SJW Blog

Ah, bliss . . . .

2010-01-19T10:59:00.002-05:00

One of the reasons I love Carlisle. These grainy iphone pictures can't capture the glory of this insistent and gentle grace from heaven, but oh, for the purity of the white and the weakness of its power as it covers everything.

No human power can stop it, but only attempt to move it around.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. Romans 1:20

On with the show, this is it . . .

2009-11-11T21:46:00.007-05:00

Here we are with the cooler (recognize this, Kathy?) from someone at church in which we kept just some of the things Deb had prepared cold (it was 66 Monday night in NYC!) We are at one end of the room where Josh’s opening is set-up.

Here is the sign for Josh’s show, a tip to the Google alternate search line, but also to his upcoming graduation . . . (sadly, you can't tell that he has painstakingly inked in the pixelated words and then made a denril [I think] mask for them).
The show is stunning in it's epic grandness on an infinitessimal scale. One teaser before I head up to change into my suit and head back to the Cooper Union. On the internet, a picture does not do justice to what he has done. But look at this kitty from internet site Icanhazcheeseburger. Click on it to see closer . . . This was a blank piece of paper when he started, to which he applied a fine tipped felt pen, holding it at certain spots of a continuous line, one straight line at a time. Serious and compelling (and 8 1/2 by 11), they draw you in and you see the fineness of his work with line.

Here is the photo of the artist as a young man (Henry James lived only a few blocks from here) . . . . or young man as an artist . . . ?

And here is Ellen Cushing just arrived, talking to the chief caterer . . . . more and in a more orderly fashion Thursday . . .

A bagel a day keeps the nebbish in you away . . .

2009-11-10T16:18:00.005-05:00

Here, hopefully is the reordered set of pictures. More coming tomorrow. So many people and . . . well, proud parents. Here is of Deb in front of our wonderful hotel.

Here's a tiny part of their menu on a roll of paper. What a place.

Do you see how good is this spectacular sesame bagel with salmon and cream cheese (with capers), onions, and tomato that we shared? Nothing like it!

The Morning of the Day

2009-11-10T09:21:00.002-05:00

Ah, the daytime panorama out of our sixth floor room looking west, I think. Out to Murray's for marvelous bagels, a little walking and then over to Cooper Union for preparation in the afternoon . . .

On which we arrive in Manhattan

2009-11-09T22:16:00.003-05:00

After all the packing and a mostly uneventful but enjoyable trip, and much traffic once we hit Manhattan, we got to see Josh and drop off a couple of things before he headed to class and then some final preparations after class.

We're again glad to be staying at the Larchmont Hotel, which is close to Greenwich Village. We're on the 6th floor and have one of the greatest views we've ever had . . . and, live, it's not quite as blurry as this photo seems to indicate . . . . where is that tripod when I really need it?

We couldn't wait to go to our favorite Italian restaurant, just a little further down the block, Gene's. Old world waiters; they even scrape the crumbs away after the main course. We have never been disappointed here and go almost every time.

Do you see the rose at the table? The one with the fork. Both of us had the same . . . broiled scallops, all part of a combined meal that included, for me, the smoothest and most wonderful chopped liver and spaghetti as a side, the real Italian kind, both the pasta and the wonderfully light and fresh tomato sauce. Oh and the creme brule that came along with the meal for dessert. Untouchable.

Tomorrow's the big day; after driving around the block for over and hour to find a parking space from which I didn't need to move the car the next morning early, I got ice and placed it in all the coolers around the food Deb has prepared, as tonight it is only as cool as 64 degrees in Manhattan. Deb's already asleep and I'm down in the lobby where there is wireless to add this post. What a day tomorrow will be! And so many of his friends have come along side, even last night having a Senior Show dinner for him. Wonderful to see . . . . Some people from Massachusetts coming down and my sister and dad coming up . . . 6:00 tomorrow night. Now for a couple of hours of work on the gospel of Matthew for a beginning of a series this Sunday on this remarkable biography of Jesus. Please do pray for all of this . . . . .

i'm feeling lucky

2009-11-09T10:16:00.002-05:00

The title of Josh's Senior Show (recognize it from the Google search page?). Here are all the things Deb has assembled to cater Tuesday evening's opening. Weeks of thinking, days of cutting, making, cooking, and a cake by Diane Melanson with one of Josh's first works of art from 1990 . . . "a man with a birthday hat on holding a sign that says 'Happy Birthday,'" Josh told his mom when she asked him to draw a picture for his Grandma's birthday. Many of his friends helping in way way that is characteristic of Josh's reaching out to help others with their own shows in the past. We're on the road.

Wednesday in Iowa

2009-07-23T00:24:00.004-04:00

Dr. Briscoe continued in Ephesians 4, now emphasizing the unity and diversity that is found in our God and which therefore must be found in his people. An obvious requirement is that we live in unity, if we are an evidence of God's ability to bring together all things. Make every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit. "Whereas any idiot can have an argument, it takes mature people to find points of agreement and put other things aside for later attention in order that we might be building each other up, unifying ourselves rather than disintegrating and deteriorating like the rest of the cosmos around us."

My seminar was with missionary Larry Correll and his wife Sue. They discussed typical issues in the field, one of which will be my opening sermon illustration on Sunday

One of the wonderful treats was Pastor Tim Sir and the praise band from his church (at least I think they were). Earlier in the morning, in addition to playing for hymns and praise songs, they had sung "I'll Fly Away." At the end of the blog for today is a link (I hope) to "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder." Vocal harmonies were great. The young young man playing bass is the son of the banjo player to his left and is playing his first "gig."

In the evening, we again heard from David Olson. I remain unconvinced that, for all the information he has helpfully gathered, he has correctly identified what are the real causes and therefore how to address them. I add his central Powerpoint slides without comment. The argument is essentially that, if we don't act soon, there won't be any American church left, we'll continue the trend seen since, at least, the 1950's. To me it seems a little like saying, "The car won't run. It doesn't move forward. To remedy this, we need to give it a new paint job and better tires, because cars that run well usually have a good paint job and good tires." But maybe the problem is that it's out of gas. Gathering characteristics about the "stoppedness" of a car does not mean that you've understood WHY it has stopped. And if you don't understand that, any remedy will not do what the car really needs. Again this talk (which can hardly be called a sermon) was secondarily about Scripture (which is the perfect revelation--God telling us what is right with the church and what the church needs) and primarily about statistical compilation. And driven byh a dStill, Dr. Olson raises some good questions and, after all, the first disciples began their work of evangelizing the world not so much because they did what Jesus said, but because persecution kicked them out of Jerusalem and on their way. I look forward to reading and evaluating this book so at the center of the CCCC's direction in church redevelopment and planting.

When%20the%20Roll%20is%20Called%20Up%20Yonder.MP3

Tuesday in Iowa

2009-07-22T13:58:00.007-04:00

The morning began with my first hearing of the teaching of Stuart Briscoe, pastor of the large Elmbrook Church which he pastored for over forty years. He has written over 40 books and is now heard on Telling the Truth Ministries's radio and internet broadcasts. Simply one of the best Bible teachers I've ever heard. His job was to each on the conference text Ephesians 4:16, which he did by pulling back to view it in the context of the whole book. He preached for over an hour, but no one knew it; he was compelling and had the congregation with him all the way. While there is so much to relate about this particular message, let me excerpt just a small section:

Ephesians 3:10—God’s intent is that the Church is to be an object lesson to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies—the invisible realm of spiritual reality—there are all kinds of rulers and authorities and God is running a seminar for them—he’s saying, Look at the church, and if you look at the church you’ll see a living breathing, pulsating demonstration of my work.

So on a Sunday morning—let’s pause to remember that we are on the screen—we are case study number 1—have you ever thought of yourselves like that?—People might actually get there early for church!

The rulers and authorities think they are winning in this world of ours, but they are not. The biggest evidence of this is the church. God is using us not only to show the principalities that they’re not as powerful as they thought they were, but also to show rulers and authorities that their days are numbered and they’re on the losing side. –You principalities try to keep Jews and Gentiles at each other’s throats. But I brought them together.

Do you realize what it means to be part of the church? If God can’t bring disparate people together, how can it be that he will bring the cosmos together, all things together under the Lordship of Christ? This is what the local group of believers are called to be in the environment in which you are placed. We are a message to a fragmenting, fractious society . . . Church is often as fragmented and fractious as the society around it . . .

I've appreciated much of the music for the conference. Last night a jazz flautist from this city played with a superb jazz pianist (he and Aaron would have gotten along well together . . . ) .

But, before that, I drove out to see a little of the surrounding area and to go to a grocery store. While I did see a variety of store names interesting, new, and Iowan, I also ran into a Christian bookstore of the type I was used to in Pennsylvania. BIG, too. Same sort of trinkets and stuff you'd find anywhere, though.

The evening talk was by a Dr. David T. Colson, who lives "across the lake" from our conference minister, Steve Gammon. He has compiled many statistics and compared them in new ways, and asks some interesting questions of churches. At this point, I'm a little skeptical, but I bought the book and want to listen carefully when he speaks again tomorrow night. The morning was a sermon, scripture driven and defined; the evening, not so much. But, that was not its goal and it leaves intriguing questions.
Two charts compiling some of his study: The first shows growth in American churches, grouping them by when the church was started. We are among the oldest churches in our conference. But, the point is that older churches aren't growing.
The second shows growth by size. Dr. Olson believes he has isolated the cause of the interesting leaps at both ends of the chart. Churches between 1 and 49 (to the left) have growth, because they have "intimacy." And churches at the other end, the megachurches, grow because they provide services well. You'll note that we, and most of American churches, are in the middle, the churches that are not growing. He says that these are the two critical poles: intimacy and doing ministry well (he may mean by this programs--not clear yet) determines whether a church grows. This is not at all clear to me, and I wonder, having not read his book yet, whether he may have left out a lot of other variables in his selection. One hears so many "answers" for the church over the years, that one is tempted to be skeptical. He left us with two questions, from the last screen.
We have come to a time when the "easy pickings" are no longer there, people who are prepared by their culture to come to Christ. There needs to be a new way of thinking about evangelism. And that has set me to thinking.
Well, one of the best things about these conferences, as I have already said, is to pray and think and reflect while away from the immediate fires of ministry. A valuable and challenging and thoughtful time with pastors and people with whom I've stood for over 20 years.

2009-07-20T22:54:00.006-04:00

A mostly uneventful day of travel, with Deb and I dropping Kyle off for his week with our beloved brothers and sisters at the Bronx Household of Faith. I envy him a little, but I find myself very thankful that God has me exactly where He has me today. It was good to be lifted above all the many details and see things from a different perspective. See the many yachts in the waters after we took off? (you may need to double-click on the picture to see it large enough--it was spectacular).

The pilot told us a bit later that "Now you can tell the folks back home that you went over Niagara Falls," But I was on the wrong side of the plane.

The terrain began to change, but the cloud structures were dazzling. Down

below began to look more and more like the Lancaster County (PA!) of my youth.

The corn was as high as an elep . . .

well, it really was, and lots of it. The airport at Cedar Rapids was pretty small with few being picked up.

Here is the banner the greeted me in the main hall where we have all our meetings. The hotel and convention center are in downtown Waterloo. I heard someone say, "I've never seen such wide streets with so few cars." The theme this year is close to the theme of the year I wrote, "A Love that Grows . . . " as the theme song for the conference held at Gordon College.

The opening message (about an hour and some) was by our conference minister, Steve Gammon. To my mind, this was one of the best I've heard him give, stirring. His principle points were:

Whenever God calls us---WE ANSWER & LISTEN.

When God commands us---WE GO & DO & SAY.

Whoever God calls us with---WE LOVE & JOIN.

He closed by reminding us of the morning the church he was pastoring sent him off to serve as a chaplain in the Navy. He resolved to respond to the call of the Navy and prepared for one of his elders to preach that morning, Steve himself wearing his uniform. The elder said, "We are a team." (The elder was, of course, thinking of the Red Sox.) Every team has it's star players, and Steve has been one of those. But he's not the team. We're all the team. I want to tell you today that I'm ready to get off the bench and take my bat and my glove to do my part. This is no time to be a spectator."

Chilling History

2009-03-06T00:12:00.003-05:00

The significance of learning from the mistakes of others through the study of history seems lost these days. For those of you who have an uncritical view of any political figure, consider these quotes from Germans before WWII writing of the "delusion" that swept over a population inoculated against Christianity and bent on "free-thinking." A thoughtful corrective for those of any party who uncritically look to politics to do what only the Lord can do when He changes heart. I first heard these quotes in a 1999 sermon mp3 by a British prince of the pulpit in our day, Dick Lucas. The context was a discussion of 2 Thessalonians 2 and the "man of lawlessness." Mr. Lucas saw Hitler as one of many examples of "men of lawlessness" who have been (and will be) brought into a positions of power because God sent a "strong delusion" on the populace that those who support these "men" might fully invest themselves in believing what it false. All this because they refused to believe the Truth.

The atmosphere of general enthusiasm into which the old city has been plunged is amazing and quite indescribable: the peculiar frenzy which has gripped hundreds of thousands of men and women, the romantic excitement and mystic ecstasy which has overtaken them like a holy rapture. An effect is produced which many find irresistible. They return home seduced and taken in, ready to serve the cause, with no idea of the dangerous reality which is concealed beneath the deceptive pomp of the huge processions and parades.

The French Ambassador to Germany upon witnessing the extraordinary impact which the 1937 Nuremberg Rally had on the crowds

The most seductive factor was Hitler’s messianic image. For Germany found itself in an ideological and ethical vacuum. We had lost our Emperor, our national identity had been damaged. The majority of the population had no religious faith. I think that for many National Socialism was a substitute religion which aroused a deep enthusiasm and provided a new source of strength. People wanted to get stuck in and work for a better life.

Isa Vermehren, German film actress and entertainer who later was imprisoned at Ravensbrück, Buchenwald, and Dachau, writing after the war.

Frustrated by an insoluble political crisis, the German people had tired of rational thinking, and believed those who taught that “reason paralyses the will, saps the spirit, destroys the basis of society.” This made them vulnerable to the collective self-delusion that: “a man would come, a leader, a Caesar, a Messiah, and perform miracles. He would assume responsibility for the future, take control of everyone’s lives, banish fear, put an end to misery, create a new people, a glorious new Reich, and, fulfilling a supernatural mission, change old Adam into a new man.”

Ernst Toller, German Marxist and expressionist painter on May 10, 1933, the day that his books were ritually burnt as part of the Nazi purge of decadent literature

Soup-r-eyes

2009-03-02T22:38:00.002-05:00

This panarama is what greeted me in my office late Sunday afternoon (click for a larger picture). 600 balloons (there are some on the ceiling as well), all inflated by the senior high youth group for a surprise that was kept by the senior highs, their parents, my wife, and Tim Gordon (planned weeks ahead and prepared for after church--boy, sometimes I'm clueless). Then games they planned and food with a cake celebrating my 65[!] years--said Jen "based on your resume." With a forest of pink plastic flamingos around the border of the cake. It was one of the sweetest and most rewarding surprises of my life. Still can't get over it. My heart is full . . . .

2009-02-12T15:42:00.002-05:00

As the Church throughout New England faces a variety of trials, including the trials of a difficult economy: a few more quotes from Hudson Taylor:

If this is a real work for God, it is a real conflict with Satan

It needs the presence of special difficulties to manifest to all the workings of God's mighty power, and for such difficulties we may and should be grateful, and not cast down.

You do not need a great faith, but faith in a great God.

I am in great straits for funds. I am happy about it. The Lord may take away all our troublesome people through it and give us true-hearted ones instead.

I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.

I . . . know how much easier it is to lean on an arm of flesh than on the Lord; but I have learned too how much less safe it is.

After proving God's faithfulness for may years, I can testify that times of want have ever been times of spiritual blessing, or have led to them.

China is not to be won for Christ by quiet ease-loving men and women.

(The above are from the extant writings of Hudson Taylor.)

2009-01-19T19:03:00.002-05:00

A couple of years ago a dear friend gave me the Banner of Truth "Letters of John Newton." I find myself, in reading them, being "pastored" by someone who's been dead for two hundred years. For all of Newton's wonderful hymns and sermons, his letters were also an important part of his work. Here's a deeply thoughtful section on remaining sin in the believer, written after two letters on the subject of the depravity of the heart. See how well Newton knows his own heart, and therefore the hearts of those to whom he ministers. The letter is entitled "Advantages of Remaining Sin." [!]

If the evils we feel [of remaining sin in us] were not capable of being over-ruled for good, He would not permit them to remain in us. This we may infer from His hatred to sin and the love he bears to His people.
As to the remedy, neither our state nor His honour are affected by the workings of indwelling sin, in the hearts of those whom He has taught to wrestle, strive, and mourn, on account of what they feel. Though sin wars, it shall not reign; and though it breaks our peace, it cannot separate from His love. Nor is it inconsistent with His holiness and perfection, to manifest His favour to such poor defiled creatures, or to admit them to communion with Himself; for they are not considered as in themselves, but as one with Jesus, to Whom they have fled for refuge, and by Whom they live a life of faith. They are accepted in the Beloved, they have an Advocate with the Father, Who once made an atonement for their sins, and ever lives to make intercession for their persons. Though they cannot fulfil the law, He has fulfilled it for them; though the obedience of the members is defiled and imperfect, the obedience of the Head is spotless and complete; and though there is much evil in them, there is something good, the fruit of His own gracious Spirit.

None of this is by way excusing the individual believer for the hardness of his own heart toward others, the living "at this poor dying rate," in view of all that is ours in Jesus. But this is a reminder that, as we are saved by grace, so do we live by grace, always aware of our mixed motives, but also delighting that even our impure motives are over-ruled by Him for His glory and that all of our standing comes by what Jesus has lived for us. This is good news and this is freedom. Somewhere about middle age [or earlier if the Spirit chooses] you start to realize that your every good action is mixed with wrong motives and you fight and not always with the best of success. And you also more deeply feel not only the seriousness and pervasiveness of sin, but the sweetness of what it is to be one with Christ and to receive the benefits He deserved but freely gave to us when He took on the full weight of our every sin past, future, and present. This is the comfort [if we haven't distracted our selves or medicated ourselves] that is ours in the Biblical doctrine of justification, being made right with God. No dry doctrine, that. And few can preach it, even in a letter, like Newton could.

2009-01-13T22:02:00.002-05:00

Can it really be that I have not written since November? Someone reminded me yesterday of the words of Hudson Taylor (1832-1905), for 51 years missionary to China. He brought over 800 missionaries to China and it is believed that 18,000 were converted through this work. I don't go along with all that Taylor believed, but his words often encapsulate what is so true about a walk with Christ.

Consider these words from 1875:
All God's giants have been weak men, who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.

or these:
God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies.

Ah! A Rough Cut from Romans

2008-11-15T11:23:00.005-05:00

Karen Green sent and permitted me to post this unworked-one (6 MB mp3) sound file from the Romans performance.

With eyes wide open to God's mercies,
I tell you brothers and sisters,
offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to Him.
Don't let the world around you squeeze you,
try to please you, gently appease you or let it deceive you.
Don't let the world around you break you,
overtake you,remake you into its mold.
Don't let the world around you grind you,
try to bind you, or let it design you.
Don't let the world around you rule you,
gently cool you, or fool you into its mold.
But be transformed by the renewing of your mind
so you can see and approve God's perfect will,
His pleasing, perfect will.

With eyes wide open, I beg you . . .

with%20eyes%20wide%20open.mp3

Evangelism Resources

2008-11-15T08:55:00.010-05:00

Here are the links I alluded to in Sunday School Class today. If I were really a good blogger (see below for QED), I would be able to do this in a much less junky way, for now you'll just have to click on what may look like gibberish to many of you (well, me too) following each description.

Two Ways to Live
(the presentation, pamphlets, and how to order additional resources). http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/2wtl/

Based on a True Story

James Chuong's site (which is interesting reading no matter what you go there to find). Here you can find interesting and challenging perspectives from a GenX who has an MIT degree in Management Science, an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell, and a DMin from Fuller in Postmodern Leadership Development. After serving as a pastor at Cambridge Community Fellowship Church, he eventually became IVP director for the Greater San Diego area and developed this gospel presentation. http://www.jameschoung.net

Both The Big Story and the sequel The Big Story Two can be found on the right side of this page, but here are the addresses for the YouTube videos: The Big Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCVcSiUUMhY&feature=related

The Big Story 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4V60n6KiB8&eurl=http://www.jameschoung.net/page/2/

The Best Story

Jim Wallace is both a Detective (currently working cold case homicides) and a Church Planter. His background was originally in design (BFA from California State University at Long Beach and a Master's in Architecture from UCLA), but he has been a police officer and detective for the past 20 years. He is also seminary trained (Master's Degree from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary).

Some great resources, including training materials and a Powerpoint presentation are found here:
http://www.pleaseconvinceme.com/index/mn37345/The_Promise_of_Christianity

You may watch the presentation here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do9tg3zEJJs&feature=related

Another Youtube Resource

Interesting Demonstration of the materialists' bias in explaining the world:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vi-FsaEb3Q&feature=related

Critical Books for Evangelism

Both of these books were written with believers and nonbelievers in mind, and Tim Keller is writing for the kinds of nonbelievers we tend to find in our part of Massachusetts: bright, intellectual, self-sufficient, and influenced by postmodernity in all its iterations.

The Reason for God

A book on the most frequently voiced doubts of skeptics written for believers and skeptics, filled with allusions to literature and culture and even anthropology.

The book is in two parts, the first responding to doubts and the second, reasons why Christianity is more reliable than other worldviews. You'll hear echos of C.S. Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, and Gordon-Conwell professor Richard Lovelace in these pages, as well as words that speak clearly and winsomely to a Manhattan-like culture

The Leap of Doubt

1. There can't be just one true religion
2. A good God could not allow suffering
3. Christianity is a straitjacket
4. The church is responsible for so much injustice
5. A loving God would not send people to hell
6. Science has disproved Christianity
7. You can't take the Bible literally

The Reasons for Faith

1. The clues of God
2. The knowledge of God
3. The problem of sin
4. Religion and the gospel

5. The (true) story of the cross
6. The reality of the resurrection
7. The Dance of God

The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

Here is where is best answered in an approachable form for believers and non-believers alike the startling news of what the gospel really is. I attended a DMin class taught by Dr. Keller and co-taught with Dr. Clowney, one of his mentors who so influenced him in his thinking through the meaning of this parable. The book is challenging to conservative (elder brother) and liberal (younger brother) alike or to anyone who has lived a mixture of either. This is the best one-book-not-too-long-either summary of the gospel and ought to flavor every other presentation.

Romans Oratorio Two Weekends Ago

2008-11-11T22:29:00.004-05:00

In the breathless work of the last several weeks, this was my first opportunity to publish a composite photo of most of the choir after the performance of Karen Green's Romans Oratorio in Ipswich last Sunday night. Some the instrumentalists are departing, but you get the idea. Magnificent, intense, and spirited singing on the part of this choir and soloists from so many different churches throughout New England and beyond. If anyone has shots of the performance, please send them my way . . . . (double click on the picture for a slightly larger view).

If Music Be the Food of Love . . .

2008-11-11T20:58:00.007-05:00

Ah. After all the anxiety of the election was the most wonderful breath of fresh air. The Gordon College Choir sang the beginning movement and Alleluia of the Bach Motet "Singet Dem Herrn." The volume of these young voices so well-trained and taught by Dr. C. Thomas Brooks was a balm like none other after this tumultuous week in American politics. Of the motet, he Bach Choir of Bethehem site says . . .

Scholar Steven Daw places the work in late 1727. Daw believes that Bach wrote Singet dem Herrn for a memorial service for the Queen of Poland. Awfully cheerful piece for such an occasion? Yes, but consider the circumstances of her life: she spent the last thirty years of her life in exile from the Polish court after she, unlike her husband, refused to renounce Lutheranism for Roman Catholicism. She was seen by many German Protestants–Bach included–as a Lutheran martyr. Bach’s use of a chorale tune (the actual source is unknown) may be the hint here, as well as his insistent repetition of the words "Wohl dem, der sich nur steif und fest auf dich und deine Huld verlässt" (Happy the man who firmly and steadfastly puts his trust in You and in Your grace). Is this a message for the congregation to follow the queen’s lead? . . . Whether the motet was written in celebration of the King’s recovery, the Queen’s steadfast belief in the Lord, or some other event unknown to modern audiences, Bach’s own unflappable faith is evident in that text, and in throughout the entire motet.

Yet another source recommends that this motet was performed in the town hall of Dresden to celebrate the signing of a peace treaty. Regardless of the back story, this was part of a wonderful evening of magnificent sound by this vibrant choir, well interpreted and performed and a reminder that there is a Prince of Peace Who rules over all princes and presidents and all voters and Who is at work in His gathered people to bring real and lasting change. Now that's not only the real change we need, but change we can believe in . . . . As the motet, quoting from Psalm 145, says " Let Zion's children rejoice in him who is their mighty king."

Some thoughts on the regnant follies

2008-10-27T14:08:00.006-04:00

In the midst of this election season, I’ve been challenged by a seminar Phil Johnson delivered at last year’s Shepherds Conference (at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is the Senior Pastor). I believe Mr. Johnson offers an important corrective to many of us and so have added a link at the end of this post.

Will I be depressed or elated after election day? Depends on whether my eyes and heart are stayed on His kingdom or this world. I’m also concerned about the way I hear people on both sides of this discussion mischaracterize the views of the other by creating "straw men" that really do not represent the other candidate’s position and then readily demolish views that no one actually holds. Frankly, the way Christians have tried to work through politics as a way to accomplish biblical ends has led to mixed results practically. In terms of public opinion, the result has been disastrous. While I’m not always sure how polls succeed in capturing public opinion, unChristian reports that “a fifth of all Americans believe ‘the political efforts of conservative Christians’ are a major problem facing the country today. Half of the adult population describe the political involvement of Christians as a concern. More than 110 million adult Americans admit they maintain misgivings about the role of ‘conservative Christians’ in politics.”

I had threatened to blog on this issue, but believe Phil’s message is simply the best corrective I’ve found. You may download it here: http://www.thegracelifepulpit.com/audio/GL-2008-03-06-PJ.mp3.

Make no mistake, I've listened to much about what each candidate has said and considered their views across a wide spectrum of their positions, and have made up my mind and will, as always, vote. Nevertheless, what Daniel says about the Lord is true:

He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. Daniel 2:21-22 (ESV)

2008-10-16T22:50:00.005-04:00

More from Owen on the Church and her Lord:

When He should come to take possession of this house, he finds that it is mortgaged, and that a great debt lies upon it; which he must pay to the utmost farthing, if he ever intend to have it . . . . Jesus Christ being the heir, the right of redemption belonged to him. It was not for his honor that it should lie unredeemed. Full well he knew that if he did not, the whole creation was too beggarly to make this purchase. . . . He likes the house, and will have it to dwell in, whatever it cost Him. "Here," says He, "shall be my habitation, and my dwelling for ever." (Psalm 132)

2008-10-15T09:11:00.011-04:00

A short detour from Owensiana to my favorite devotional book and the words of John Newton, that most happy and healthy of preachers. This reminder of the importance of suffering for the believer, from a 1791 letter to John Ryland, Jr:

There is no school like the school of the cross. There men are made wise unto salvation, wise to win souls. In a crucified Savior are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And the tongue of the truly learned, that can speak a word in season to them that are weary, is not acquired like Greek and Latin by reading great books--but by self-knowledge and soul exercises. To learn navigation by the fireside will never make a man an expert mariner. He must do his business in great waters. And practice will bring him into many situations in which general theory could give him no conception.

This is the testimony of those believers before us who were faithful to the end. Thomas Brooks, in his (1659) The Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod, a (short) book length meditation on Psalm 39, writes of the work of temptation and suffering, those very things we might most avoid and pray to be rid of, in making us more like Jesus:

Temptations are the tools by which the Father of spirits does more and more carve, form, and fashion his precious saints into the similitude and likeness of his dearest Son. . . . "My grace shall be sufficient for you (2 Corinthians 12:9)." Paul never experienced so deeply what almighty power was, what the everlasting arms of mercy were, and what infinite grace and goodness was, as when he was under the buffetings of Satan.

Brooks enjoins us to look on our sufferings with "Scripture spectacles," to see them as, for example, Paul did. Then he calls us to remember what we may forget under a long season of struggle:

When Hagar's bottle of water was spent, she sat down and began to weep, as if she had been utterly undone, Genesis 21:17-19; her provision and her patience, her bottle and her hope were both out together; but her affliction was not so great as she imagined, for there was a well of water near, though for a time she saw it not. So many Christians, they eye the empty bottle, the cross, the burden that is present upon them, and then they fall to weeping, whining, complaining, repining, and murmuring, as if they were utterly undone; and yet a well of water, a well of comfort, a well of refreshment, a well of deliverance is near, and their case is no way so sad, nor so bad as they imagine it to be.

These are not shallow words, nor Disney-esque, but part of the solid joys that are built on the dependable promises of God's Word, seen with His eyes; the way things really are.

2008-10-13T21:17:00.004-04:00

I have been thinking a lot of the Church of Jesus Christ lately and, while I've not written in a bit, I'll likely be using for the next spell of blogs quotes from Dr. Owen on the church. One of my early experiences in the reading of Dr. Owen's Latinate and serpentine English was, once I'd become accustomed to his style, to be given a larger vision of the glory of God. During my seminary years, one of my professors recommending taking on one theologian as your specialty and Dr. Owen has never failed, for all of his prolixity (I probably picked that word up from him), to expand my views of the world as explained and described by God's Word. These quotes are among those from Chapter 16 of Rick Daniels' The Christology of John Owen (yet another pastor whose writings have ministered to me). What follows is a paraphrased (due to archaic words) selection from the works of Owen; volume 8, page 230, as selected by Rick.

Men looking upon the church do find that it is a fair edifice indeed, but cannot imagine how it should stand. A few supporters it seems to have in the world, like crouching clowns under the windows, that make some show of under-propping it: -- here you have a government official, there an army, or so [remember that he speaks as the chaplain to the Protector Oliver Cromwell, whose army were largely Independents, and which army for a short time gave the Independents considerable power in government]. The men of the world think: "Can we but remove these props, the whole would topple to the ground." Yes, so foolish have I been myself, and so void of understanding before the Lord, as to take a view of some props that appeared to be of good quality for holding up this building, and to think, How shall the house be preserved if these should be removed? . . . . when, lo! suddenly some have been manifested to be only posts of ornamental plaster, and the very best to be held up by the house, and not to hold it up. On this account the men of the world think it no great matter to demolish the spiritual church of Christ to the ground:--they encourage one another to the work, never thinking of the foundation that lies hidden, against which they dash themselves all to pieces. I say, then, Christ, as the foundation of this house, is hidden to the men of the world,--they see it not, they believe it not. There is nothing more remote from their apprehension than that Christ should be at the bottom of them and their ways, whom they so much despise.

We've all known or known of pastors who have fallen or friends who seemed such solid believers who have walked away from the Lord. We've had also had those dear gifts of the Lord, in pastors, leaders, and godly men and women, who had represented to us what our churches have been all about and who are now with the Lord. And we have a world around us in which new and articulate adversaries speak out with freedom against the Church. Some even speak of the coming election as if the next president could bring apocalyptic changes that might destroy the American church. Only twelve years after the sermon from which this passage was preached, it seemed the Church of Christ in England would disappear when Charles was restored and the many believing pastors were ejected from their pulpits and distanced from their beloved congregations. Yet the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Church, against all who would prophesy otherwise, still stands. Our own local church faces a time of much change after so many evidences of God's faithfulness. And it is hard to imagine how things will be in five years from now, hard to imagine even what next year might look like. However, our Lord has said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. And when he spoke those words, only moments later he would have to say to the leader of the disciples, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He said those words before the one who ran finances for his closest band of 12 would betray him to the authorities, before the spokeman Peter would betray him, before the whole group would sit desultorily after the crucifixion, before the road to Emmaus walk when his disciples had assumed all was lost ("we had hoped"), and before the crew had gone back to their old occupation of fishing. And yet these poor building materials were the very ones he used to create the most world changing organization of the first century, indeed any century. We are all of us less "pillars" that hold up the building and more "ornamental plaster" that is held up by the building. He is the invisible foundation that holds up the building; and on that foundation alone is our church, and is my life, secure. And there, regardless of what future circumstances seem to threaten, is hope, real, substantial hope.

Fading is the worlding's pleasure all his boasted pomp and show; solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion's children know.

2008-09-01T14:46:00.019-04:00

So short on the heels of the Democratic convention, a friend just sent me this from the Wall Street Journal, a significant article from Robert Kagan, a conservative commentator http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122005366593885103.ht ml I don't know if Dr. Kagan is a believer or not, but he has articulately expressed the difference between those who would today call themselves "realists," the loyal opposition to "neocons," in foreign policy issues as wide and varied as "Iraq, Iran and the Middle East to China and North Korea." As I read his article, I couldn't help thinking, "this is a question of anthropology," something, I would add, that the Bible speaks a good deal about.

I do not intend to endorse the neocon view uncritically here, certainly, but Kagan speaks in the tradition of an older view, that of Russell Kirk, and before him Sir Edmund Burke, in ways that seem ancient history and perhaps even unrecognizeable in conservative political circles today.

Dr. Kagan points out what ought be no surprise to anyone well-read in history: modern liberals share little in foreign policy with those they quote from past years. Dean Acheson of Truman's administration would have nothing to do with the UN and the opinion of the rogue nations of the world: "As his biographer, Robert L. Beisner, has shown, he considered such efforts evidence of the naive hopefulness of 'people who could not face the truth about human nature' and 'preferred to preserve their illusions intact,' writes Dr. Kagan.

That's just what we who have been broken by the fall do. We don't want to face the truth about what God says we are really like, we prefer to keep our illusions intact, and so we project a world that is little impacted by sin. We think that "enlightened" nations should naturally live in peace and harmony and certainly never invade Georgia. We hold hands and sing with everyone, "Let there be peace on earth . . . ."Not that these old liberals would have any more positive view of America than does today's reiteration, but today's liberals are quoting people who, if they were alive today, would disagree with them on the fundamentals.

The theory that talks with antagonistic nations are the way to start is born out neither by history nor the Bible. All the well-known "successful" talks came, not as an incentive to change, but because those at the table had self-interested motives that led them to the table. As Joshua Muravchik has reiterated in his September article in commentary magazine, the dramatic 1972 Richard Nixon trip to China was not a catalyst to change, but the consequence of change as China sought ways to counter a stronger and antagonistic Soviet Union and to increase it's own oil independence. Consider modern (and forgotten) examples of diplomacy when self-interest was not engaged: Johnson with Alexei Kosygin in 1967 (Czechoslovakia's "Prague Spring" is crushed by Soviets the next year), Nixon with Brezhnev in 1972 (SALT I--a year later the Soviets were found to have armed Egypt and Syria for their surprise attack on Israel), Carter and Brezhnev in 1979 (the new SALT agreement--a few months later, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan).

Every counter-biblical ideology has found its center in its understanding of what man is (basically good) and what salvation is (enlightened thinking or hard work or what others think). Those who founded this country, in the main, agreed that, because people (and we might add here, nations) are self-interested and self-motivated, there need to be constraints and checks that prevent them from having too much control over others.

And, frankly, I can't be sure (I don't know) if President Saakashvili, for all his New York savoir-faire, is any better as the leader of a country. He, too, is a sinner. Those who look for oversimplified solutions for foreign policy end up finding simple identifications of enemies to demonize, and share common ground with those who would identify evil as the property of "that person over there." Those who look, in the phrase of former President Bush, for a "new world order," will always be disappointed when they find it ends up looking remarkably like the old world order. What ought we have learned from our twentieth century experience?

Dr. Kagan: After all, had mankind truly progressed so far? The most destructive century in all the millennia of human history was only just concluding. Our modern, supposedly enlightened era produced the greatest of horrors -- the massive aggressions, the "total wars," the famines and the genocides -- and the perpetrators of these horrors were among the world's most advanced and enlightened nations. Recognition of this terrible reality -- that modernity had produced not greater good but only worse forms of evil -- was a staple of philosophical discussion in the 20th century. It was the great problem that Mr. Niebuhr wrestled with and which led him to conclude that for moral men to do good, they would sometimes have to play by the same rules as immoral men -- and yes, he believed he could tell the difference. What reason was there to imagine that after 1989 humankind was suddenly on the cusp of a brand-new order?

There still remains one answer for those who trust what the Bible says about anthropology. We are broken. Marvelous and broken. And in need of restoration. And no party, no government, no leader but Jesus Christ can fix what is so tragically broken about us. We are just that broken. Always worse than we think. Hard work can't fix us. What someone else thinks about us can't fix us. Only a strong Jesus, whose followers were not Young Republicans (think of the apostle Paul in Rome) or shouters of slogans like "Change we can believe in" or "Country first" (both of which slogans scare me more than a little bit). But day by day, the strong Jesus is winning people to Himself as the Unconquerable Sun and Lord and Savior (all titles once used by world leaders in the past who now, unlike Jesus, have no power at all--it had always been borrowed from Him).

Christians are given no other way to change society than to be ambassadors of this Jesus, lower-level functionaries whose value depends on faithfully delivering the words of their Monarch, and not their own. Broken, weak, humble things through which His light shines, not because they are obnoxious and obstreperous and self-consumed, but because they look like Him and, because they trust the strength of their Savior to preserve them, live with a gentle fearlessness that I have not yet seen, nor expect to, in our nation's politics, and for that matter, often find wanting in myself. Who shall save me from this body of sin? But thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Quotes from Last Week's Message

2008-08-21T11:58:00.006-04:00

It has been quite a busy week, so I'll content myself with several quotes I used in last week's sermon. I really cannot recommend Ed Welch's book enough:

Worry reveals our allegiances. Fear and worry are not mere emotions; they are expressions of what we hold dear. They reveal the loyalties of our hearts. If we know Christ and have affirmed our allegiance to him, worry is a sign that we are trying to have it both ways. We certainly don't want to renounce our allegiance to Jesus, but we want to protect what we feel is our own. We are not so sure that the Lord can be trusted with some of these things, so we look for help elsewhere. And if there is no obvious alternate source of help, we worry.

from Running Scared by Ed Welch

If I can trust the word of a friend, why do I question the word of the God of the universe? Go figure. Sin is truly bizarre.

from Running Scared (page 111) by Ed Welch

We are so wrapped up in worry, our axieties go so deep, that a single command is not enough--a change could only take place if we were to see the world in a fundamentally new way.

Robert Tannehill

We Shouldn't Leave These Photos Out

2008-08-10T18:54:00.006-04:00

These photos were from Mrs. Greer's camera and were too good not to post. Here are Bill Hilly and Jed with their group of 3rd and 4th graders:

Here are Fruit E. Pie, Rusty, and Young Dick Monald with the K-2 group:

Annie and Auntie Opal are pretty dear in this shot. What a stitch these two were!

Here's the whole cast for Friday:

Here are three shots of the lilies brought in for the kids and counselors from Seawright Daylily and Hosta Farm on Bedford Road in Carlisle. Now is a great time to stop by and see the end of their peak flowering season. Say "hi" to Love and Bob Seawright for us. If you look closely, you can still see the early morning raindrops on the flowers.

All of the colorful scenary making was supervised by Peaches:

And there she is, doing a little plowing on the back forty:

Here she is AGAIN, this time serving the sherbet watermelon made by my wife. If you visit with us next week, you can try a piece of sherbet watermelon (we'll also have pieces of real watermelon, too), see slides of the events, and hear the kids who are able to come sing some of the songs we sang. Pastor Weibley will be preaching on Matthew 6, one of the parts of the Bible we studied, in a message about facing anxiety . . .

Here was one of the most wonderful finds from our church historian, Ginny M. The 1938 (and first ever) Vacation Bible School in Carlisle. The pastor was Burton Goddard (who we believe just died last year) for whom the library at Gordon Conwell was named. He taught the 7th and 8th graders and premiered the use of a new teaching technique: THE FLANNELGRAM. The school lasted for 2 weeks, beginning on August 3.

Here are all who were here Friday on another set of steps, 70 years later, together doing the same thing, learning together about the Bible and praying for fruit.

This is likely my last Vacation Bible School/Backyard Bible Club post. Shortly I hope to have a balanced review of the book The Shack that seems to be sweeping the Christian world. And sometime, that topic, I'd been thinking to avoid: how Christians should be involved in an election season (in which I'll be giving links to some things that I've found helpful).