Aug
30
Sin, not skin; grace, not race
Filed Under Christian Living, Culture, Current Events, Ethics, Resources, The Church | Leave a Comment
More than forty years have passed since the landmark U.S. civil rights legislation of the 1960s, and race is still the most divisive social issue of our time. This week I read suggestions that NFL quarterback Michael Vick was the victim of racism. One proponent of this view offered as evidence of white America’s preference of dogs to African-Americans the fact that Nat King Cole’s 1956 TV show was canceled after six months while Lassie enjoyed a 12-year run (but who sold more albums?). Noxubee County, Mississippi, where I lived and preached for seven years, just reached the final settlement of the first-ever Justice Department lawsuit of a black majority violating the white minorities rights under the Voting Rights Act. And how can I count the many little daily ways these issues pop up?
The September/October issue of 9Marks ejournal is devoted to the matters surrounding the Gospel and racism. The link takes you to a 61-page series of heavyweight essays and discussions entitled “Is There a Race Problem?” I have not read every piece yet, but the ones I have read are thought-provoking, even if some of them are a bit over-the-top, as people usually become when addressing these issues. Anti-racism, like abolitionism, is a Western concept, and always tinged with progressive self-(or others)-loathing. But how does the Gospel speak comfort to sinners and speak a call to radical discipleship to us in these issues? That is the most important question. The 9Marks ejournal offers some good biblical insight and also raises many other questions.
Take, read…I’d be interested in any comments from those who dare to do so.
Aug
28
Calvin, Hobbes, and Communicating
Filed Under Books, Christian Living, Fun | 2 Comments
I am a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan. So my interest was piqued when I saw Fred Sanders article entitle, What You Can Learn from Calvin and Hobbes about the Message and the Medium. In addition to being an excellent piece on the comic, it is also a thoughtful critique of mass marketing and Christianity. Check it out for a good read.
Aug
23
Say ‘ruminate’ around these parts, and people think about cows. That’s alright. OK, stop
thinking about cows for just a moment while I tell you about a quarterly arts and literature publication called Ruminate. It is a handsome, high-quality journal devoted to ‘faith in literature and art,’ the labor of some friends in Fort Collins, Colorado. And it is certainly worth a subscription and the time taken to drink it all in. The editors describe the Ruminate this way:
RUMINATE is a quarterly magazine for those who desire the space to share short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, and visual art that resonate with the complexity and truth of the Christian faith. Each issue is a themed forum for literature and art that speaks to the existence of our daily lives while nudging us toward a greater hope. Because of this, we strive to publish quality work accounting for the grappling pleas, as well as the quiet assurances of an authentic faith. RUMINATE Magazine was created for every person who has paused over a good word, a real story, a perfect brushstroke— longing for the significance they point us toward.
My friend Richard Rieves, pastor of Grace Church Presbyterian in Fort Collins, gave me a free sample in June at the PCA General Assembly (full disclosure: he gave it to me like the proud papa he is, for his daughter Whitney is a reader for the magazine). I have carried it around with me for weeks in my bag as a ‘just in case I’m stuck somewhere with nothing to read’ kind of thing. Last week, though, I pulled it out of the bag and sat down with it a cup of coffee (yes, chicory, in case you were wondering). I’m urging you to sample with me, but brew your own coffee, because the coffee maker here at FPC Kosciusko isn’t very big.
Aug
21
Theme Music
Filed Under Fun | 7 Comments
Phillip, I’m calling you out. In a little interoffice frivolity this morning, we discussed how humorous it would be if a pastor had personal theme music played before he preached/taught. Since Phillip is a veritable consortium of musical knowledge extending across multiple genres and time periods, I figured I’d give him first shot at answering this question:
What would be your ministerial theme music?
Other pastors out there, feel free to answer in the comments below. Include a brief statement as to why you chose your particular song.
Aug
14
Fear of the Lord: where does it go?
Filed Under Bible, Christian Living, Holiness, Proverbs | Leave a Comment
Where does the fear of the Lord take us? What is its orientation? Proverbs maps it out for us: Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil [3:7]. The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate [8:13]. By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil [16:6]. Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off [23:17-18].
The fool has no fear of God before his eyes [Psalm 36:1]. He lives for what this moment can deliver and for what his eyes can see.
Fearing God has a lot to do with what we love and hate, i.e., our affections. In fearing the Lord we love what he loves, we hate what he hates. We are happiest when we are pleasing him. Fear of the Lord is the internal motivator of the wise person. God, his presence, his will, and his glory drive him to do what he does. He does not live for his own momentary pleasure or for what he can possess. He does what he does because God has spoken—not because someone is watching, or out of fear of the consequences, but out of a deep, worshipful love and reverence for God. The thought of knowingly and purposefully disobeying God is unthinkable.
Why are you doing what you are doing? What you really are is what you are when no one else is watching. What will keep you faithful, loving and obedient in times of temptation when no ‘authority’ is watching and when the pressure is on to step outside of God’s boundaries?
Aug
9
Fear of the Lord: what is it?
Filed Under Bible, Christian Living, Holiness, Proverbs | Leave a Comment
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. [Proverbs 1:7; 9:10]
The fear of the LORD is the principal part, the primary ingredient of godliness, the foundation of spiritual life. It is a comprehensive term for the way we live the Christian life—not just what we say, not just the activities we are involved in, but the way we act, feel, and live.
It is something more than FEAR + LORD. It not the fear that paralyzed the wicked and lazy servant in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 25:24-25); rather, it is the attitude of a loving child toward his father.
The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor [Proverbs 15:33]. The proverb draws a parallel between the fear of the LORD and humility. You know humility, right? Paying close attention to who God is and what he does, not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought–rather, forgetting ourselves in our love for God and others. This arises from the depth of mercy shown to us in the Gospel (see Jeremiah 32:39-40 and Psalm 130:4). I think it is Eugene Peterson who describes humility as becoming absorbed in what God has been doing and the way he continues doing it by his Son Jesus and by the Holy Spirit. Humility involves reckoning with a holy God at every moment in reverent responsiveness.
Here are some powerful lines from Frederick W. Faber about the fear of the Lord:
My fear of Thee, O Lord, exults
Like life within my veins,
A fear which rightly claims to be
One of love’s sacred pains.Thy goodness to Thy saints of old
An awful thing appeared;
For were Thy majesty less good
Much less would it be feared.There is no joy the soul can meet
Upon life’s various road
Like the sweet fear that sits and shrinks
Under the eye of God.A special joy is in all love
For objects we revere;
Thus joy in God will always be
Proportioned to our fear.Oh Thou art greatly to be feared,
Thou art so prompt to bless!
The dread to miss such love as Thine
Makes fear but love’s excess.The fulness of Thy mercy seems
To fill both land and sea;
If we can break through bounds so vast,
How exiled shall we be!For grace is fearful, which each hour
Our path in life has crossed;
If it were rarer, it might be
Less easy to be lost.But fear is love, and love is fear,
And in and out they move;
But fear is an intenser joy
Than mere unfrightened love.When most I fear Thee, Lord! then most
Familiar I appear;
And I am in my soul most free,
When I am most in fear.I should not love Thee as I do,
If love might make more free;
Its very sweetness would be lost
In greater liberty.I feel Thee most a father, when
I fancy Thee most near:
And Thou comest not so nigh in love
As Thou comest, Lord! in fear.They love Thee little, if at all,
Who do not fear Thee much;
If love is Thine attraction, Lord!
Fear is Thy very touch.Love could not love Thee half so much
If it found Thee not so near;
It is Thy nearness, which makes love
The perfectness of fear.We fear because Thou art so good,
And because we can sin;
And when we make most show of love,
We are trembling most within.And, Father! when to us in heaven
Thou shalt Thy Face unveil,
Then more than ever will our souls
Before Thy goodness quail.Our blessedness will be to bear
The sight of Thee so near,
And thus eternal love will be
But the ecstasy of fear.