would not and could not believe. 

At the end of the day, our best hope--both in answering the claims of Dan Brown and the worldview behind it--is not simply to debunk his historical claims point by point (as several excellent books did after The Da Vinci Code movie came out), but to question the essentially modern, Kantian worldview that helps Brown make sense. After all, Christianity is faith based on historical facts, none more important than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for sinners on Calvary and rose bodily the third day from the grave. If that is not true in a way that destroys the dualism between phenomena and noumena, then we of all people are most hopeless.

Baccalaureate Benediction

I like to post these benedictions; you can find others here, here, and here. This was from Covenant Seminary's Baccalaureate, May 14, 2009:

Men and women of God,

as those thoroughly equipped for every good work,

may God grant you

confidence in the God-breathed Word;

competence by the Spirit's empowerment; and

complete delight in the God who loved you 

all the way to Jesus' cross and empty tomb.

Go with God's peace,

Amen.

Eugene Peterson on Pastoral Ministry

I love reading Eugene Peterson. I find him hugely helpful for my own self-reflection as a minister. Right now, I'm reading Under the Unpredictable Plant, which focuses on vocational holiness and which is classic Peterson. Because I'm enjoying him again, I decided to do a bit of a google search. I ran across this excellent interview and resonated with this section:

How did you become a pastor?

I think I was attracted to the intense relational and personal quality of this life. At the time I decided to become a pastor, I was assistant professor at a seminary. I loved the teaching, but when I compared it with what I was doing as an associate pastor, there was no comparison. It was the difference between being a coach in the locker room, working out plays on the chalkboard, and being one of the players on the field. I wanted to be one of the players on the field, playing my part as the life of Christ was becoming incarnate again in my community.

That’s interesting, because if there’s one life that many pastors idealize, it’s the academic life.

That’s strange, isn’t it? When people say, "I don’t want to be a pastor, I want to be a professor," I say, "Well, the best place to be a teacher is in a congregation." Everything I taught during my tenure at Regent College was first developed and taught in my congregation. At Regent, of course, I embellished it. I put in footnotes. But the motivation of the people in the classroom was different from those in the congregational setting: they were looking for a degree, whereas in the congregation, people are looking for how to live the next day.

What is Church Government? no. 2

Out June 1st. Buy it for yourself, friends, loved ones, neighbors, and church officers. 

Why Johnny Can't Preach

I had seen Dr. T. David Gordon's provocative little book, Why Johnny Can't Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers, in the catalogs and was eager to read it. My interest was heightened by some Internet chatter about the book and the comments others had made to me about the book. So, when the Seminary bookstore finally got it, I picked it up and just finished it. I think I can give the book no higher praise than this: Dr. Gordon may be a curmudgeon, but he is right.

And he is right on two major counts. First, Gordon is right to pin the reason why Johnny can't preach on the cultural forces that have affected the way ministerial students and young ministers read texts and compose arguments. Most of us in the educational world bemoan the inability of many of our students to produce basic outlines, shape rudimentary arguments, or craft reasoned essays. Some of us even go so far as to give students a basic framework in the syllabus for writing the essays for which we look and yet it is shocking how students are unable to follow even such suggestions.

This is an aside by way of example. In one syllabus, I have: "the first three paragraphs of your essay are introductory, so tell me who wrote the book, where does the author teach, what does the author say are his reasons for writing the book, and finally what is his argument; in the next two pages, summarize his argument in three major points; in the next two pages, evaluate his argument in the light of class readings and lectures; in the final paragraph suggest whether you liked the book and whether you would recommend it to another." You would be surprised how few students can even follow this basic formula for a book review essay.

Further, many students cannot read texts closely. As a teacher, some of my most disappointing classes have been electives run seminar style, based on the close reading of primary source texts. When students are unable to reference "chapter and verse" from Kuyper, Edwards, Bushnell or Hodge, pointing the class to a particular page, summarizing the point, and advancing the argument, it devolves to me having to do that for the class. In the end, many of these electives become my own running dialogue with the text with the students listening in. This may provide a nice modeling opportunity, but it is disappointing--because I hope to learn from the students, which doesn't happen when I do all the talking.

Some of the Covenant Seminary faculty have talked about whether we need to rework the MDiv curriculum to include a first semester professional seminar, which would cover things like "how to read a book" and "how to write a paper." Clearly our cultural forces and our educational system are failing to give our students the tools and sensitivities necessary to read texts well and compose clear arguments. And, as Gordon notes, this will inevitably affect the way men preach.

Second, Gordon is right that the content of preaching must center repeatedly and insistently on the person and work of Jesus Christ. His discussion of the evangelical content of preaching in chapter four is priceless--he diagnoses four alternative types of preaching (moralism, how-to, introspection, culture warrior), demonstrates the difficulties, and points back to robust Christ-centered exposition. And while I may quibble with one point--namely, when he observes that the pulpit is almost never the place to enforce moral behavior or raise questions for the complacent to examine themselves (pp. 90-1); I wonder then what he would do with the imperative sections of Paul's Epistles--the main point does not lose its force.

A thoughtful and thought-provoking book, it was well-worth the two hours it took me to breeze through the 100 pages or so. But the points that Gordon raises will be with me for weeks, months, and even years to come. In fact, I think I need to go now--I'm going to buy Shakespeare's sonnets and have myself a good read.

The Pastor as Minor Poet

Over the past couple of days, I finished reading a new little book by Craig Barnes, professor of leadership and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and senior minister at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in that city. The book was titled, The Pastor as Minor Poet: Texts and Subtexts in the Ministerial Life; I found the book extremely helpful in several ways.

First, the entire image of poetry to capture the ministerial life is extremely provocative. Of all the literature I've read, it comes closest to evoking Max Dupree's view of leading as an art form rather than a technique or science. And clearly, pastoral ministry is an art--the ability to see below the surface, below the "text" of a given situation or even the biblical text to the deeper "meaning" buried between the lines, within, above, or under a given situation, is hugely important. It is important not just for survival (important in its own right), but to minister the Gospel in such a way that it meets the person's real need, not simply the presenting issue.

Second, in reconstructing pastoral identity away from being "a quivering mass of availability" (Barnes uses this wonderful phrase from Stan Hauerwas), Barnes draws repeatedly, deftly, and quietly on the resources of the Reformed tradition: it is not your ministry, it is Christ's; it is not your identity, but Christ's in which we participate through union with him; the Gospel is not about you, but you are about it; and the sufficiency of God's love in Christ to sustain us despite (not because of) our performance. So much of our tradition echoes through the book but is done so deftly (can't think of a better word) that I found it a rich theological feast.

Third, Barnes was wonderfully realistic about the pastoral life. The fact is that the congregation can be quite "unpoetic" at times, blind to the meaning beneath their lives' texts, unable to recognize that the presenting issue is not the real issue, content with the often pointless and yet safety of small talk. And yet, the pastoral role is to "mole" beneath the surface and travel in the subterranean highways of the human soul--in order to do this, there must be an equal sense of comfort with the "major poetry" (the Bible and Christian tradition) and the particularity of this human with whom I'm talk about the weather. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it stimulating, especially reflecting on five years of ministry here in St. Louis and an upcoming transition back to congregational ministry Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Above all, I appreciated Barnes' concluding words: "The pastor lives by the belief that Jesus Christ holds all things together, and it is for this Savior that the harried souls in the pews truly yearn...So there they sit, frantic and frazzled, but daring to hope that there really is a sacred Word that can fill their deep yearning. The name of that word is Jesus Christ, and the minor poet gets to reveal his mysterious presence every Sunday."

No more website

For those who care, I decided to discontinue my website (www.seanmichaellucas.com). I set it up as a gateway for people who wanted to contact me for PowerPoint slides for On Being Presbyterian. But right now, those PPT slides can be found on the Seminary's website and in the future we'll have them available at the First Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, website. Plus, I wanted to save the $14 a month. 

What is Church Government?

Right before PCA General Assembly, I have a booklet coming out in the Basics of the Reformed Faith series with P&R. Entitled What is Church Government?, it is meant as an easy-to-read introduction to the principles of Presbyterian church government. I hope it will be useful and encouraging for interested Presbyterians, but especially for officer training. 

New Book: Risking the Truth

I just received word that a new book in which I made a contribution is coming out this summer. Entitled Risking the Truth: Handling Error in the Church and edited by Martin Downes, the book will appear from Christian Focus this July. Here is the publisher's description:

A collection of interviews on handling truth and error in the church. Contributors reflect on this issue in relation to the minister's own life, pulpit ministry, local church leadership, seminary training, denominations, the impact of the academy, Evangelicalism, contemporary trends, history, creeds and confessions, and doctrines that are currently under attack. There is also personal reflection on these matters, lessons drawn from experience, and practical advice. The interviews are introduced by a primer on heresy and false teaching, and concluded with a chapters on why “Being Against Heresies is not enough” and “What really matters in ministry: directives for church leaders in Acts 20.”

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself

In preparing to preach on that topic this Sunday from Romans 8:31-39, I stumbled across this excellent article on the topic by Tim Keller. I also was reminded about something I had written on this. Isn't Google wonderful?

The End of the Book?

Pundits have been prophesying the end of the book for decades now. This article in today's Wall Street Journal makes the most persuasive case yet--speculating on the effect Amazon's Kindle will have on book-reading in the future. 

I tend to be pretty skeptical about these sorts of prophecies--parallels to iTunes and its impact on music sales do not seem to follow. For one thing, there is a different aesthetic when it comes to listening to music compared to reading a book. Music is not tactile (unless you are playing it); as a result, the delivery system for music is indifferent: whether it is a LP, 8-track, cassette, CD, or MP3, it doesn't matter as long as the audio experience is the same (or improved). 

But reading has its own experience--from opening a brand new book to sniffing it (I love the smell of Eerdmans books!) to paging through it and sampling the pages. These are things that will never be duplicated or recreated in a digital form. 

Likewise, the whole phenomenon of old books cannot be duplicated either--there is something about antiquarian books that moves us, I think. The care to preserve this title; the associations for the generations that maintained it and passed it on; the serendipity of finding a particular old book; the necessity of libraries (still in our digital age); the hopes of portability--all of these things cannot happen with the Kindle.

I admit that I'm a hopeless bibliophile and former archivist--I have a very healthy respect for the book, which predated Gutenberg. The form has lasted at least five thousand years--not just the idea of writing words, but writing them on paper to be preserved and shared. Far after this weblog or some e-book's pixels have disappeared, I suspect that Augustine's On Christian Doctrine will still be around, printed and bound, waiting for a rediscovery.

Good thoughts on working together

John Piper has some good thoughts on working together which he shared with his pastoral staff; how important and necessary these things are for a healthy shared ministry:

1. Let’s avoid gossiping.

2. Let’s identify evidences of grace in each other and speak them to each other and about each other.

3. Let’s speak criticism directly to each other if we feel the need to speak to others about it.

4. Let’s look for, and assume, the best motive in the other’s viewpoint, especially when we disagree.

5. Think often of the magnificent things we hold in common.

6. Let’s be more amazed that we are forgiven than that we are right. And in that way, let’s shape our relationships by the gospel.

Noah's Arks

Who knew that there was a worldwide competition to build Noah's Ark? Wouldn't it be weird to see an ark in Hong Kong? There was also a slide show to accompany the Wall Street Journal article. 

A Sad Day...

...because Harry Kalas, long-time broadcaster for the Phillies, passed away. I listened to Harry every night during the summer while we lived in Philadelphia. For me, he is Phillies baseball. What Jack Buck is to St. Louis, Harry the K was to Philly. 

There is another little story for me about Kalas: when our Sam was born, early in the morning on the last Sunday in October, it was a surprise. But my mother-in-law was able to get a flight to Philadelphia that went through Pittsburgh and came in a midnight that evening. The first person off that plane? Harry Kalas, who announced the NFL game in Pittsburgh for Westwood One, that day. I'll never forget that (or that my mother-in-law hurried out to help us with our 32 week preemie ;-)).

Bow Tie Wearers of the World, Unite!

Proof that we bow tie wearers are entering the mainstream: this excellent article in the Wall Street Journal accompanied by instructions on how to tie a bow tie.

I got my first bow tie in college by completing a dare. A friend of my dared me to wear clothes he hand-picked out of the "missionary barrel": a polyester green shirt and plaid pants. I had to wear them through lunch; my reward was a Ralph Lauren/Polo bow tie. Since then, I've slowly acquired a number of bow ties and like to wear them on most occasions. 

In fact, I typically wear a bow tie the first day of class (have since college). I don't, however, wear a bow tie when I'm preaching: I'm fearful of being too self-conscious and having people wondered, "Did he tie that himself or is that a clip-on?" instead of listening to the sermon.

Calvin in Connecticut

In a couple of weeks (April 17-19, 2009), Carl Trueman and I will be speaking at the Connecticut Valley Conference on Reformed Theology. As you'd expect in this anniversary year of Calvin's birth, the topic is Calvin. My topics are Calvin's Rhetoric of Piety; Calvin's Doctrine of Creation; Calvin on the Means of Grace. The talk on creation will also be my seminar at General Assembly this year.

The challenge in preparing these talks is trying to keep things around 60 minutes for each topic. For example, Calvin on piety: there are simply a huge number of articles and even books on Calvin's views of piety (two include one edited by Joel Beeke and one authored by Ford Battles [soon-to-be-reprinted by P&R]). I'm also planning on using PowerPoint, which is how I typically lecture, but which also make my talks more like classroom lectures than paper presentations. 

Still, I'm very excited to learn from Trueman and the other conference attendees, see friends in Connecticut, preach at The Presbyterian Church of Coventry, and even visit Red Sox country.

It is just not right

...that there are flurries and it is 37 degrees on opening day. I'm going to build a fire tonight in our fireplace before the NCAA Championship game. It is crazy.

Stafford Carson

My friend Stafford Carson--former academic dean at Westminster Theological Seminary, current minister at First Presbyterian Church, Portadown, Northern Ireland and moderator-designate of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland--has entered the blogosphere. The tag line of the blog, "Passion for Christ, Compassion for People," epitomizes Stafford's ministry; I, for one, will be a regular reader!

Now I Understand

...why the babies in the nursery seem to be able to move around the room so quickly :-).

Nervous

Am I the only St. Louis Cardinals fan who is nervous about Kyle McClellan? His spring ERA is 9.60...something is wrong with him.

More news

From the First Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, MS, website.

Bracket Busters, no. 2

I obviously didn't do too well. Of my eight (Louisville, West Virginia; UConn, Mizzou; Pitt, Duke; UNC, Syracuse), I only had five right; of my four, I only got two. The Louisville-MSU game was particularly frustrating; it was like the Notre Dame game when the Cards got blown out by 30. Once they started losing, they got bad body language and couldn't do anything right.

But give Izzo credit: afterward, he said the three keys were getting it to Sutton in the middle of the zone; not turning the ball over against the press; and bottling up Terrence Williams. And he was right--those three things killed the Cards.

On a separate matter, I hope Calipari goes to Kentucky; that will ensure that UK will never win another championship. He is this generation's Dean Smith--more talent, no titles.

Start Spreading the News

Big news about us here. And this went out to staff and students yesterday and today:

Dear Covenant Seminary community:

On behalf of the entire Seminary family, we want to congratulate Dr. Sean Lucas, who was elected senior minister at First Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, this past Sunday. While it is sad for us to lose the Lucases, we rejoice that one of our pastor-scholars is returning to pastoral ministry in a congregational context. We are grateful for Sean’s service over the past five years as a teacher, scholar, and administrator and for the knowledge that our association with him will continue even after he transitions south.

As we look toward the Lucases’ move in June, Sean and I will be working closely on a transition plan. As the spring continues, I will be letting the community know what those steps are, who will be taking on Sean’s responsibilities, and what our plans are for his permanent replacement. Until then, please pray for Sean, Sara, and their children, for FPC, Hattiesburg, and for the Seminary as we all experience the joy and challenge of transition in the days ahead.

Blessings,
Bryan Chapell

Needless to say, we are very, very excited and eager to see what God is going to do for his glory at FPC, Hattiesburg, MS, in the days to come.

New American Reformed Biography

Very excited that the new ARB is coming out this June: Tom Nettles' James Petigru Boyce: A Southern Baptist Statesman. Founder of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Boyce studied at Princeton Seminary under Charles Hodge and embodied the evangelical Calvinism that characterized the seminary's founding and its Abstract of Principles. Nettles' biography, all 600+ pages of it, will be the definitive biography of this Southern Baptist founder.  

Jeopardy no. 5

Category: Reformed authors

$200 answer: John Piper, Finally Alive; Mark Dever and Sinclair Ferguson, Westminster Directory of Public Worship; Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to my students (Banner of Truth edition).

Question: What did Sean buy today at the Covenant Seminary bookstore?

Springsteen on Jon Stewart

Don't care much for Jon Stewart's Daily Show. But Springsteen's appearance (second and third segments) is really good and his acoustic version of "Working on a Dream" is worth hearing. 

Cardinal Commercials

These are very funny commerical spots for the St. Louis Cardinals. I especially like the Bruce Sutter beards.

Bracket Busters

Actually, my bracket is pretty boring. I'm a little ashamed to have three #1 seeds making it to the Final Four, but part of that is the way I think the brackets play out in the earlier rounds, making their pathways a little easier. I also have the Big East in a big way in the round of 8. Here is what I have:

Elite eight: Louisville, West Virginia; UConn, Mizzou; Pitt, Duke; UNC, Syracuse. [Five from Big East; two ACC; one Big 12]

Final four: Louisville; UConn; Duke; UNC

Championship game: Louisville v. UNC

Champion: Louisville

There are some problematic or questionable games in my bracket (most notably, I have Maryland beating Memphis; Mizzou beating Marquette; West Virginia beating Michigan State; and I don't feel good about a potential Louisville-Wake Forest match-up depending on which WFU team shows up). I don't feel good about UNC if Lawson is really truly hurt (he looked okay against Duke in the final game of the season). And I do feel like a bit of a homer picking Louisville (although not as bad as my Duke friends, who pick the Dookies every year).

However, I feel good about Louisville because they play the most tenacious defense of anyone and that defense does not depend upon one key player (like UConn). I think Thabeet will get in real foul trouble in a game (as he did against Pitt and as he did in the overtime against Syracuse); because UConn's defense relies on him protecting the rim, when he goes out, a team like Louisville can really attack the basket. Louisville, on the other hand, plays eleven guys and their team doesn't rely on one, not even Terrance Williams. Hence, my pick. 

 

Just nuts

I just finished watching the highlights of the Syracuse-UConn six overtime game. That's just nuts. The game took three hours and forty-six minutes to play--they didn't get done until 1:30am! I have no idea how Syracuse is going to be able to play a very tough West Virginia team tonight...

Brief Thoughts on the Goal of Preaching, no. 3

Wednesday, I started reflecting on the goal of preaching. I said first that the goal is to enter into the work that the triune God is already doing in the midst of his people--it is his work, not mine. I said yesterday that I also aimed for people to delight and hope in God as their greatest good as a result of the preaching of God's Word. 

The way these things are accomplished are through the exposition of God's Word. And so, at a very basic level, I have a three-fold goal: to explain the biblical text, to apply the biblical text to our world, our calling in that world, and our hearts, and to model a sincere passion for God's glory that results from the biblical text. 

These things go together--like a three-legged stool. Leave out the explanation of the text and all that remains is passionate exhortation that feeds a moralism that burns God's people out. Leave out the application of the text and all that remains is passionate teaching that feeds people's minds but doesn't transform their hearts. Leave out passion for God's glory and all that remains is a fairly dry Bible study which fails to demonstrate the life-and-death nature of encountering God and his word.  

What that means is that though my preaching explains the text, it is not meant to be an in-depth technical treatment of a particular text. I can do that and I do that when I teach a Bible class; but preaching is not that kind of thing. That is not to say that I don't teach or do my homework when I preach--I do and am constantly pointing people to what the Bible says (often you'll hear me say, "Look at verse 4; see what it says there..."). 

But preaching is ultimately about persuasion--I'm holding a brief for the great King who has sent me as his ambassador. I am before the congregation to persuade them that God is the greatest being in the universe, the only one who can truly satisfy their deepest longings and desires. One of the means that he has given me to persuade his people is his Word and he calls me to explain it and apply it with great passion for the King's glory. 

And my hope is that people will move from the preaching of God's Word so persuaded and live with great joy, great hope, and great faith--great delight--in this King who loved us, died and rose for us, lives and intercedes for us, and will return again for us.

Brief Thoughts on the Goal of Preaching, no. 2

Yesterday, I started reflecting on what is the goal of preaching. I tried to say there that the goal was to enter into the work that the triune God is already doing in the midst of his people. That is to say, the work belongs to God and our sufficiency for that work, as ministers, is from God (2 Cor 3:5).

A second angle on this question, though, could be put this way: one of my key goals in every sermon is that people leave with a greater delight in the God who has come near to them in Jesus Christ. And so, 1 Peter 1:8-9 is very important: "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not ow see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

If people truly meet with the triune God in their midst in corporate worship and hear his word of grace; if they truly understand the depths of the riches of the grace of God in Jesus; if their affections are stirred by the Spirit to savor this grace and the God of this grace; and if they are taught to hope in God as that one being of surpassing worth....

then they will delight in God. They will serve God with passion and excitement because such a God is worth serving and glorifying. The root attraction of sin will be severed because such a God is far better and his pleasures (Psa 16:11) are far more satisfying than sin's pleasures. They will delight in each other and in God's world (Psa 16:2) because God is their greatest good. 

And so, my prayer Sunday by Sunday is that God's people will leave the sanctuary of God having tasted and seen that God is that good (Psa 34:8).

Brief Thoughts on the Goal of Preaching, no. 1

These brief thoughts from Tullian Tchividjian were excellent and made me think a little bit about how would answer that question: "What is the goal of preaching?" I think the overarching goal of preaching (quoting from Tim Keller) is "to make Jesus look good." But it is a bit more than that or at least, there is a different angle on it.

I think I'd say that in preaching, the preacher enters into the work that God the Father is doing through the Spirit of Jesus in the midst of the congregation. In fact, my only confidence in preaching comes from the fact that "as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, the sight of God we speak in Christ" (2 Cor 2:17). United to Christ by the Spirit, entering into the apostolic and priestly work that Christ is already doing, sent by God to a particular people to proclaim his Word in his presence, I preach.

And so, to begin to answer the question about what is preaching's goal, we have to say that the goal is to enter into the work that God is already doing in the midst of his people for his glory and for the extension of his reign in their midst and in their place. Only in this way will the Gospel come not merely as word, but as Spirit and power (1 Thess 1:4).

Not sure what this says about me

Apparently, a recent survey suggests that Utah, Hawaii, and Wyoming are the "happiest" places to live; at the bottom of the 50 states are Mississippi (48), Kentucky (49), and West Virginia (50). 

In light of the fact that my family hails from Giles Co., Virginia, and Mercer County, West Virginia (all the way back to 1750) and that we lived in Kentucky for six years and loved it, I wonder what this says about me? That I struggle with happiness? I kind of liked living in Kentucky...  

Coming Evangelical Collapse

You can read what I have to say about the "coming evangelical collapse" over at Ref21.

Old Life

It is hard to believe that someone who used to have his voicemail say, "Hi, this is Darryl Hart, technophobe," would have an internet presence. But thankfully, Darryl Hart and John Muether have taken their Old Life Theological Society online. You won't agree with everything (or anything??) they say; but I'm thankful for the conversations they start and the witness they bear.

Ministry Values

As I think about the ministry values that animate my ministry, three things come to mind. Not coincidentally, these are the things about which we talk a lot at Covenant Seminary.

First, the Word of God. All of our ministry must be centered on God's Word--and especially, we must have confidence in the ordinary means of grace in which, during corporate worship on the Lord's Day, the Spirit uses his Word to transform our hearts. All our praying and preaching, our singing and use of the sacraments, are biblical and "bibline." This is not because the Bible itself is a talisman; rather, because it is God's Word--in coming to God's Word, we come to hear and respond to God himself.

Next, the Grace of God. As we come to God's Word, we hear the King speak, telling us that there is nothing we have that we did not receive; that his steadfast love is undeserved and freely given; that it is all of grace from the beginning of our lives to the end. The same grace that drew us to Christ is the same grace that justifies us which is the same grace that sanctifies, adopts, and preserves us to the end.

Such love frees us from fear--the King, who knows us completely, who knows us by name, loves us, sings over us, and delights in us for his glory's sake and for his name's sake! What a king this is! How it should enliven our worship--the King we serve loves us despite ourselves! How it is should enliven our service--what we wouldn't sacrifice for such a King and for such love! In fact, the grace of God should produce hope and joy in our hearts: hope--that earnest expectation that our King will care for us to the end; joy--the strength of God and delight in God that severs the root of sin and frees us to serve him all our days.

So, finally, the Kingdom of God. Because the King, by his Word, bids us to come into his presence and sustains us by his means of grace, and because he showers us with grace upon grace, we are freed to enter into his world as agents of the new creation, signs of what the new heavens and new earth will look like. We are freed to serve in our callings as pointers to the mercies and kindness of God and freed to serve our communities as agents of what God is doing in his world.

Only as we keep these three linked together--God's Word, grace, and kingdom--will we reflect Jesus' priorities for ministry and sustain the work of God in our generation: by his grace and for his glory!

First Calvin Post

You can read what I have to say about Calvin's Institutes, 2.218-2.2.21, here. I'm posting all this week at Ref21.

Sabbatical Update

Well, I've not gotten very far. Thus far, I have had five dedicated writing days since February 1. I did spend a week doing research last week at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. Right now, For a Continuing Church has most of the first four chapters in draft form now and portions of two others (out of ten chapters). The other projects are yet to be begun.

Part of the problem is that I haven't been home much in February. I went to the Evangelical Seminary Dean's Council in Dallas (where I was elected vice-chair); preached at Independent Presbyterian Church in Memphis; and then went to Richmond. Today, I'm heading to All Souls Presbyterian Church in Champaign, IL.  And in between, I preached at Grace Presbyterian Church in St. Charles, MO, and Covenant Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. So, it has been a busy month. 

Next week, it is my turn at the Ref21 "Blogging the Institutes" site. I had messed up trying to post using the scheduler feature and for a few minutes discovered that my blog posts actually debuted early. Jeremy Smith rescued me and now the posts will appear in their proper order and time. 

Toward a New Job Description

Drawn from a meeting that I had to sit through, I thought these descriptors might work for a new job description:

• Generative truth-telling
• Collaborative inquiry
• High educational strategery (okay, I borrowed that from Will Farrell)
• Redemptive subversion

Working on a Dream

Well, I've spent a week with the new Springsteen album, Working on a Dream, in heavy rotation in my truck and iPhone. I really, really like it. In some ways, it strikes me as the flip side of Magic. While the latter album focused on the slight-of-hand ways of the Bush administration and had an amazing number of dark lyrics bouyed by infectuous pop tunes, this new album is far more hopeful.

To me, the album's book ends and the middle song set the theme. "Outlaw Pete" tells the mock Old West tale of a ruffian who tries to change, but finds it is impossible: as he kills Dan the lawman, Dan "whispered in Pete's ear 'We cannot undo these things we've done'/You're Outlaw Pete, You're Outlaw Pete, can you hear me?" The middle song, a blues-style romp called "Good Eye," notes the human propensity to sin and failure: whether at the baptismal waters, with riches, or in marriage, the tag line comes through: "But I had my good eye to the dark and my blind eye to the sun." The final song, listed as a bonus track because it was not recorded by the E Street Band, "The Wrestler." After comparing himself to a one-legged dog, among other things, he sings, "These things that have comforted me I drive away (anything more)/This place that is my home I cannot stay (anything more)/My only faith is in the broken bones and bruises I display." The brokenness of life is the reality that shapes everything else.

So, I said it is more hopeful; this doesn't sound like it. The hope comes, I think, in the relationships and simple pleasures that undergird life in this world and make it possible: when we've lost all the other bets we've played, love ensures a lucky day ("My Lucky Day"); even when our dreams feel far away, we keep working on them and hoping that someday they will come ("Working on a Dream"); love provides ballast for this life and the next ("This Life") and serves to make even aging endurable ("Kingdom of Days").

The song that doesn't fit, although I keep thinking about it, is "Queen of the Supermarket." I think the juxtaposition of the supermarket--"a wonderful world where all you desire/And everything you've longed for is at your fingertips"--and the check-out girl is meant to play off the world of endless possibility against the personal effects of love extended (As I lift my groceries into my cart/I turn back for a moment and catch a smile/That blows this whole place apart). There is a gratituious f-bomb in this line, which drives me nuts because it seems unnecessary, although one reviewer suggested that its use was meant to be bracing and to "blow apart" our consumeristic approach to relationship. That might work; I still wish he didn't use it.

I find Springsteen to be one of the more profound songwriters of our generation. The fact that he can craft some incredibly catchy pop hooks to go with his thoughts makes him special and enjoyable. I'd highly recommend this album; taken with Magic, these two albums rank among his best since Born to Run.

The Bobosphere

You should check out The Bobosphere, the new blog of Bob Flayhart, senior minister at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He breaks down the new U2 single, "Get Your Boots On," scientifically, as we say.

Sabbatical Begins

Today, I began my sabbatical. Please do pray for me over the next six months: I have several book projects that I'd like to complete, but three in particular that need to get done or nearly done.

For a Continuing Church: Southern Presbyterians and Fundamentalism. This is the main project; I've been working on this since 2002 and have shared parts of the project on this blog. Essentially, it is an academic book (although I hope that doesn't mean unreadable) that looks at the development of conservative dissent (or fundamentalism) within the PCUS that eventuates in the creation of the PCA in 1973.

Jonathan Edwards on the Christian Life. This is for a series that Crossway will be doing over the next couple of years. I believe that one can do the entire theology of Edwards by focusing on what he says about religious affections and the resultant practices of holiness. We'll see if I'm right.

Grace-centered Leadership: A Framework for Leading Wherever God Puts You. This is a book that Bob Burns and I are co-authoring; it basically looks at leading from two frameworks--one that roots it in the biblical storyline of creation-fall-redemption-consummation; another that roots it in the grace-motivation of indicative-imperative. The book will be less jargoned that this short description, I assure you.

On Being Presbyterian PowerPoint

Many people have emailed me for my PowerPoint slides for On Being Presbyterian; now you can download them for free here.

Struggle with Church History Dates?

Here is an interesting solution--a ten-minute (!) church history rap. Not much for either rap or pedagogy, but Duncan has a very cool accent.

Inaugural Bibles

An interesting interactive piece at Wall Street Journal; why has no one used an ESV Study Bible? Maybe because it'd break the arms of the Chief Justice to hold it for the entire vow! But the president of Ghana used an ESV Bible...

One other thing: is it more than ironic that at his first inauguration, Bill Clinton chose Galatians 6:8: "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life"?

Bono, op-ed writer

A brilliant piece in the New York Times on Frank Sinatra, the New Year, and the power of music.

Simple Minds

Last night, my wife and I took a trip down memory lane and worked our way through the 50 songs on my 80s playlist on my iPhone. One of the things that struck me was how good the band Simple Minds was.

They came to US notice with their 1985 song, "Don't You Forget About Me," which was on the sound track from the movie, "The Breakfast Club." They followed that song with their album, "Once Upon a Time," which had three big songs on it: "Alive and Kicking," "All the Things She Said," and "Sanctify Yourself" (which I tried to use to argue to my parents that they were a "Christian" band).

The band probably appealed to me for the same reasons that I liked U2 and the Alarm during my teenage years: big anthem songs with big beats and big hair. Still, it was fun to listen to those songs again.

Cribbage

When I was a freshman at Liberty University, squeezed into a space about the size of my office here at Covenant Seminary with three other 18 year-olds, there was one thing that helped me maintain my sanity: cribbage. One of my roommates, Ambrose Lovely from Maine (great name), taught me how to play; throughout the fall and winter, we would stage all-day tournaments on Sautrdays (and cardplaying didn't get in the way of our studying, because we both pulled 4.0 that year).

I hadn't played cribbage much after my freshman year until the other day when I downloaded a cribbage app for my iPhone. After reteaching myself how to play, I've become a cribbage fanatic again (which will become apparent to my wife when a very nice cribbage board shows up at the house next week, with brass pegs instead of the stupid plastic ones that break in the pegs). I taught my oldest son how to play (as well as my daughter; she is very lucky with cards, which is to say she beat me) and we've been staging mini-tournaments on these cold, gray St. Louis evenings.

It has been a while...

...since I've posted. For me, three weeks is a long time and really, when you get right down to it, the fall was pretty sporadic. Of course, that is an indication of how hectic things have been. So, one of my resolutions is to make sure I get on here more often--my goal is 12-15 posts a month. Being on sabbatical this spring will help that, I'm sure.

I know that I'll be posting on the Ref21 Calvin blog: Blogging the Institutes. My first posts will be somewhere early in Book 2; so I think they'll show up in March! As part of this (in addition to the fact it is Calvin's 500th birthday!), I decided this year to read straight through the Institutes, which I've never done. I'm doing my ten pages each morning and am now up to 1.18.

One of the things that has struck me afresh is how the Institutes really are what Calvin (and what I in class) say they are: a manual on piety. Over and again, Calvin preaches, cajoles, directs, persuades and urges; he calls on us to "lift your hearts up" to heaven in order to mediate on the grace and glory of God. He wants us to be changed through a genuine love of God our gracious and loving father. It has been quite refreshing spiritually to do this.

Meeting Haiku, no. 2

A friend sent me this; we were both in the same meeting:

Meeting running long
Having no Blackberry
Envying Sean Lucas.

Best Practices?

Meeting Haiku, no. 1

Sitting at table
wondering why I am here
at this long meeting.

New Springsteen Cometh

My preppy name

Apparently, my preppy name is "Ives Waverley Truxton the Second; but most people know you as Kip." I do have to say that I always wished I had a cool nickname--like Skip or Kip or Chip...Sean is a hard name to do much with.

The Penchant for Hyperbole

Have you noticed how our public commentators have been engaging their penchant for hyperbole? For example, in the Wall Street Journal last week, an article opened with the question: "let's play this week's favorite parlor game: are we in another Great Depression?" There was a similar question asked in the USA Today this past Monday. By any measure, isn't a bit hyperbolic to compare our current financial recession (with its 6.1% unemployment) to the Great Depression (with its 24% unemployment)? When a quarter of our population is unemployed and in soup kitchen lines, then it would be appropriate to ask the question.

Likewise, with Obama's election to the presidency, the questions are being asked: is this the grand realignment, similar to 1980 when the nation turns in a particular direction? Does this reflect the new "liberal" mood of the nation? Again, this strikes me as hyperbolic: while the electoral college vote for Obama was significant, it wasn't any more impressive than Bill Clinton's thumping of an incumbent president in 1992. That year, Clinton carried Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Colorado (which also went for Obama); but also 2008 Red States Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Likewise, Clinton went in with large majorities in the House (258 seats) and Senate (57 seats); very similar to Obama's majorities (254 and 56). And yet, the past eight years demonstrated that the country can swing from side-to-side from cycle to cycle.

The real question then is why all the hyperbole (by meaning, hyperbole conveys extravagant exaggeration)? I've wondered whether this is our culture's hype machine--the only way to truly grab people's attention any more is to hype something as bigger or more significant than any other moment in time. Is it because we are so bored? Because it is so difficult to get our attention? Because we need to sell media time? Because we have a tendency to run to extremes? I don't know--but it strikes me that with the anxiety that so many feel these days, that perhaps we are engaging our penchant for hyperbole a little too much and revealing something about our hearts and our hopes.

At Large and At Small

One of my favorite authors is Anne Fadiman. Formerly editor of Civilization and American Scholar, Fadiman came on my radar screen with her fabulous book of familiar essays on books and reading called Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader. When she talked about her various book fetishes, and especially her detestation for those who mark their place in a book by flipping the book over in such a way that could potentially crack the spine--well, suffice it to say that I had a major crush on her. My wife knows that I secretly gave our daughter the middle name "Anne" to honor Anne Fadiman (and also Anne of Green Gables, but that is a different post). Because of my crush on Anne, I bought every issue of American Scholar in which her column, "At Large and At Small," appeared. Although she was forced out at the Scholar as editor, thankfully her essays have been collected and published as At Large and At Small. Once again, Fadiman demonstrates that she is the Queen of the Familiar Essay and friend of all those who enjoy the polite conversation of that form.

And so, she points the "gentle reader" to the biography of the perfecter of the familiar essay form, Charles Lamb ("The Unfuzzy Lamb"); to the champion of 19th century Romanticism and his penchant for running away ("Coleridge the Runaway"); and to her own history and biography as it merges in her passions for "collecting nature," "ice cream," and "coffee" (each with a laugh out-loud moment). But there are very thoughtful essays her as well, especially her reflections on the culture wars ("Procrustes and the Culture Wars") and on patriotism post-9/11 ("A Piece of Cotton").

These are essays to cherish not only because of the content, but because of the graciousness of form and style. I can almost imagine myself sitting across the table from her, sipping on a grande pumpkin spice latte, engaging in humorous and thoughtful dialogue (at least on her part). And in some regard, the best essay writers are able to engage in a dialogue with their readers in such a way that they take the common places of life and point them to something more. That is why they become such friends and why I return to Anne Fadiman's books again and again.

El Hombre, no. 2

[For El Hombre, no. 1, see here]

For Cardinals fans, the season was not a complete loss (after all, the Cubs lost in the first round of the playoffs). In addition, Albert is collecting postseason awards: Sporting News' Player of the Year and MLBPA's NL Outstanding Player. Surely he is set up to win his second NL MVP this season.

Preaching what is true and precious

Wise words from John Piper:

A word to preachers. Truth and falsehood is a good pair of categories to use when deciding what to preach. Speak truth not falsehood.

But there is another crucial pair of categories. God tells Jeremiah that he must use this pair if he would be faithful: Therefore thus says the Lord: “...If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. (Jeremiah 15:19)

In deciding what to preach make these two judgments: Is it true and is it precious? Preach what is both. If it is true, preach it with authority. If it is precious, preach it with passion.

One great reason why some preaching leaves people unmoved is that preachers seem unmoved. Is this precious or isn’t it? That is the question in the hearts of the people. If it is, why don’t you sound like it?

The great battle of preaching is to see what's true and to savor what's precious. Weak seeing and weak savoring are a curse to God’s people.

Brothers, plead for deliverance from this curse. The ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. They are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey (Psalms 19:9-10).

Wendell Berry on the Web

For whatever reason, I've just now stumbled across Wendell's publisher website that has an excellent set of resources for his writing, especially a map of Port William and a genealogy of the town. These things were flyleaves for his recent books, but now you can print out PDF versions, which could save you having to flip back and forth to keep everything straight.

Bear Market

I'd be lying if I said I was unconcerned by the eight days (counting today) of major losses that the NYSE has absorbed. Each day, I get to work and have the NYSE website up following the market; each day, I see the Dow get hammered; and each day, I go home a bit depressed.

I'm not depressed for myself--I have hardly any stocks except in my 403(b) plan and I'm young enough that I would expect that these losses will be recouped down the road. But I think about all those who are hurting as a result of these losses--a friend whose wife's stock has dropped from $59 to $2; a family member who has to guide his organization through these difficult times; another family member who just retired and now is wondering whether he left too early. I think about our endowment and the endowments of other evangelical seminaries; I think about those saints in our congregations who support ministries through their stock dividends.

No doubt there are those whose lives are characterized by greed. But it is important to remember those people (and institutions) who have invested funds in the stock market as a way of supporting their families, funding their retirements, or even supporting their biblical and spiritual mission.

It is at these times that my heart and mind are pulled back to Psalm 62: "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;God is a refuge for us." I take my heart to God--he is a refuge and a rock, even in a world that seems like it is shaking. I can pour my heart out to him, because he hears in his strength and his might. And I find him to be salvation and glory, even when I find I must tighten my belt a bit. I wait for God in silence and hope that he will speak.

The Green Bible

I'm not sure we need this. The official website is here. The features: "Green-Letter Edition: verses and passages that speak to God's care for creation highlighted in green" and "A personal green Bible trail guide." Hmmm.

After the Baby Boomers

While American evangelical leaders pay attention to sociological data, they more typically read George Barna or Thom Rainer, church growth experts who utilize social trends to chart the way forward for churches. The person to whom these leaders should pay attention is Robert Wuthnow. The Gerhard R. Andlinger ’52 professor of sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, Wuthnow has contributed seminal books that have set the conversation for understanding American religion, particularly The Restructuring of American Religion (1988). What sets him apart from both professional sociologists and evangelical church growth gurus is his coupling together of sociological rigor with a deep love for Christianity and the church.

This combination makes After the Baby Boomers important reading for all those who desire to reach and teach our current generation of young adults. Wuthnow suggested that most sociologists of religion as well as congregational leaders still remain overly focused on the Baby Boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964), both as a subject of study as well as potential influence on American religion. Against this, he noted that the current generation of young adults (those born between 1965 and 1981) represent a significant share of the population and demand appropriate research that demonstrates continuities and discontinuities with the ways their parents approached Christianity.

As the major contribution to such research, Wuthnow observed that “the single word that best describes young adults’ approach to religion and spirituality—indeed life—is tinkering” (p. 13; emphasis his). This tinkering approach was clearest in the chapter on spirituality: there Wuthnow helpfully broke down the younger generation’s tendency both to “church shop” (which “involves tinkering with one’s religious loyalties by looking for a congregation to attend” and eventually join) and “church hop” (which “involves going from one congregation to another, rather than settling into a single congregation”; pp. 114-5). He suggested that this generation of young adults is more likely to shop for a church home or hop from church to church because of greater mobility, higher social class of parents, generally higher education levels than previous generations.

Young adults’ also seem to tinker with their beliefs. While opinion polls suggest that young adults are neither less orthodox nor more secular than previous generations, Wuthnow noticed that these young people are more likely to engage in “pick-and-choose orthodoxy” that suggests a hedging that allows them to honor traditional beliefs while making their way through the modern world. For example, an young adult may affirm both that the Bible is without error and literally true and that other religions provide pathways of salvation; or he or she may affirm both the biblical account of creation and scientific evolution without worrying about how to harmonize the two accounts.

All this raises the issue of choice, which is seen as an American cultural good and a key value for young adults. Empowered to make determinations about work, schooling, marriage, beliefs, and values in ways that are fairly unprecedented in world history, this generation of young people utilizes its power to choose in ways that are creative at times and banal at others. Creativity comes in approaches to belief: while a young person may be raised in a Christian congregation, he may couple Christianity with thoughts from the Qur’an, The Celestine Prophecy, New Age, and Buddhism (cf. pp. 113-4). On the other hand, it appears that young people value popular culture—and particular streams of it—as meaningful for their spiritual journeys. For example, one of the most important spiritual contexts for prayer or meditation, more important than reading the Bible, is listening to music. And the music these young people prefer is overwhelmingly contemporary pop or rock music; far from being musical omnivores, this generation speaks the language of (generally banal) pop music.

That said, surprisingly, this generation does not want contemporary Christian or gospel music in their worship services. While Baby Boomers overwhelmingly prefer that kind of music for worship, the younger generation does not. In fact, only 12 percent of those in their twenties whom Wuthnow surveyed said “they would like to see their congregation have a service featuring contemporary music” (p. 224). However, young adults see culture as providing important means for answering the deeper questions of life and desire their congregations to engage with contemporary music, movies, and the arts as important for spirituality.

In the end, the most important factor for involving young people in congregations resides with young people themselves: marriage and children. Wuthnow’s study showed the least represented age group within congregations to be twenty-somethings; these young people come back to the church in their thirties as they married and had children. However, Wuthnow pointed out that the thing that should give congregational leaders pause is that this generation is either marrying later and having children later or not even marrying or reproducing at all. In addition, this generation is even more committed than their parents to the type of lifestyle which demands two incomes in the household. As a result, churches must be creative in figuring out how to minister to single adults in their twenties while preparing to assist them as they marriage and have children in their thirties.

Often witty, always insightful, I found Wuthnow’s book a rich feast for thinking about the generation of students which I teach. But I also found it interesting to read about my own generation; as a Gen Xer (born 1970), it was fascinating to see attitudes which I shared as well as ways in which I differed. There were so many places that I said to myself, “Yes, he’s got that right.” As a result, those who care about this rising generation of young people cannot afford to miss this book.