At Home On Piety Hill

Here we are outside Emma’s apartment in Carrboro. She is all settled in and is acclimating to southern living. Chapel Hill and Franklin St. are only about a mile down the road and she is within walking distance of a great little restaurant that specializes in health food: grits, bisquits, red hots and fatback.
After the apartment was moved in and decorated, Emma found it a bit gloomy so she hung a few strings of lights and voila! The place is quite comfortable with reasonable rent, utilities paid, cable and high speed internet are included. Emma, like her mother, can sure shop for a bargain!
We found Emma working at a quality vision center near her home. Her optometrist and co-workers seem like a fun-loving, professional eyecare team. We brought them their first taste of See’s Candies and they were pleased.

Emma has visited a local Bible Church and tomorrow evening we will be checking out a “missional church” in Durham, Emmaus Way.

Emma is very resourceful, cheerful and organized in her new setting. It is gratifying and comforting to see our last fledgling out of the nest and doing well. Thank you, Lord.

I found this site linked at Pyromaniac and I was immediately smitten with Keith Drury’s essay, I’m a Camp Meeting Reenactor - are you?

I have a college buddy, Ken O’vell who is a Civil war reenactor. He spends summer weekends dressed up like a Union soldier and shoots his musket as he and others reenact old Civil war battles. As for me, I’m a Camp Meeting reenactor. Most every summer since I’ve been a lad I attend camp meeting services and get to experience camp meetings pretty based on the pattern of the 1800s. Camp Meetings are just a hair over 200 years old and their history is rich and informative. Actually experiencing an Old Fashioned Camp Meeting tells me more about who my denomination is than reading about a 1700’s up tight Anglican cleric, John Wesley. So I like camp meeting reenactments.

This guy is a published writer, but I’m captivated by his witty posts and good-natured pokes at the pop Christian culture on his blog. For example, take point # 7 from his emancipation proclamation of July 28, 2005 - I’m tired of being young— I’m gonna’ start being an old man today:

7. I’m gonna’ laugh more and take things less seriously. Everybody in the church is too serious—even young people. As a young man I’ve taken myself far too seriously and acted at times like the church was about to collapse. As an old man I now know that the church will survive all kinds of things. I’ve seen it survive past “emergencies” like holy laughter, WWJD, KJV-RSV, the Church Growth movement and the Prayer of Jabez so I now know it will make it through Purpose-Driven pot-holders. It survived Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Tammy Faye so I know it will survive Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and Joel Osteen. And in the interest of being lighter I plan to make fun of things more and poke fun at people—especially Baptists and Nazarenes, who are my most frequent readers. Actually I think I’ll poke fun at people in the exact order of my readership. In fact I may have to make fun of lots of my own past writing too—I was far to serious a writer as a young man.

I hope you enjoy Keith’s stuff. Also, I added a few things to the left column today.

Jesus said “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

I have battled some kind of low-level depression or anxiety ever since I can remember. Perhaps it began with the concussion I received playing soccer in the eighth grade. Who knows? Thirty years later, after I recovered from that other soccer injury, I noticed a dramatic decrease in serious bouts of depression. I wondered if, somehow, my blood chemistry had been altered in a positive way.

Today, I had a sudden rush of anxiety, triggered by a very small setback… car trouble. But, it seems that I was carrying around quite a bit of worry and concern for a lot of friends and family… serious troubles or situations they are facing. I felt like, if I heard about one more heartbreak or distress…

Denise wasn’t home tonight and I needed to study a few points for my study in The Apocalypse or Revelation, so I got into the Bible and my “silent wise counselors,” my books and commentaries. What a wonderful tonic for the heart! I am amazed at how this study has affected my soul, giving me a greater sense of God’s majesty and His love for me. The letter to the Christians at Smyrna reminded me that suffering is “the norm” for the followers of Jesus in this world.

Jesus told the church in Smyrna, “I know your afflictions and your poverty — yet you are rich! Revelation 2:9

I needed to be reminded of that. Polycarp, a friend of John the apostle, would later serve as an elder at Smyrna, where he would be put to death for his faith. It was good to be reminded that my troubles are small and my cares are few, compared to those who have gone before. And, Jesus has been faithful to them and me. When faced with the prospect of death, Polycarp made a touching confession:

But when the magistrate pressed him hard and said, ‘Swear the oath, and I will release thee; revile the Christ,’ Polycarp said, ‘Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?’ From The Martyrdom of Polycarp

At two score and ten years, I must also confess that my King has “…done me no wrong…” He has overcome the world, so I can be of good cheer.

I’m still thinking about Art and there are so many memories. I really need to write them down and sort them into some order. Two things are on my mind today. First, a humorous anecdote, which may only be funny to those who could relate to This Is Spinal Tap, the movie.

Art was a self-trained electronic technician (perhaps an engineer, as well) and he worked wherever he found something new and interesting going on — Hewlett-Packard, the Stanford Observatory and Foggy Mountain Music, for example. He grew up fascinated with broadcasting and one of his first jobs was installing and troubleshooting public address systems during the 1940s. When I met Art, he was working at Foggy in Grass Valley repairing electronic instruments and amplifiers. His passion was restoring old vacuum tube scientific measurement instruments, with Bakelite finish, Vernier knobs and analog meters.

I remember discussing sound equipment with him one day, because of my obsession with home audio, rock’n'roll music, my “The Paul” guitar and my Pignose Amp. I’ll never forget this conversation, because it was the only nut Art could not crack, the only concept he couldn’t “get his head around,” the one single, solitary time I remember Art throwing up his hands and abandoning any hope of understanding. We were talking about his work at Foggy, fixing guitar amplifiers for kids in local rock bands. With a tinge of exasperation in his otherwise normal clinical, logical tone Art complained:

Bo, I don’t understand it. These electric guitar players want their amplifiers to distort!

Art had spent a good part of his life working to eliminate any harmonic distortion in sound equipment and now there was a whole generation of musicians using effects to put distortion into the sound. Art was mortified!

The second memory is much more serious. When I met Art in 1980, we were both coming from years of exposure to some very odd ideas about the nature of God. Art was about six months ahead of me, thanks to a knock on his door from representatives of the Watchtower Society. They issued him a challenge, which led Art to study the Bible in order to argue with them, during his free time. He was an agnostic at the time and thought that he would enlighten them with his vast knowledge (and criticisms) of the Bible. Well, they gave him a real run for his money and he ended up thoroughly researching all of their assertions, which he found to be based upon itellectual dishonesty and historical distortions. He later credited those Jehovah’s Witnesses with leading him to faith in Jesus Christ, because in the process of checking their sources and the Bible, he found reasons to believe the gospel.

I was the beneficiary of much of Art’s research, as he shared his resources and insights into the development of Christian thought on the nature of God and Christ. We examined Sabellianism, Monophysitism, Adoptionism, Nestorianism, Apollinarianism, Arianism and Socianism. We spent hours studying the Bible and tons of church history materials in his barn or the humble cottage behind his daycare center.

I may have trouble keeping all those aberrant views of the nature of God straight nowadays, but I learned so much from Art and those were some of the most enjoyable times in my life… yes, in my entire life. He was a great guy, who came to faith in a great God and I was blessed to be along for much of his journey.

Brits Get A Wake-Up Call
Found A Site I Like

Brits Get A Wake-Up Call
Readers of the Telegraph in the UK got more than a Full English Breakfast with their July 23 edition. Along with a generous portion of beans, rashers of bacon, black pudding and tomatoes, they got a heapin’ helpin’ of comparative religion as British Muslims stopped practicing taqiyah (religious dissimulation) just long enough to let pollsters know what they really think about jihad, the struggle against unbelief and the practical consequences for Britons who reject Islam:

YouGov sought to gauge the character of the Muslim community’s response to the events of July 7. As the figures in the chart show, 88 per cent of British Muslims clearly have no intention of trying to justify the bus and Tube murders. However, six per cent insist that the bombings were, on the contrary, fully justified. Six per cent may seem a small proportion but in absolute numbers it amounts to about 100,000 individuals who, if not prepared to carry out terrorist acts, are ready to support those who do.

However, nearly a third of British Muslims, 32 per cent, are far more censorious, believing that “Western society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to bring it to an end”. Among those who hold this view, almost all go on to say that Muslims should only seek to bring about change by non-violent means but one per cent, about 16,000 individuals, declare themselves willing, possibly even eager, to embrace violence.

This may come as a surprise to many westerners, who have been lulled to sleep in the cradle of political correctness and multicultural relativism, but a simple trip to the nearest Qur’an Sura 47 (as well as others) makes it pretty plain:

Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens. Thus (are ye commanded): but if it had been Allah’s Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah, - He will never let their deeds be lost.

Not to worry, though. Stiff upper lip and all that!

Found A Site I Like
Pyromaniac is the site of Phillip Johnson, but not that Phillip Johnson. This is the other Phillip Johnson, who serves as an elder at Grace Community Church and is a big fan of Charles Spurgeon. I really like the look of his blog — combining humor, theology and commentary on things going on, in and around the world. I hope you like it and I’ll add it to the bounteous column on the left.

Emma’s Gone
Art Went To Be With The Lord
Busy Around The House

Emma’s Gone
Denise and Emma left for North Carolina and I was able to control my emotions pretty well. My eyes are moist in the photo, but no tears – that would come later, just before bed that night. It was late, I was in the hall and realized that I would no longer hear “Hi, dad!” – slam!!! @ 130 decibels. Yes, it was often annoying, night after night over the years, but now it seems rather endearing. So, before I went to sleep I looked through Emma’s baby book and scrapbook – I’ll miss that quirky little girl. I also realized that 28 years of family life under the same roof has finally come to an end – a relationship enjoyed for 56% of my entire life! It’s sort of like starting a new career. I’m sure it will take a lot of adjustment and I’ll be journaling my feelings.

Art Went To Be With The Lord
My friend Dale called to let me know that Art had finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer and the memorial was Sunday. Art was diagnosed about a year ago and began receiving hospice care but in typical fashion, Art wore them out and stubbornly continued on with a ton of energy and his usual “can-do” spirit. They told him to call them when he was ready. Denise saw him at the AAA just over two weeks ago and he was chipper as ever!

I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to share how much Art meant to me at the memorial service, but it had to be cut short because of heat and cramped conditions – he had a lot of family and friends. I’m sure I’ll write more about him later, but I need to say that Art exerted more influence on my life than few others. He had many friends and I don’t know how I rated with him, but I can say with certainty that he was my best “guy” friend during the early 80’s and I spent as much time with him as possible. I would even help him with chores and building things, just to make more time to “sit at his feet.”

Most people would think we had little in common, particularly age – he was 27 years older than me. We did not like the same kinds of music or film, we didn’t go for the same foods, we shared few interests… We did, however, come from deceptive cults to faith in the Jesus of the Bible and experienced together a whole new world of grace and knowledge at the same time.

Art was a voracious reader and a valuable resource to a young, uneducated man like myself. I can say that his nose for excellent reference materials was keen and he never, ever steered me wrong. And, though I may not have agreed with his analysis or conception of certain doctrines or ideas, his references and citations were impeccable. I don’t ever remember getting in a substantive disagreement with Art and he was a great listener. When I think of Art, I picture him standing, looking at the ground, with his hands clasped behind his back (always a wool cap on), listening intently and then responding now and again, by looking up and saying, “aah… yes.” Then, when I was finished he would begin teaching me and I was content to sit and listen to Art for literally hours. Often, he would whip out his four-colored ballpoint pen to diagram concepts about the nature of God and man or the Adventist doctrine of the investigative judgment, Greek verb tenses or problems in the Mormon Plan of Salvation. I’m sure his family wondered about me, because they were clearly non-plussed by Art’s interest in such things.

I will never, ever forget Art and neither will Denise or our children. He was an original… a recognized genius and self-taught renaissance man. It was as if there was not a single subject Art didn’t know even a little something about. But the coolest thing about Art was, when he prayed, he spoke to the Lord like a little boy.

Hope I see you soon, Art. We’ll chat.

Busy Around The House
Blogging took a back seat to household chores this week, which I enjoyed very much. Besides keeping the house tidy while Denise was away, I did a few loads of laundry, cooked enough spaghetti sauce for about eight meals, had folks over for supper a few times and coordinated the renovation of the bathroom.

Of course, I love doing the dishes and I changed the oil in the truck, hung the closet doors in Emma’s room (now the guestroom) and fixed a variety of little things around our modest abode. My library was reorganized and I decorated a bit in the office and living room. Besides all that, I was able to entertain a few guests.

I need to do this more often… it’s therapeutic.

My friends, Dan and Sadie, are committed Christians who don’t shy away from difficult tasks, including working with the youth group. They seem perfectly suited to the task, because they are in their thirties, they are hip and more importantly, they love Jesus and the Bible. Mark and Sue are their mentors or whatever term is fashionable this week for mature, middle-aged “youth workers” (there’s a whole youth industry in the church and the jargon, along with the t-shirts and graphics, change monthly to remain relevant… or, so the “experts” think).

You know, I still find it hard to believe that so many churches will treat the teens as an afterthought or have some good looking, 22-year-old guy, straight out of college or seminary or a Bible Bootcamp/Recovery Home in charge of a flock of adolescents. My friend Alex once counseled me (and, he has never been wrong… really), that the youth group is the hardest ministry in a local assembly and it will always be the main focus of controversy. Sadly, it is most often the parents that cause the heartache. The kids? They have their moments, but they usually seem to rebound and move on, while the parents stay mired in the memory of hurt feelings and controversies which have long since passed.

That brings me to this article. I found it disturbing, but I must admit it didn’t surprise me.

The Australian: Pastor, teachers beat teen for not going to church [July 08, 2005]: “Pastor, teachers beat teen for not going to church
David King
July 08, 2005

A pastor and two Bible studies teachers bashed a 19-year-old Korean woman because they thought she had been disrespectful to her parents and had stopped attending church.

Chi Yeong Yun, a junior pastor at the Open Door Presbyterian Church in Chatswood, and Bible study teachers James Kang and Tom Chae-Young Lee pleaded guilty yesterday to assaulting Angela Kim at a park at Sydney’s Bobbin Head in July last year.

Somehow, Angela’s behavior sounds fairly common for young people her age:

The NSW District Court heard the men believed the young woman had stopped going to church, had been disrespectful to her elders and had been spending too much time on her web page… “She had no idea of respect, she was just hanging around with her friends,” Lee said.

Either the folks at the Open Door Presbyterian Church are a bit more serious in their faith than I am or, perhaps, they are new to youth work and need to learn “the old paths” of prayer and personal, gentle pastoral care, which comes from years of experience with God’s flock.

First things first: If you look over in the left column, you’ll see that I’ve been at work adding some mini-reviews of books and music I like. Perhaps you will like them, too.

Yes, it’s Independence Day here in the US, but I’m not really a very independent person… I’m writing a blog and reading others’, for cryin’ out loud. I think that demonstrates that I am a very interdependent person.

With that said, I would like to declare my independence today from slavery to my passions and pardon from the just condemnation I have merited by my dreadful conduct:

So those who are believers in Christ Jesus can no longer be condemned. The standards of the Spirit, who gives life through Christ Jesus, have set you free from the standards of sin and death. It is impossible to do what God’s standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin. That way God condemned sin in our corrupt nature. Therefore, we, who do not live by our corrupt nature but by our spiritual nature, are able to meet God’s standards. Romans 8:1 - 4 (GWORD)

Why do I blog? There are a number of reasons, I suppose.

I was updating my Quotable Christian site and came across a quote which answers that question and may give you some insight into why I do whatever I do:

Our calling is to enjoy God as well as glorify Him. Real fulfillment relates to the purpose for which we were made, to be in reference to God, to be in personal relationship with Him, to be fulfilled by Him, and thus to have an affirmation of life. Christianity should never give any onlooker the right to conclude that Christianity believes in the negation of life. Christianity is able to make a real affirmation because we affirm that it is possible to be in personal relationship to the personal God who is there and who is the final environment of all He created. All else but God is dependent, but being in the image of God, man can be in personal relationship to that which is ultimate and has always been. We can be fulfilled in the highest level of our personality and in all the parts and portions of life… There is nothing Platonic in Christianity… The whole man is to be fulfilled; there is to be an affirmation of life that is filled with joy.

Francis A. Schaeffer

Death in the City (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press: 1969) 26

I began my first in-depth study of The Apocalypse this week and I think I have some insights and revelations of my own, concerning the identity of the Antichrist and the Beast of Revelation 13.

First, let me say that Dan (the guy to the left of Macaulay Culkin) is not the Beast, nor is his friend, Michael Jackson, the Antichrist. Of that, I’m relatively certain. However, I’m not so sure about this character, King Juan Carlos of Spain:

You see, he’s been fingered as the Man of Lawlessness by a number of “prophecy experts,” most notably Chuck Missler and Jon Courson. As a supplement to my serious study in Revelation, I began listening to tapes by these erudite Bible teachers (so-called) in order to gain insight into the strategic trends, which are preparing the world to bow to the control of this spellbinding, power hungry, dynamic, world dictator.

I found a tape of Jon Courson’s Prophecy Update for 1993 and he made a number of predictions about the things to come. Among them:

• King Juan Carlos of Spain, King of Jerusalem, is probably the Antichrist
• The generation, which began with the settlement of Israel in the land, will see the second coming of Jesus to establish His millennial kingdom in September 1999 at the Feast of Trumpets — then the millennium begins in 2000.
• Of course, you have to back up seven years for the Great Tribulation, so that means that the Rapture will occur sometime in 1993.
• The ten nations of the European Union represent the ten horns spoken of in Daniel and Revelation, even though there were 13 members in 1993 (he was able to pare that number down with some impressive mathematics). By the way, there are 26 nations in the EU now and more on the way.
• The year 2000 is the beginning of the millennium, but we don’t have to rely only on the Bible for that fact, because all the new agers and rabbis from 300 AD onward said it would happen.
• Rabbi Schneerson (April 18, 1902 - June 12, 1994) was quoted by Courson as saying that he would live to see the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom, the millennium, with his own eyes in his lifetime.

These are but a few of the nuggets of gold Mr. Courson mined out of the Scriptures for the crowd. Is it any wonder that we Christians are looked upon as a bunch of gullible half-wits, when we tell someone that Jesus died for their sins on the cross and rose from the dead, so they can live forever? That’s the problem with “crying wolf” and serving up this kind of sensationalistic slop to God’s people year after year — It may be entertaining, but Biblically illiterate Christians aren’t the only ones listening! These kinds of fairy tales get out to the general population (many times because we have passed around a tape or CD or book promoting this nonsense) and the honest inquirer is left to separate the facts of the gospel from the chaff of speculative theories and prognostications by these hucksters.

There is a way to stop these people and their creepy, cultic fascination with events that haven’t happened yet (not to mention their amnesia, when it comes to the hundreds or thousands of failed predictions they’ve made). Just say “no” to their speculation and sensationalism!

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires…

But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. 2 Timothy 2:23

2 Timothy 1:13 Retain the standard of sound words, which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Denise found another treasure at the local thrift store, which will come in handy if I ever end up in the hoosgow.

The updated title was actually my idea. I hope the author will sign off on the new cover design.

Somehow, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker books seem to migrate to us. When we lived in Maine, one of my favorite events was the used book sale at the Blue Hill Public Library. I found a book by the Bakkers published in the 70’s with a cover photo of Jim and Tammy Faye sporting what were, perhaps, the largest flared matching polyester pantsuits I have seen in my life. The inside cover had a thoughtful, signed inscription to one of our Blue Hill neighbors, Noel Paul Stookey, who had appeared on their television show. I purchased the treasure and we passed it along to a couple, who collects fine and rare Christian books.

Loving the Rapist’s Child
This amazing story has to be at the top of the list, but my comments would only detract from this testimony to the power of love… I’ll shut my yap and move on to more trivial news and tidbits…

PimpMySafari.com
If you are a card carrying cult of Macintosh member and Safari is your browser, then this collection of plugins and widgets is a must. I still find Firefox to be noticeably faster, but it lacks many of the features of Safari. If you are running Windows, Linux, OS/2 (all sixteen of you, residing in former soviet bloc nations) or Solaris (um… sure), check out Firefox and make Microsoft earn their keep.

Study: Half Of Sexually Active Young People Get STDs
I recently overheard a fifty-something progressive lament the rising interest in abstinence-based sex ed for our government learning mills, as well as the erosion of the cultural advances he and his fellow yert-dwellers pioneered in the 60’s. I beg to differ. Their legacy of free love and boundless sexual freedom will endure for decades to come through unsightly facial sores, Carposi’s sarcoma, genital warts and cervical cancer. I know, I know… as an eminent intellectual in town wrote, those darn kids are gonna do it anyway, so why even bother getting the word out? Dr. James Allen, president of the nonprofit group American Social Health Association, should be flogged for his alarmist and hate-filled research and findings.

‘Flesh-eating’ germs on the rise, doctors warn
Speaking of alarmist! The chances of suffering the flesh-eating bacteria are the same as being struck by lightning or winning the lottery. This is just another case of tabloid journalism! It’s never going to happen to any of us! Not to worry, though… Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology at NYU Medical Center, assures worry-warts and sissies that they can avoid these infections by “…washing their hands, using an antiseptic and a bandage on all cuts and scrapes, and avoiding the sharing of towels, razors, clothing and athletic equipment.”

Postal Service Seeks 2-Cent Stamp Increase
Now, here’s something I’m passionate about. Congress passes a law, making the Postal Service overfund their retirement system, in order to coverup Congress’ profligate spending. This becomes a hidden tax, but the customers don’t know that. So, they direct their anger at postal workers. However, Congress didn’t bargain for Postmaster General Jack Potter’s shrewd comeback…

Apparently, Mouse Pads are So 2004
Dan Cederholm is really on to something here.

Labs Selling DNA Assessments
Finally, a service for adolescents and teens suffering from gender confusion! Here in Nevada County, students can lay aside their studies and ideological indoctrination, head down the hall to the school nurse and be spirited away for a simple test to determine if they have the gay or straight gene (without the meddling of their pesky parents). Although exhaustive research by reputable scientists has proven beyond any doubt (to journalists, anyway) that a “gay gene” exists, some backward hicks remain skeptical. In a related story, interest and funding seems to be lagging for scientists who have been conducting research to determine how genetics influence the sexual orientation of individuals who prefer the company of other species, small children, people other than their spouse, siblings, other members of their immediate families and a host of other anachronistic social taboos.

Breaking The Da Vinci Code
Wonder what all the buzz is about? Here’s a good place to start. Then, check out the second installment.

Drug-resistant staph infecting more people
More on resistant organisms, but this one has some real good advice about how to avoid getting a staph infection and the proper use of antibiotics.

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:24-29

Blogging is a dangerous business for a Christian to engage in… Particularly when commenting on culture, politics, religion, art, humor, sexuality or other volatile subject matter.

One can come off sounding self-righteous and condescending, as I often do. Then, there’s also guilt by association: “That’s fine coming from the religion that gave us the Inquisition, the Crusades and the Salem Witch Hunts.” Finally, you open yourself up to insults by, so-called Christians, who want to hunt down witches, go on some kind of crusade or turn you over to the inquisitors!

Today, I was studying Paul’s letter to the Romans and I reached for Karl Barth’s classic commentary. Barth was neo-orthodox… he was probably a Universalist (which I am not) and he held a low view of Scripture, which I do not (do I smell a fire kindling?). He often unleashed a flood of meandering, baffling sentences and then, suddenly, tied them together in a very descriptive, orthodox paragraph. In what follows, Barth expresses the attitude I hope to maintain, while blogging.

God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew… Romans 11:2 (KJV)

Commenting on this verse, Barth wrote:

These words are not spoken from the security of the shore, or from the safer refuge of a lifeboat as it approaches, or pulls away from, a wreck. These words are spoken from the deck of a ship — as it sinks. Only one who is himself a Churchman knows what it is to sin against God, to betray Him and to deny Him. The man who does not know this, but thinks he is able to discover something better than the Church and its anguish, some private by-path which skirts the embarrassment of the Church and avoids that I also am, knows neither the tribulation which God has prepared for men, nor the guilt in which they are imprisoned in His presence, nor, consequently, the hope which arises in the evident misery of the Church. Hope is made known to us when we recognize that our tribulation comes from God, that it is in His presence that we are guilty, and that it is He who spreads out His hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

I am often a disobedient and gainsaying Christian, intimately connected to the ekklesia, the assembly, which calls upon the name of Jesus while pratically denying Him at times. Our forgiveness and justification are found in a God, Who “spreads out His hands” to a guilty and undeserving people. So, I will continue to observe and comment, sometimes critically or negatively, on a variety of issues. But, I will try to avoid an air of smug self-righteousness and I will not deny my connection to “the embarrassment of the Church.” The observations and opinions on this blog are my own… please don’t hold them against my fellow Christians.

I was craving some Himalayan food on a sunny Saturday last Fall, so I decided to head down the Rough and Ready Highway to Didi Bhai. As I neared the old market, I saw an estate sale on the left side of the road. I couldn’t stop because I was on a mission: a buffet of curry, chutney, nan bread… you understand. So, on my way home I stopped and browsed around the small house and yard for treasures. I found one. The deceased are Christians and I found a few missing books for my library. There was also a Bible in near mint condition… leather, New American Standard… perfect for special occasions! So, I bought it… I think I paid $1. Later that week, I picked up the Bible to pull out old bulletins and other odds and ends. It had a cool bookmark in it with a list of all the books of the Bible. Then, I noticed a newspaper clipping that looked very familiar… it was a Letter to the Editor and the title was Only one God. It was folded in half, so I turned it over and there was my name! It was a Letter to the Editor I had written over 15 years ago and this person had clipped it out and kept it in their Bible all this time!

I bought some of those little library book pockets and put one in the Bible for the clipping. It will also include a little note about how it came to me… for posterity and to remind myself, from time to time, that God is involved in the little things, as well as the big!

O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in — behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Psalms 139:1 - 6

Today was emotionally, physically and mentally draining. I spent Sunday, the Lord’s Day, with Christians from sunup to sundown and I saw and heard so many wonderful things! It was a day of fierce spiritual battle with plenty of opportunities for believers to give and take offenses (I think I was probably the most offensive one of all). Yes, unpleasant things were done and said… But, I saw many, many examples of compassion, grace, forbearance, longsuffering… in modern parlance, we put up with one another very well… uncommonly well. I was particularly struck by the mature love of the young Christians in my orb… those under 40. I have good reason to be optimistic about the future.

My words cannot express my feeling of complete joy, but the words of John, the apostle express my thoughts…

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. 1 John 2:14

Tonight, Denise and I were treated to a Valentine’s Dinner catered and served by our church youth group. I had the tri-tip; Denise had chicken Cordon Bleu. The service was excellent, as usual, because the kids have honed their skills at the annual fundraiser for the local crisis pregnancy center. They really are good!

Our speaker was an old friend, Doug Britton. I have known him for about 15 years and spoken to him a number of times, but this was the very first time we have met in person. I have used his materials to counsel couples with great success. Of course, these folks were committed to change, beginning with themselves. But, much of the success can be attributed to his approach or philosophy.

I found Doug back in the days when Christian bookstores were glutted with trendy sanctified self-help books… modern pop-psychology with a little Jesus thrown in. And, I mean a literal “little Jesus” – a tiny, weak, impotent Jesus, who could only help people through “years of intense therapy” with “qualified,” high-dollar counselors.

His approach is simple, practical and effective – check out Doug’s website. Tonight, he gave us three easy exercises we can do as couples, which will go a long way in strengthening our marriages, if we practice them regularly.

• We thanked our spouse for three things they did over the past couple of weeks, which we really appreciated.
• We thought of three character traits we admire in our mate and shared those with them.
• We asked our partner if there were two things they would like us to pray for and, then, we prayed for our spouse.

Doug closed with this observation: Couples he’s counseled over the years reported that the one change, which had the most dramatic positive effect in their relationship, was when they began to pray daily with one another, even for a few minutes. I can attest to this, as well.