Oranged-Faced Lar!

enjoy!

WORK!?!?

Where do you go when the best of human wisdom can’t supply meaning to life (Eccl 1.12-18; 2.12-17), & when pleasure can’t supply satisfaction either (2.1-11)? Try work (2.17-26)! Thus the Preacher takes us from the contemplative life; wisdom is the way of meaning, to the sensuous life; pleasure as the way of meaning & satisfaction, to the active life, work, vocation, projects, activity as the way that meaning can be supplied for life.

I’m reminded of Maynard G. Krebs, Dobie Gillis's best friend on the TV series "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". Played by Bob Denver, Maynard was the first beatnik on national TV.

His speech was full of colorful phrases such as "You rang?" and "Like, I'm getting all misty". But, for me, Maynard G. Krebs will always be best remembered for his response whenever anyone mentioned the subject of work. He would instantaneously shudder, and let out a plaintiff cry of "WORK!?!?"

One of the most moving points in the whole OT is found in Ecclesiastes 2.20b: “I despaired of all of the fruit of my labor”!

Now, work is a wonderful thing, & a work ethic is a wonderful thing, & our work ethic is a great strength, & by & large, has come to us from biblical origins, but the evil one can use even good things against us & if we’re trying to find meaning in our work alone, if we’re trying to find significance & satisfaction in our work, then the Preacher is telling us we’ll not find it there.

Nevertheless, when work is done in and for the Lord, it benefits others and honors God. In fact, it’s in creative activity that we externalize our identities as people made in the image of God. After all, work is not a result of the fall! It’s a part of God’s created order for humanity (Gen 2:5, 15), and it’s patterned after God Himself. We are called to do our work as unto the Lord (Eph 6:5-8; Col 3:23-24).

Soul Winner!

“Jesus says, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men;’ but if you go in your own way, with your own net, you will make nothing of it, and the Lord promises you no help in it. The Lord's directions make Himself our Leader and Example. It is, ‘Follow Me, follow Me. Preach My gospel. Preach what I preached. Teach what I taught, and keep to that.’ With that blessed servility which becomes one whose ambition it is to be a copyist, and never to be an original, copy Christ even in jots and tittles. Do this, and He will make you fishers of men; but if you do not do this, you shall fish in vain.”

• from Charles Spurgeon's book Soul Winner

T. Dungy!

Religious news blogger dpulliam over at getreligion.org has this great Father’s day feature update on Tony Dungy. It is his take on a recent ESPN.com piece about the Indianapolis Colts football coach and older brother of one of my good friends to be aired tonight (06/18/06).

Dpulliam says, “The article is rich with theology and even concludes with a Scripture reference. Many of Dungy’s words are unrecognized paraphrases of the Bible and one I’d like to highlight in particular comes from Mark 8:36: What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”

For a good dose of Dungy and his faith follow the links in the getreligion.org story. Or click, here and then here and here.

Happy Father’s Day!

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Koheleth!

I’m preaching through the book of Ecclesiastes this summer. You talk about vanity! What an adventure.. been there done that is written throughout this book. Interestingly, Koheleth not only did what he said but liked doing it and did it better than all before him. Is this ever a book for our time. One blogger calls it a Woody Allen film flanked by Cecil B DeMille epics. In our postmodern age where absolute meaning is no longer necessary for life, our personal quest for eternal significance in the face of hebel* has never been more bewildering or compelling.

*Note: the Hebrew word used to describe “life under the sun” in Ecclesiastes is HEBEL, meaning breath or vapor. Hebel is meaningless, futile, vapid, fleeting.

Bob is Back!

The announcement came just a few days ago!

In August this year, Bob Dylan will be releasing a new album entitled Modern Times - his first original album since the dark, eerie and ugly 11 September 2001. "This is a sad and lonesome day." (Bob Dylan, "Lonesome Day Blues", Love and Theft: released that day)

The apocalyptic Dylan has long been prophesying the end of the world - but if it doesn’t end before the release of Modern Times, you’ll find me with head phones, unreservedly and enthusiastically, listening to Dylan’s lyrical take on the postmodern world.

Beauty!

“It was in the vocabulary of the language of beauty that Edwards expressed his most important theological and philosophical ideas.... For Edwards, [God] was the ‘foundation and fountain’ of all beauty. The triune God was seen to be a society of love and beauty. God’s Holy Spirit was beauty. All beauty, indeed all creation, was the overflow of God’s inner-trinitarian beauty. Beauty was, for Edwards, the very structure of being.”

Louis J. Mitchell, Jonathan Edwards on the Experience of Beauty (Studies in Reformed Theology and History, New Series No. 9; Princeton: Princeton Theological Seminary, 2003), p. 105.

Sunset!

Once a young man was sitting on a bench and an old man, a preacher, sat down too. The old preacher looked at the beautiful sunset and sighed the sigh of the delighted. The young man said to him, "what was that?" The preacher replied, "I'm stricken by the beauty of God's handiwork". The young man scoffed, "God, there is no God. This all just evolved." The preacher looked at the young man and said, "will you be here again tomorrow?" The youngster said "yes".

The next day the preacher was sitting on the bench when the young man returned. Out of a satchel the old man pulled a beautiful painting depicting a glorious sunset. He passed it over to the boy who gasped at the work. "Who painted this?" he asked in excitement. "No one", said the preacher, it just evolved that way.

The young man said "that's stupid." "Yes", replied the preacher, "it really is, isn't it."

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'” - Psalm 14:1

You're outa here!

enjoy!

Jeanne d'Arc

"I place trust in God, my creator, in all things; I love Him with all my heart."

On this day in 1431 Jeanne d'Arc (1411-1431) perished at the fiery hands of her English foes. She was subsequently declared innocent by the Inquisition on July 7, 1456 after a lengthy re-trial process which was initiated shortly after the English were finally driven from Rouen, thereby allowing access to the documents and witnesses associated with her trial; the presiding Inquisitor, Jean Bréhal, ruled that the original trial had been tainted by fraud, illegal procedures, and intimidation of both the defendant and many of the clergy who had taken part in the trial, and she was therefore described as a martyr by the Inquisitor.

After the usual lengthy delay associated with the sluggish and questionable process of canonization, she was beatified on April 11, 1909 and canonized as a saint on May 16, 1920.

For some Christians of a different tradition than me, today is the feast day of St. Joan of Arc. Interestingly, it comes on the heels of Memorial Day. I was reminded that many female Christian soldiers wear a medal of Jeanne d'Arc along with their dog tags, seeing as how she was the patron saint for female soldiers (and any female military).

So, while keeping all service personnel in your prayers, today on the feast day of Joan of Arc, keep in mind the American women who have gone to serve and not returned home.

St. Joan refused to follow any command but God's!

Short verse!

What's the shortest verse in the New Testament?

It's 1 Thessalonians. 5:16: "Always rejoice." ("Jesus wept" is three words in Greek).

Easy to say, difficult to practice.

May God help you to experience His great joy today!

Witch Hunt!

On this day in 1647, the first recorded execution of a witch in America took place in Massachusetts. Mary Easty was executed as a result of the Salem witch trials in 1692. She sent this letter to Massachusetts authorities shortly before her execution, asking not that her life be saved, but that they improve their methods of discovering witchcraft and that they be more cautious to guard against shedding the blood of innocent people.

“Petition of an Accused Witch”
By Mary Easty

The Humble Petition of Mary Easty unto his Excellency Sir William Phips, and to the Honored Judge and Bench now sitting in Judicature in Salem, and the Reverend Ministers, humbly sheweth, that, whereas your poor and humble petitioner, being condemned to die, do humbly beg of you to take it in your judicious and pious consideration, that your poor and humble petitioner, knowing my own innocency, blessed be the Lord for it! and seeing plainly the wiles and subtilty of my accusers by myself, cannot but judge charitably of others that are going the same way of myself if the Lord steps not mightily in. I was confined a whole month upon the same account, that I am condemned now for, and then cleared by the afflicted persons, as some of Your Honors know.

And in two day's time I was cried out upon them, and have been confined, and now am condemned to die. The Lord above knows my innocency then, and likewise does now, as at the great day will be known to men and angels. I petition to Your Honors not for my own life, for I know I must die, and my appointed time is set; but the Lord he knows it is that, if it be possible, no more innocent blood may be shed, which undoubtedly cannot be avoided in the way and course you go in. I question not but Your Honors do to the utmost of your powers in the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and witches, and would not be guilty of innocent blood for the world.

But, by my own innocency, I know you are in the wrong way. The Lord in his infinite mercy direct you in this great work, if it be his blessed will that no more innocent blood be shed! I would humbly beg of you that Your Honors would be pleased to examine these afflicted persons strictly, and keep them apart some time, and likewise to try some of these confessing witches; I being confident there is several of them that has belied themselves and others, as will appear, if not in this world, I am sure in the world to come, whither I am now agoing. I question not but you will see an alteration of these things. They say myself and others having made a league with the Devil, we cannot confess. I know, and the Lord knows, as will appear, they belie me, and so I question not but they do others. The Lord above, who is the searcher of all hearts, knows, as I shall answer it at the tribunal seat, that I know not the least thing of witchcraft; therefore I cannot, I dare not, belie my own soul. I beg Your Honors not to deny this my humble petition from a poor, dying, innocent person. And I question not but the Lord will give a blessing to your endeavors.

Source: Library of Congress.

John Calvin!

On the 27th of May, 1564, John Calvin (Jean Cauvin), died in Geneva. Born at Noyon, France on 10 July 1509, at fourteen he was sent to Paris to study theology, and developed a particular interest in the writings of Augustine. His father then insisted that he take up law instead, which he did for three years, returning to theology when his father died.

In about 1534, he underwent a sudden conversion and became an ardent Protestant. He went to Basel, where he wrote and published the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, a work of systematic theology and a detailed logical account of grace. His doctrine is rooted in the experience of God's grace at work in his own heart, and unwillingness to attribute its presence to anything but the mercy of God, a determination never to claim that he has done anything more or better than Judas Iscariot to deserve a better destiny.

Calvin’s output was immense. In addition to the Institutes (1700 pages) he wrote commentaries on almost all the books of the Bible: many tracts and treatises discussing important theological controversies; hundreds of sermons (342 on Isaiah alone!); and numerous letters. Every Christian, Calvin insisted, must possess a measure of doctrinal sophistication or be at the mercy of every theological ill-wind. Pastors in particular must be provided with the tools needed for life-long study in service of the Word of God.

The list of ailments from which Calvin suffered is enough to make a person wince. Theodore Beza, his successor in Geneva, wrote of him, "A brave spirit was the master of a feeble body." Nevertheless, Calvin persevered throughout his suffering, working in the last, most difficult years, preaching until eight days before his death. Unflappable in his vocation, he finally had to be carried into the pulpit in Geneva in a chair. A remark in the dedication to his Commentary of II Thessalonians says it all: "My ministry... is dearer to me than life."

Calvin penned his last letter to his dearest friend, Guillaume Farel, only days before he died: "It is enough that I live and die for Christ, who is to all his followers a gain both in life and in death." His grave is unmarked.

Schaff recounts the last months of Calvin's life in some detail in his History of the Christian Church, volume 8. Regarding Calvin’s own last wishes, he writes:

Calvin had expressly forbidden all pomp at his funeral and the erection of any monument over his grave. He wished to be buried, like Moses, out of the reach of idolatry. This was consistent with his theology, which humbles man and exalts God.

Beza, however, wrote a suitable epitaph in Latin and French, which he calls "Parentalia" (i.e. offering at the funeral of a father):

"Shall honored Calvin to the dust return,
From whom e’en Virtue’s self might learn;
Shall he -of falling Rome the greatest dread,
By all the good bewailed, and now (tho’ dead)
The terror of the vile - lie in so mean,
So small a tomb, where not his name is seen?
Sweet Modesty, who still by Calvin’s side
Walked while he lived, here laid him when he died.
O happy tomb with such a tenant graced!
O envied marble o’er his ashes placed!"

Barth's Apologetics?

"By trying to resist and conquer other religions, we put ourselves on the same level. They, too, appeal to this or that immanent truth in them. They, too, can triumph in the power of the religious self-consciousness, and sometimes they have been astonishingly successful over wide areas. Christianity can take part in this fight. There is no doubt that it does not lack the necessary equipment, and can give a good account of itself alongside the other religions. But do not forget that if it does this it has renounced its birthright. It has renounced the unique power which it has as the religion of revelation.

This power dwells only in weakness. ... [Regarding the apologists of the early church] It was a real temptation, not merely to validate Jesus Christ against or for the sinful men of heathen religion, as the sacred books of the Church, the Old Testament and New Testament, demanded, but at the same time (and very quickly on a fairly broad front) to play off the Christian religion as better than the heathen, to contrast Christian possession ... with heathen poverty.

When we read the apologetics of the second and third centuries, can we altogether avoid the painful impression that what we have here ... is, on the whole, a not very happy, a rather self-righteous, and at any rate a not very perspicacious boasting about all those advantages of Christianity over heathen religion which were in themselves incontestable but not ultimately decisive? In these early self-commendations of Christianity a remarkably small part is played by the fact that grace is the truth of Christianity, that the Christian is justified when he is without God, like Abraham, that he is like the publican in the temple, the prodigal son, wretched Lazarus, the guilty thief crucified with Jesus Christ. Instead, we have the -- admittedly successful -- rivalry of one way of salvation, one wisdom and morality with others." (The Doctrine of the Word of God, Volume 1, Part 2, pp. 332-333. The Revelation of God; Holy Scripture: The Proclamation of the Church)

About the Author: (Excerpted from the Columbia Encyclopedia)

Barth, Karl (bärt), 1886–1968, Swiss Protestant theologian, one of the leading thinkers of 20th-century Protestantism. He helped to found the Confessing Church and his thinking formed the theological framework for the Barmen Declaration. He taught in Germany, where he early opposed the Nazi regime. In 1935 when he refused to take the oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler, he was retired from his position at the Univ. of Bonn and deported to Switzerland. There he continued to expound his views, known as dialectical theology or theology of the word.

Barth’s primary object was to lead theology back to the principles of the Reformation (called neo-orthodoxy). For Barth, modern theology with its assent to science, immanent philosophy, and general culture and with its stress on feeling, was marked by indifference to the word of God and to the revelation of God in Jesus, which he thought should be the central concern of theology.

In the confrontation between humanity and God, which was Barth’s fundamental concern, the word of God and God’s revelation in Christ are the only means God has for Self-revelation; Barth argued that people must listen in an attitude of awe, trust, and obedience.

Barth’s writings include The Epistle to the Romans (tr. 1933), The Word of God and the Word of Man (tr. 1928), Credo (tr. 1936), and Church Dogmatics (Vol. I-IV, tr. 1936-62).

Further Reading:

• Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary


• Conversational Theology: The Wit and Wisdom of Karl Barth by George Hunsinger


• Transcript of a biographical lecture on Karl Barth


• God Hidden and Wholly Revealed: Karl Barth, postmodernity, and evangelical theology (Books & Culture archive, fee required)

Machen's Bible!

J. Gresham Machen on the Bible:

“The Christian man finds in the Bible the very Word of God. Let it not be said that dependence upon a book is a dead or an artificial thing. The Reformation of the sixteenth entury was founded upon the authority of the Bible, yet it set the world aflame. Dependence upon a word of man would be slavish, but dependence upon God's word is life. Dark and gloomy would be the world, if we were left to our own devices and had no blessed Word of God. The Bible, to the Christian is not a burdensome law, but the very Magna Charta of Christian liberty.”

“It is no wonder, then, that liberalism is totally different from Christianity, for the foundation is different. Christianity is founded upon the Bible. It bases upon the Bible both its thinking and its life. Liberalism on the other hand is founded upon the shifting emotions of sinful men.”

Your view of the Bible tells me something significant about where you stand in relation to God. Here's the link to the chapter on the Bible from J. Gresham Machen's classic book Christianity & Liberalism written in 1923.

For those who don't know Dr. Machen, here's the link. In short, he was a bold and brilliant follower of Jesus willing to stand for the absolute Truth contained in the Bible.

Dylan Path!

Bob Dylan is 65 today!

How will you commemorate this path blazing, Social Security eligible, icon-busting singer-songwriter, American idol?

"Celebrate the Tambourine Man's birthday on May 24th with some down-home revelry of your own," advises the website ehow.com. "Bust out your dusty tambourine and make some noise in celebration of one of Mr. Dylan's most famous ditties, 'Mr. Tambourine Man.'"

Bob Dylan hasn't recorded a new album since "Love and Theft" - dropped, ironically, on Sept. 11, 2001. But America's musical poet laureate, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, is as visible today as he's been at any time in his iconic, sometimes reclusive, even born-again, life.

Up here in the North Country, we have a new Bob Dylan "cultural pathway". Approved this week by the Duluth City Council, the 1.8 mile pathway runs from the city's history and arts center known as the Depot, down Michigan Street before turning up to Superior Street and then to London Road. The streets won't be renamed, but additional signs marking the route will be installed above the regular street signs.

Ken Buehler, executive director of the Lake Superior Railroad Museum, located in the Depot, said he likes the idea of the Depot being on a street named after Dylan. "It makes sense that one of your performing arts centers is on a street named for Bob Dylan," he said.

Madonna's old tricks!

In one of those "Are we really surprised?" moments, while singing "Live To Tell" during a recent concert in Los Angeles, Madonna suspended herself from a mirrored cross simulating her crucifixion. This was meant to tick off Christians.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue said in a statement that Madonna should “knock off the Christ-bashing.” Donohue said that while Madonna has misused Christian imagery for years, he thought that her recently declared faith in Kabbalah might inspire some respect for religion. But he said, "I guess you really can't teach an old pop star new tricks."

Of course, had it been that other religion, the one that riots over irreverent cartoons, would Madonna have survived her latest stage stunt? Read about the rock star's dramatic opening night in this Beliefnet article.

Contrary to upsetting evangelical Christians, this stunt may be viewed as another wonderful church growth idea - think of the crowd it would generate at Willow Creek or Oooze or any of a number of MegaChurches.

Asked an Anglican spokesman, "Is Madonna prepared to take on everything else that goes with wearing a crown of thorns?" Duh, dude, she totally already has!

Mega Hank!

Hank Hill goes to a mega church… This is both funny and often very close to home.

A megachurch is a large church, frequently defined as having more than 10,000 worshippers for a typical weekly service.



If you want to research some megachurch stuff, follow the below links:

Evaluating the Megachurch Movementby Charles Martin from Evangelical Ministries of Sylvania

Interview with Gary Bryson, It’s A God Thing: The Rise of the Megachurch on Encounter ABC Local Radio, Sunday 24 April 2005

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life "Myths of the Modern Mega-Church", Monday, May 23, 2005, Rick Warren, Senior Pastor and Founder, Saddleback Church, Orange County, California and David Brooks, Columnist, The New York Times

Seeker Sensitive, Purpose Driven Churches

Joel Osteen, the Megachurch, and the Mini-Gospel by Justin Taylor

Megachurches, Megabusinesses by Luisa Kroll (Forbes.com)

The Church Growth Movement by Jack Sin

Mega Churches: Postmodern Seeker Sensitivity by Craig W. Booth

CHURCH GROWTH MOVIE Looking to "grow" your church? An animated tutorial.

The Ethnocentricity of The American Church Growth Movement by Michael Horton

John H. Armstrong at Reformation and Revival:
The Modern Megachurch Phenomenon July 18, 2005, Further Analysis ... July 25, 2005 and A Few Final Observations ... August 1, 2005

“Church Growth, Dying Small Churches, and a New Strategy” August 8, 2005 John H. Armstrong

The Purpose Driven Church (a critique) Michael J. Penfold

Augustine of Hippo!

A little reading from The Confessions of Augustine: "Let me seek you, Lord"

For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (Romans 10: 13 & 14)

Let me seek you, Lord, by praying to you and let me pray believing in you; since to us you have been preached. My faith prays to you, Lord this faith which you gave me and with which you inspired one through the Incarnation of your Son and through the ministry of the Preacher. (The Confessions of Augustine, Book I:1)

Jaroslav's Point-Man!

Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale and perhaps the finest historian of Christian theology of the twentieth century, died over the weekend of lung cancer (82 yrs). You can read his obituary at the New York Times here.

I was introduced to his superior work in Christian history as an undergraduate in Religious Studies. He became a staple in my library and I used his works extensively in my research for various papers at Princeton Seminary. He was the author of some 40 books.

If you're not familiar with Dr. Pelikan or his writings, then take a look at the profile written by Mark Noll in 1990 republished this week at Christianity Today, as well as Dr. Pelikan's own excellent essay, "The Predicament of the Christian Historian."

In 2004, he was awarded the Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the humanities and social sciences, considered by many to be the Nobel Prize for the humanities. The son of a Lutheran pastor and grandson of a Lutheran bishop, Dr. Pelikan converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in 1998.

BTW: The above photo was taken with Dr. Pelikan in 1989. (I used to sport a beard!) He was lecturing at a special Religious Studies event at Florida International University where I was completing my Doctoral degree. While posing together, he thanked me for being his point man during his talk. He went on to explain that it was his tradition to find a receptive onlooker to establish significant eyesight with while speaking. I was Jaroslav’s point-man for the hour!