Tolerance Swings Both Ways

A news item caught my attention this morning and I have a sneaking suspicion that many of my Christian friends are going to jump on this kids bandwagon...

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/06/06/roy-costner-iv-south-carolina-valedictorian-rips-speech-and-recites-lord’s-prayer
While I somewhat admire his cahonies...before all my Christian friends jump on his bandwagon, just be ready and prepared to be gracious when the wiccan valedictorian or the hindu valedictorians of the future pull their own version of the stunt. I think that if all faiths had the same freedom of expression within the school system (as we do outside of it) that would be OK. An absolute ban on any religious content is really a statement that all forms of faith expression are somehow "something to be afraid of" and a faith-free-zone being a superior educational environment, is after all a worldview in and of itself. All I am saying is if you want to give this kid his props and air time, be ready to be as tolerant to others. It swings both ways!

Acts 7:39

New International Version (NIV)

³⁹ “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt."

There I was minding my own business re-reading the 1st half of the book of Acts. I had just had "two weeks off of" our series at Renaissance for Palm Sunday and Easter and was reviewing what we had covered so far before jumping back in to Chapter 15.[Yes we Baptists can do an entire Lent Season in two short sermons!We don't want anyone accusing us of becoming contemplative or something!] 

While powering through 14 Chapters the verse I've posted above really jumped me. Stephen is saying his famous last words. While his audience are scanning their minds to figure out where the nearest thow-able rock pile was in the area, Stephen does his "Walk through the Bible" proclamation. That verse is right after the Exodus section. 

The NIV translation team did a wonderful job on that last phrase I think. It spoke to me much more than the familiar: "they wished to return".

When I read 

...in their hearts returned to Egypt."

I suddenly thought that a person can live in Egypt without ever moving there. 

Where are you living (heart wise) today? 

Lord, be THOU my vision. 

Inaugural Meditations...
I didn't watch the inauguration  the lip-syncing controversy was more interesting to me (to be perfectly honest). Funny when a stage filled with so many people that use their lips to avoid the truth such a focus was placed on a singer using her lips to pretend to sing live. But that is another sermon. 
Something I read recently in Len Sweet/Frank Violas excellent new book "Jesus - A Theography" Got me thinking about how different Jesus inauguration was for his "second term". 
If his first term  was inaugurated at the nativity' it was observed and attended by more of a "Who Are They?" list than a "Who's Who"...mere shepherds and possibly a few livestock. Or maybe we could consider his Baptism at the Jordan River under John...again not really a big scene.  Len and Franks book had me thinking about the final days before his cross in Mark 14 
Unlike that front-steps-of-the-place-and-symbols-of-power, surrounded by a carefully selected list of guests Mr. Obama orchestrated (pictured above) consider Jesus inauguration (anointing) pictured in Mark 14 .
Location chosen? In Bethany ( off site from the most powerful photo-op location of the temple in Jerusalem) 
Guest List? He is reclining at the table of a leper ( really non-kosher very politically incorrect). 
Women performing at the event?   A "woman" does the anointing  (Mark doesn't comment on her moral reputation but an unmarried woman busting into a "mens meeting" and touching a single religious teacher was a real shocker) she pours really expensive perfume all over the place(actually all over Jesus feet)  making quite a scene! .
The Reaction of the Press?If you look up the reaction from even his "handlers"  you realize that just as in Mr Obama's big day, a scandal over a woman's involvement got the biggest headlines.
He really meant it when he said his kingdom was unlike anything the world could really imagine. 
I have no idea what Mr Obama will be able to accomplish in his final four years of "power". 
I don't claim to know what Jesus will do, in the rest of his term either; but I do know this , it will be whatever he has decided he will do, it will be perfectly just true and to the glory of his father and he will never have to worry for a second if his "legacy" will last. 

Has "Christ Follower" jumped the shark?

Once in a while in our mens bible study we manage to raise an eyebrow or two. I say an eyebrow or two because some of us only have one anyway . At Renaissance a mens bible study is made up of 6-8 guys who wrestle with scripture and try to help one another live what we have pinned down or what has pinned us down. Nothing flashy just speaking truth to one another and yes we even pray for one another. So what raised our eyebrows ( or monobrows ). The fact that the term Christ Follower has probably jumped the shark.*  

So here's what our group stumbled upon when looking at Mark 8's words: 
 " ³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[b] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

There seems to be a whole lot of submission involved in Jesus'  ideas about following (it's almost as if a follower is not really in charge of the direction things are taking). You see in the last few years it's become pretty hip to avoid all self identification that has any connection with any form of "institutional flavor" of Christian community ( I don't call myself a "Christian" or a "Baptist"  or a "Presbyterian", "I don't really follow any formal religion", I just consider myself a Christ Follower". 
It sounds pretty airtight and oh so "authentic" but in our conversations this week we made the observation that is is probably most often being used in some kind of "free agent" , "I reserve the right to do things my way when it comes to faith issues", attitude.  Not very Mark 8 follower like.
I'm not trying to establish some kind of infallibility to my own tribe within the varied flavors. But if you do think you are following Jesus on the highway of life ( probably the narrow lane actually) and when you look around and you are completely on your own most days you may want to run the plates on that car in front of you. There's a good chance that whoever is driving, it is pretty likely that Jesus did not "take the wheel"! * *

* For those of you who are too young to understand a Happy Days reference , or were busy being productive during the 70's the phrase is explained here.
** While I never really liked the song "Jesus take the Wheel" By Mrs Fisher I love the song/video " Cletus Take The Reel".

The gift of self doubt...

I was reading a small e-book by one of my favourite Profs from back in the day ( Douglas D Webster ) he drew my attention to a great quote by Chesterton I supposedly have read before but have no memory of ( story of my reading life!).
Good old GK wrote:
 “What we suffer from today, is humility in the wrong place.” Humility has moved from ambition to conviction. “A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly that part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—the Divine Reason.”*

Meant to be doubting about himself, but undoubting about the truth...I like that a lot, I see less and less of it all the time.

Two other books have me thinking along the same lines one being Tim Kellars e-book " The Freedom of Self -Forgetfulness" Which I just read Buy It Here) and Don Carsons book " Memoirs Of An Ordinary Pastor" about his late Father which I have on deck to read.
This excerpt from a review has motivated me to buy a copy this morning :
"Tom Carson never rose very far in denominational structures, but hundreds of people ... testify how much he loved them. He never wrote a book, but he loved the Book. He was never wealthy or powerful, but he kept growing as a Christian: yesterday's grace was never enough. He was not a far-sighted visionary, but he looked forward to eternity. He was not a gifted administrator, but there is no text that says "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you are good administrators." His journals have many, many entries bathed in tears of contrition, but his children and grandchildren remember his laughter. Only rarely did he break through his pattern of reserve and speak deeply and intimately with his children, but he modeled Christian virtues to them. He much preferred to avoid controversy than to stir things up, but his own commitments to historic confessionalism were unyielding, and in ethics he was a man of principle. His own ecclesiastical circles were rather small and narrow, but his reading was correspondingly large and expansive. He was not very good at putting people down, except on his prayer lists.

"When he died, there were no crowds outside the hospital, no editorial comments in the papers, no announcements on the television, no mention in Parliament, no attention paid by the nation. In his hospital room there was no one by his bedside. There was only the quiet hiss of oxygen, vainly venting because he had stopped breathing and would never need it again.

But on the other side, all the trumpets sounded. Dad won entrance to the only throne-room that matters, not because he was a good man or a great man--he was, after all, a most ordinary pastor--but because he was a forgiven man. And he heard the voice of him whom he longed to hear saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord.""

Oh, that each ordinary pastor and each ordinary Christian may be so faithful and enter into that same reward. I can only hope that many young pastors will commit to reading this book. But it is not just they who can benefit. Any Christian will appreciate reading about this ordinary man who somehow seems so much like you and me. Though it is good to read about Calvin and Edwards and Whitefield, men who had extraordinary ministries and who continue to exert a worldwide impact through their writing and preaching and evangelistic efforts, it is good to see as well how God has more commonly used ordinary men to do His work. Tom Carson was an ordinary pastor, a man who struggled with depression and who saw his ministry bear visible little fruit, but he was a man who remained faithful and who served the Lord with all his heart. More aware of his faults than his strengths and more prone to humility than pride, there is much we can learn from this man. (From a Tim Challies Review On Amazon)

All in all this seems to have been one of those weeks when everything I am reading, conversations I have been having, all seem to be pointing toward the same conclusion.
I think this week that single idea may be a conclusion  that another famous Baptist named John came to a long time ago:

"He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John 3:30

English Standard Version (ESV)

*( G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (New York: Image Books, 1959), 31 Quoted In

Webster, Douglas D. (2012-07-16). An Interview with the Gospel Writers plus Heart-Scripted Theological Education (Kindle Location 624).  . Kindle Edition.

Update August 21st started reading the Memoirs book, it's all it was advertised to be. Not sure if it is helping me battle discouragement or making me feel bad that I'm not discouraged enough! It did remind me of an old favorite tune of mine from my former life as a Youth Pastor and could serve as a satirical soundtrack! Crank it up if you occasionally work for frustrated incorporated too!

  

Chasing Time

This Post is simply a link, as I added an album in the Mallonee section of my music collection (it's by far the largest section) I figured it was high time I passed on another article about my favourite singer songwriter in case anyone ever stumbles upon this blog by some strange accident.
http://mplayer.pastemagazine.com/issues/week-12/articles#article=/issues/week-12/articles/bill-mallonee-chasing-time

Children's Books And The Lords Prayer 
    It has long been considered true that if you want your kids to be readers, you need to read to them while they are young , before they can read. Apparently an even bigger factor has been discovered, which sounds far less warm and fuzzy, and it is to simply have books ready at hand. 
   My parents were not aware that this is what sociologists would discover decades later, but they did buy books. In the 1960's my mom probably caved in to one of those many book clubs where you could get 5 books for a ridiculously low price if you "joined the club". I assume this because I remember in my early elementary years, packages would come in the mail and they were books for me! ( This also may have created my future disposition for ebay shopping but more of that later).
    For at least 45 years now, I have once in a while tried to remember one book that I must have really liked, but for the life of me I couldn't remember it's title. When my three girls were toddlers I was at the children's library all the time bringing home books for the bed time ritual. I loved climbing in beside Justine on the bottom bunk with Jordy up on the top peering over the side, listening while we'd read of the "Clown Arounds" going on vacation or a grey haired granny who would take in just about any kind of animal but "No Elephants!". 
    Often as I'd scan the stacks upon stacks of kids books at the library, I would have a faint hope that some day I'd come across that one book. All I knew about it was that it's graphics had a blueish tinge and that one of the characters had a face that looked sort of like an axe. I seemed to believe he had the power to become an axe when he needed to.  Not much to go on for sure. No Title/ Author /ISBN. Just "maybe" a guy who could turn into an axe. I doubt I ever approached the children's librarian, not with such a lame description to go on. So I'd just move on , maybe it didn't exist anyway. 
    I had a flash yesterday. I don't know what caused me to think once again of the long lost book. I thought to myself: "With the way the internet has evolved over the past decade with billions of random questions posted and answered, that maybe, just maybe, some body has taken the time to answer another lost soul looking for a book with a guy who could "maybe" turn into an axe. Can you believe it? People like me (probably in their late 40's early 50's) were looking for just such a thing! 

    How excited I am, that a first edition copy of "The King With Six Friends" is on it's way to my mailbox. Now realize, I don't even know what the book is really about yet I am fascinated to see the actual illustration of the guy with he axe shaped face really looks like, compared to my murky memory about it. What are the ideas I was being guided to think about as a 5 - 7 year old and what was there about the story that resonated with me? Will they be ideas that I am still passionate about? Will it bring back a flood of other memories? 


Hold that thought.


 Imagine the angst that exists for a 25- 35 year old young adult who grew up fatherless. I realize biologically no one in the world is actually fatherless. I occasionally survey people at Renaissance on Fathers Day. I get them to raise their hands if they ever at one point in their existence, after conception, actually had a father. The numbers are consistently really, really high. 
We do however in a very non -humorous way, live in a time where what it really means to have a father, for many young adults is like a giant residual blurry memory without many more details than my description of a book, "perhaps with a guy who could turn into an axe". Concerning my beloved children's book, while I couldn't remember much about it I am pretty sure I really, really liked it (when I was very little). 
    Donald Miller ( The Blue Like Jazz Guy) wrote what I think is a pretty profound book " To Own A Dragon" which has been retitled and re-released as " Father Fiction". I think everyone who desires to gain some empathy for the millions of young adults our world keeps producing who have nothing but a faint memory of having a Father, could gain a lot from reading it. Imagine the impact when what is meant to be one of the most profound shaping relationships of their lives, pretty much never materialized, or was within their grasp for only a fleeting few months of early childhood.  People for whom having a Dad sounds like fun, you can imagine some parts of it, like owning your own pet dragon but it is about as fictional and blurry. It sounds like something you would really like, but you can barely remember enough of it to describe it. It just doesn't seem very real. 
As a messenger of the gospel I can spot a real opportunity if handled sensitively to declare some really good news. 
   This then, is how you should pray: "Our Father in Heaven,..." Matthew 6:9  
Jesus has made it possible to fill a hole much bigger than the one in the children's story section of your personal library , he has provided a way home to a perfect Father. A longing that you have, that you may have spent decades avoiding, because after all you have so little to go on and you will probably never find what you are looking for anyway. 
Don't give up looking. 

" So much of this life is lived in between,

between the now and the not yet, between arriving and departing,

between growing up and growing old, between questions and answers.

Lord, help us not to live for the distant day when the in-between will be no more,

but help us to have the courage to step into that sacred space of the  

in-between-

knowing that this is a place where life is transformed."

- Jim Branch   (Quoted in "Stuck " By Terry Walling p 1 

The Idol Of Power 

This has been a week of overloading the spell check capabilities of my computer as I try to carve a sermon for a series on The Problem With Idols using the stories of King Nebuchand...Nebachad ...you know,  the guy from the book of Daniel! I had a semi original idea this week while sermonizing on Neb-u-chad-nezz-ar (there I did it).

 Here’s my idea...the best advice the bible gives anyone in the universe is two words "Fear God" because no matter how big we may get, there will always and eternally be someone bigger. If we take God out of the equation all we are left with is fear. I believe that just keeps getting bigger. The people most driven to power and control are some of the most frightened people in the world. 
Now that I just read that I'm wishing my sermon were that clear, Oh bother,  there goes my Saturday afternoon. 

20 years ago this summer one of my all time favourite singer songwriter musicians died from complications due to a heart attack. I was on a plane between Sault Ste marie and Toronto when I read the news and I nearly fell out of my seat. I wanted to tell everyone on board the terrible news " Hey did you know Mark Heard is dead?" . I sadly realize that if I had done so the terrible connection between his name "Heard" and the sad fact that likely no one on the plane had ever " Heard" of him, would just make a sad event even sadder. Way back then he was 40 I was only 28 ...40 seemed a long way off , now it is nearly a decade in the past. In honour of the loss of someone I believe to be a truly great poet I will post an article that will do a better job than I can to explain what made him so great. The good news is you can now buy many of his great recordings on iTunes...his final three are truly masterpieces "Dry Bones Dance" "Second Hand" and "Satellite Sky" In fact I have been listening to them all day to day. 

ON THE TIP OF HIS TONGUE

The gifted and prolific songwriter-musician Mark Heard died in July of 1992 at the age of forty, following two heart attacks. Hailing originally from Macon, Georgia, but spending the majority of his writing career in the Los Angeles area, he left behind a musical legacy that is staggering in both length and substance. Heard's willingness to courageously face as a Christian the duality of our everyday existence - an existence being comprised of both good and evil - is what captured my attention some fifteen years ago. His heart broke over the grievous condition of modern man, and he was admittedly thirsty for eternal liberation from the ugly bondage of sin. Heard was a man of integrity who possessed a passionate motivation to address the plight of fallen man, along with an insatiable desire for eternal restoration, which is repeatedly reflected in his lyrics. Heard defined his "mission" as a poet clearly in the liner notes of his 1983 acoustic album, Eye of the Storm: "I prefer to see myself as a writer who is a Christian, and I prefer to let my faith flavor my observations rather than dictate them. I prefer for my pen to act as a nerve receptor and write about the world - the real one - that exists outside society's and Christian society's simplistic, plastic, media-fed notions of what life is and what is important." Heard concluded by emphasizing, "I prefer not to excommunicate myself from either the 'secular' world or the church, in favor of attempting to write in a way that is communicative to both but calculated towards neither." It is no surprise, but sad nonetheless, that Heard could never find a real "home" for his music. He was barely recognized by either Christian or secular markets, and this painful reality left him barely able to support his wife, Janet, and his young daughter, Rebecca. Early in his career he seemed able to look upon this dilemma with a bit of humor, but as time passed (and a major Christian label stole the rights to the majority of his records) it became quite clear that this took a great toll on him personally. On the 1990 acoustic tour-de-force release,Dry Bones Dance, Heard attests to this by confessing, I'm old enough to know That dreams are quickly spent Like a pouring rain on warm cement Or fingerprints in dust Nectar on the wind Save them for tomorrow and tomorrow lets you down again. (House Of Broken Dreams) Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn, a man similarly caught between secular and Christian markets, heralded Mark Heard as his favorite songwriter. It's not surprising that Cockburn chose to perform one of Heard's favorite songs, "Strong Hand of Love," on the 1994 album of the same name, a tribute to Heard. The literary core of this song - and, it seems, of all Heard's music - is best illustrated in Paul's letter to the Romans: "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God" (Romans 8:20-21). According to Dan Russell, Heard's friend and fellow partner in Fingerprint Records, "Mark saw the world as a whole. He didn't just look at the good. He looked at the good with the bad, and he came out of it with some hope." This was a major theme throughout his writings, as he laments on his 1985 rock & roll record, Mosaics: The tears still fall The birds still sing And life is bittersweet With a schizophrenic ring. The sun still shines The darkness still falls We must see both If we see them at all (Schizophrenia) Heard's overriding commitment to honestly confront this tension between good and evil had truly come of age upon his recording of Satellite Sky, which would prove to be his last album. On the first track of the record he pleads Knock the scales from my eyes Knock the words from my lungs I want to cry out It's on the tip of my tongue. I've seen through the walls of this kingdom of dust Felt the crucial revelation But the broad streets of the heart and the day-to-day meet at a blind intersection. I don't want to feel lonely, I don't want to feel pain I don't want to draw straws with the sons of Cain You can take it as a prayer if you'll remember my name You can take it as a penance of a profane saint. (Tip of My Tongue) Francis Schaeffer wrote, "From the Christian viewpoint, no man has ever been so naive, nor so ignorant of the universe, as twentieth-century man." This alarming statement penned in the early seventies was to be fully embraced by Mark Heard, who studied at Schaeffer's L'Abri school in Switzerland; indeed, Heard wove the sentiment into the fabric of his music material. On his 1984 record, Ashes and Light, he writes, "This album is dedicated to the memory of Francis A. Schaeffer, whose love for truth and whose understanding of the arts has helped me more than I can say, in my desire to interweave the two." Like Schaeffer, Heard was an astute observer of culture and a passionate student of the scriptures. He sings, onMosaics, From New York City to Babylon Like the tooth and the claw There's the law of the missile and gun. When Eden fell we gained our shame And from that age to this There has been no significant change. With Broken Wings we beat the air And as we plummet we pretend that we don't care. With broken wings we walk the earth And wonder how much is all of our recklessness worth. (With Broken Wings) Victims of the Age, released in 1982, stands alone as Heard's most articulate literary work concerning life in a postmodern, post-Christian society. Living in the Los Angeles area provided Mark the rich context for his piercing observations of our troubled society. The culture has mastered the art of postulating seductive lies concerning what truth is and what will bring deep, lasting solace to the human heart. It was clear that Heard saw through these "faint veils" and was angered that they continued to carry on in the name of normality. OnSatellite Sky he blasts out, Look up, look down, lookout somehow Look through the blindfold Shake your fist and bet your soul. You're in the way and the big wheels roll He says, "Damn the cool-headed and the setters of goals Who can feel no evil, no heat, no cold and who wouldn't know passion if it swallowed them whole." (The Big Wheels Roll) The diggers and the bankers and the architects and fools Got to work, and you can't stop them with bitter tears or golden rules It's a race to stay alive, baby, it's lawyers tax and steel 'Til the life that you are living is the thing you never feel. (Long Way Down) Heard was quite ruthless with himself as well, when it came to honest and forthright application of truth in the personal sphere. He invited his listeners into very private parts of his heart and mind, and there, as if sitting in his own family room, he confessed his own wrongdoings and shortcomings. Nowhere was he more honest about himself than on Satellite Sky: I have faltered in my strength I have wanted to do everything right I swallow hard while the second hand blinks Shut the back door to keep out the night. Is it just a game Is this a maze to lead me right back where I started from This will be a broken man come shattered from this marathon. (A Broken Man) An advantage that any skilled musician has is the ability to transport meaning in the form of sound and melody. On this particular record, Mark capitalizes on this concept through the use of his 1939 National Steel Mandolin, a rare and beautiful instrument that was to become one of his most prized tools. It provides the entire record with a richly sweet and, at times, haunting wail that beckons one to listen closely to the words and to his life. Considering the immense struggles this man faced in the music business, what kept him motivated to consistently produce the quality and quantity of work he did? Heard's friend, Tom Willet, said of him, "Motivating and informing this inexhaustible productivity was a deep sense of duty - to the truth as he knew it, to his gifts, to his family and to God." Mark was truly a questioning man who passionately sought after truth and had come to believe that the message of the Bible was the only source of hope for mankind. On Mosaics he writes, When the hand of man becomes inept And sketches the truth in silhouette All is not lost All is not lost. The hand of God has not worked in vain And this globe is fodder for the feeblest brain. All is not lost All is not lost Truth lives on Truth lives on Truth lives on. (All Is Not Lost) Heard chose to live and breathe in the center of the mysterious drama that exists between heaven and earth. Those who allow themselves to feel their part in this must admit that it seems a slow waiting game which, at times, bears no real evidence of ever ending. Heaven and earth seem to be stalled in time and space, both yearning for release. The following lyrics from Eye of the Stormpoignantly illustrate our blind struggle to survive in this world: We hide our pain We try to laugh Fools to think our tears Would provoke Holy wrath. We learn the protocol We bare our souls to none We praise our peers For the optimism shown. "Brave men don't cry," we say As we watch the world turn to dust The tears of God fall for us. (These Plastic Halos) These lyrics are what initially drew me, in the early eighties, to Heard's life and music, and gave some definition and hope to my sometimes weary soul. I listened to these words repeatedly and became aware that God was reaching out to me - that something important was happening deep within my soul. Many things have happened in my life's journey since those youthful days of the eighties, one of which has been having to face the pain of Mark's passing. The impact his death has had on my life has been profound, simply because his spiritual journey has, in many ways, paralleled my own. He and I have connected through the airwaves in ways that have served to deepen my belief in the essential life-giving connection of a brother and friend, to whom I am forever indebted. Since his death I have come to realize that the tears I have shed over him represent more than the pain felt from his untimely departure. His words and music have led me throughout the years into experiences of worship that remain fresh and alive in my soul. The backdrop of his love for God was an intense grief felt for a lost world, and it was that grief which, I believe, served to shorten his life. Mark painfully acknowledged on Satellite Sky: Why do I lie awake at night and think back just as far as I can To the sound of my Father's laugh outdoors To the thought of Sputnik in free-flight? Before I could fashion my poverty Before I distrusted the night I must've known something, I must've known something. Those were the times I live for tonight Why, Why, Why, I say Why, Mama, Why? Why can't I live in peace tonight underneath the satellite sky? (Satellite Sky) I am deeply comforted to know that Mark's wrestling is over and that he has found the Paradise that he so longed for. Those interested in finding out more about Mark Heard's life and music may write to Fingerprint Records Inc., P.O. Box 197, Merrimac, Massachusetts, 01860, or call (508) 346-4577. Doug Wheeler ( Mars Hill Review, Issue 6: pgs 112-117, Fall 1996 )

"This copyrighted article was originally published in Mars Hill Review, a 200-page journal of essays, studies and reminders of God. For more information, please visit www.marshillreview.com

http://youtu.be/-x8zBzxCwsM
Well it turns out that it may have been a typo after all. Cavalry in the update Calvary in the first release...would anyone be surprised if your Church community rode in to save the day?

I posted this video on my facebook wall a couple weeks ago when it first came out. Right away my eyes caught the lyric Calvary when it perhaps should have been Cavalry. Now I'm not so sure neither are folk in the blogosphere and review pages. What do you think? I believe we (the Church) do need to go a long way toward showing   up in a time of crisis from where we are now. It's sad to think that in such a great song we may rightly be painted like a Levite passing by on the other side or even worse not even arriving in the first place!

 

Stories For The Way There Luke 18 9-14 

I was finishing up my sermon on the Pharisee and the Publican for tomorrow morning when I found myself thinking back to one of my favorite youtube clips ever from about two years ago. I'm a fan of the blind boys for a lot of reasons, I just happen to think that if you looked up "cool" in the dictionary you should see their picture as far as I'm concerned.

But beyond that I was thinking about the "prayer that arrived" in Jesus story from Luke 18 ( Read it HERE)

The thing is Eugene Peterson is right in calling this story "The Two Sinners" ( Tell It Slant) We really fall to the way-too-common virus of self righteousness when we lose our place. The advantage for the tax collector is he knew something to be true of himself that is true of all of us.

Back to my beloved blind boys video...Lou Reed is never likely going to win a "dove " award for his contributions to the world of Christian Music. In an interview for an upcoming concert in Australia ( HERE) the venerable founding member of the boys, Jimmy Carter drops this little explanation about such an unlikely duet as Lou and the Blind Boys. " Anytime that you are with someone who has a little gospel in them, he's alright by me ...he must have some in him cause he wrote this song. " (Paraphrase)

In Jesus' story one of two men found his proper place, and went down to his house justified.

"Jesus , help me find my proper place" indeed.

Pulpit Envy and Other Complexes:

Pastors of smaller churches are usually hesitant to enter into the conversation about ideal sizes of church congregations. If they do speak a discouraging word to the culturally accepted idiom that bigger is better when it comes to congregation size, they end up sounding like a weekend flag football warrior criticizing the NFL as being "overrated."  An old friend of mine once planted a church and often used the borrowed slogan " A church for those who don't do church". At the time I was a staff member at the nearby big box church who interestingly enough supported the new church financially. Sometimes I would tease a friend at the new plant about being 

"The church for people who don't do church,  paid for by the people who do do Church". 

A few years later I fell into the lure of church planting myself, drummed up a lot of support from large churches and would wax eloquently about the opportunity to have a "blank page" to start out with, only to discover that rather than a blank page for my oh so cutting edge ideas,  a church plant was more like a paper shredder! 

But enough about me 

...I have made it my practice the last three years to do extended reading by one favorite author this summer it's Eugene Peterson. I find most Peterson books are worth reading a second or third time.  I'm into my 7th Eugene Book in the pre-office hours reading in my back yard , his newest , his Memoir "The Pastor". 

I just made it into Chapter 18 and a referenced letter to a friend he wrote many years ago really got my attention this morning. His friend was leaving his church for a bigger opportunity, and Eugenes advice to him really resonated with things I have often wondered about but would rarely voice out loud especially from my place in a small Church. This will be my longest post ever but since 3/4 of it will be a direct quote of Eugene it's not really all that remarkable , but may fuel some remarks...

" The Pastor" Pages 156-158 : " One Tuesday as we were getting ready to break up, one of our company announced that he was leaving his congregation for another, a church of a thousand members, three times the size of where he was. He described it as "more promising." I had lunch with Phillip later that week, and he told me that he felt his gifts were being wasted where he was, that he needed more of a challenge, more opportunity to "multiply his effectiveness" (his term). He had not been one of the original members of the Company, but he had been with us for seven years. He was thoroughly familiar with the particular ethos of pastor that had been developing among us. 

   The more he talked that day over our plate of bread-sticks and vichyssoise, I realized that he had, despite the Company of Pastors, absorbed a concept of pastor that had far more to do with American values-competitive, impersonal, functional- than with what I had articulated as the consensus of our Company in Five Smooth Stones. That bothered me. It didn't bother me that he was changing congregations - there are many valid, urgent, and, yes, biblical reasons to change congregations. But Philips reasons seemed to be fueled by something more like adrenaline and ego and size. I made a few shy demurrals, but he wasn't listening. SO the next week I wrote him a letter. 

     Dear Phillip, 

       I've been thinking about our conversation last week and want to respond to what you anticipate in your new congregation. You mentioned its prominence in the town, a center, a kind of cathedral church that would be able to provide influence for the Christian message far beyond its walls.

Did I hear you right?

     I certainly understand the appeal and feel it myself frequently. But I am also suspicious of the appeal and believe that gratifying it is destructive both to the gospel and the pastoral vocation. It is the kind of thing America specializes in, and one of the consequences is that American religion and the pastoral vocation are in a shabby state. 

    It is also the kind of thing for which we have abundant documentation through twenty centuries now, of debilitating both congregation and pastor. In general terms it it the devils temptation to Jesus to throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple. Every time the church's leaders depersonalize, even a little, the worshiping, loving community, the gospel is weakened. And size is the great depersonalizer. Kierkegaard's criticism is still cogent: "the more people,  the less truth."

    The only way the Christian life is brought to maturity is through intimacy, renunciation, and personal deepening. And the pastor is in a key position to nurture such maturity. It is true that these things can take place in the context of large congregations, but only by strenuously going against the grain. Largeness is an impediment, not a help.

   Classically, there are three ways in which humans try to find transcendence - religious meaning, God's meaning - a part from God as revealed in the cross of Jesus: through the ecstasy of alcohol and drugs, through the ecstasy of recreational sex, through the ecstasy of crowds. Church leaders frequently warn against the drugs and the sex, but, at least in America, almost never against the crowds. Probably because they get so much ego benefit from the crowds.

   But a crowd destroys the spirit as thoroughly as excessive drink and depersonalized sex. It takes us out of ourselves, but not to God, only away from him. The religious hunger is rooted in the unsatisfactory nature of the self. We hunger to escape the dullness, the boredom, the tiresomeness of me. We can escape upward or downward. Drugs and depersonalized sex are a false transcendence downward. A crowd is an exercise in false transcendence upward, which is why all crowds spiritually pretty much the same, whether at football games, political rallies, or at church.

   So why are we pastors so unsuspicious of crowds , so naive about the false transcendence that they engender? Why are we so knowledgeable in the false transcendence of drink and sex and so unlearned in the false transcendence of crowds? There are many spiritual masters in our tradition who diagnose and warn, but they are little read today. I myself have never written what I really feel on this subject, maybe because I am not entirely sure of myself, there being so few pastors alive today who agree. Or maybe is is because I don't want to risk wholesale repudiation by friends whom I genuinely like and respect. But I really do feel that crowds are a worse danger, far worse than drink or sex, and pastors may be the only people on the planet to encourage an imagination that conceives of congregations strategically not in terms of its size but as a congenial setting for becoming mature in Christ in a community, not a crowd.

   Your present congregation is close to ideal in size to employ your pastoral vocation for forming Christian maturity. You have talked about "multiplying your influence."  My apprehension is that your anticipated move will diminish your vocation, not enhance it. 

   Can we talk more about this? I would welcome a continuing conversation.

                                              The peace of Christ, 

                                              Eugene

So many things spun through my head as I digested those unusual words regarding church leadership, like if I got a letter like that from Eugene would I have the guts to open a second one?  

Sometimes my ministry reminds me of a line from the great songwriter Bill Mallonee 

 " I was drinking in obscurity,

       the small talk of the town.
    Yes, she is the silent type
        But she'll buy you the next round" 

Eugenes words have me thinking that there is so much more to be worked out in my ideas about what the ideal sized church really is. Fortunately perhaps, my unique mix of spiritual gifted-ness, management abilities and leadership style seem to be just the perfect combination for growing a church of 100 people, so there appear to be a lot of bridges I will likely never have to wonder about crossing. 

This strange idea popped into my head as well though...Joel Osteens crowd is the fastest growing one in America these days, and while we don't have the headcount recorded,  one of the larger crowds Jesus ever attracted were shouting crucify him crucify him.

JB 

Father of Daughters : If you are a Dad with a daughter, take this link and listen to Red Robin by Clark Richard...I just discovered the guy but I have a feeling I will be a fan for a while...
RED ROBIN

Here's the rough notes I took with me for the roughest message I have ever tried to give...if you were not there you can read it and imagine the guy reading it crying like a baby and you will just about have it right....

Jordy Speech

Thanks to guests…family from S A and the Dominican…Happy Fathers Day

§                     Jordan it's fitting that this day happened on Fathers day, you made me a Father …best thing I’ve ever gotten to be in life.

§                  I missed my first Youth Event Friday June 9^th 1989 a welcome to the Blackman's barbecue…I went home to an empty apartment and sat at the table and wrote a letter to the future 13 year old Jordan that I would give you on your 13^th birthday, to let you know that right then when you had never done a thing, never walked a step, laughed a laugh, passed a test , you were already so loved…

Of course I have no idea what I did with it, but I bet it was great.
The next morning, I was at sears with debit card in hand, to buy you a coming home outfit…now that we knew you were a girl…this was the last time I ever chose your clothing, but not the last time I paid for them. I also bought a pink tie to wear to church the next day…
I drove to the hospital with my Atlantic R& B mixed tape cranking the Temptations song … My girl! I’ve never listened to that song without thinking of that drive from the mall to the hospital…

§          Jordan you were always ready for the next phase of life. Whether  it was  the door to Mrs Beauchamps Kindergarten class /first time to camp/  a new elementary school / high school /trip to the geographic center of china /  university  you just walked right through each of those doors. I’m sure you’ll do the same with the doorway to marriage and family life. Some here today may be surprised at how confident and ready you appeared for this big day, Janine and I are not surprised at all!

§        Matt when Jordan was just a Jr Higher , Janine went to a mothers and daughters conference …they told her to make a prayer list for her daughters future husbands , List three qualities three P’s That he would be a Prayer, Protector & Provider.  Matt you have been all three of those…( reminded me of what I was praying for in a woman before I met Janine that she would be three B’s Beautiful, Barely old enough and a  and Bad judge of character… )

§          First Year at Tyndale she got a bookmark part of a promotional campaign, with the heading "Have You Found Your One?…with Matts picture on it! Then we heard…"Hey there is a guy at school who went to HS with Luke"…Then things like " A bunch of us went out, there was  Stiller Stiller blah blah blah & Matt Murray. Then just "Matt Murray this",  "Matt Murray that", then Janine said “ I think she likes this guy"….

§         Tyndale, that place Jordan spent the whole ride to, on a "college for a day" trip, with Christine McCourt, explaining so confidently that "she was not even thinking of going there; she’s just skipping school for the day" …then by chapel as I sat with Sandy Roberts, Jordan goes by us and says "I really love it here! I am really thinking about it!" We may be the only father daughter tandem to have been resident advisers in the same dorm!
       Four years later look at your wedding party and the significant mentors you asked to come and pray for you…either family or Tyndale…Amazing!

§         Matt, you should thank Scotty Mack for breaking us in as parents with boyfriend-in-laws or you would have had to break down all the barriers he had to face!

§       Jordan is named after a river … to cross the Jordan, Matthew,  in scripture was usually was a metaphor either for entering the promised land or dying…you cross her and let us know how it works out.

§        There’s plenty going on behind those eyes…as a toddler she rarely ever slept in the car …we’d be on long trips between Sault ST Marie and Grandma’s house…everyone else would be asleep and I’d look in the rear view mirror and there would be those eyes…staring right at me in the mirror…she was 2 or three years old and she could see right through me…there’s a lot of mystery and strength going on behind those eyes …I could see it then…I’ve discovered some of it over 22 years…but there’s so much to this woman … I’m sure you will carry on the privilege of discovering even more 25, 30 years from now. May you be blessed to discover that who you have become, is so entwined in your relationship, that you don’t even make sense any more without the other.

§       We spent all these years preparing to present her to you…you now can spend the rest of your life preparing to present her to Christ.

§   

Welcome to our family

We love you both …

 I don't have a specific reason for posting this other than the fact that I believe it will forever be one of my all time favorite songs. I think for me, it is what a person coming to faith in Christ sounds like, wrapped up in a song. I think there couldn't be a married couple in the world with more cool per pound then Buddy and Julie Miller!


 Broken Things - Julie Miller

Top 5 Reasons I Believe The Mavericks will Beat The Heat

1. The week my 1st daughter was born in 89 the team we were cheering for won their first title ( Pistons) , This week she gets married thus Mavericks win...
2. 50% of the retired jerseys in the rafters for the Mavericks have the name Blackman on them.
3. Dirk is the epitome of the New International Version of a basketball player Lebron James goes by the nickname King James ... nuff said! 
4. Miami promotes their own version of the Big Three, blasphemy! 
5. Watching the American feed of game 5,  the commercials included one for Mens Wearhouse ... I just bought a suit from them in Florida for the aforementioned wedding ( surely a sign). Another commercial Tim Horton's! ...any true blooded Horton's drinking Canadian knows Chris Bosh cannot leave the Raptors High and dry and win a championship. It just wouldn't be right (nor should he be scoring double doubles! ). 

New Creations And Old Diapers
I have a friend who may be released from maximum security incarceration after roughly 4 years. He has been held without bail pending trial these four long years. During this time he has made a profession of faith in Christ, if the rumors are true and he is released, there are some major challenges ahead of him. I don't want to post anything here that could compromise the process but it would be suffice to say that his success on the "outside" in the coming years will be dependent on identity issues. Here is a passage I am preaching on this Sunday that draws attention to what my friend will be facing:

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (New International Version, ©2011)

¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
 ¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin^[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

Paul  is stating here that something has actually changed in the life of a person who has come to faith in Christ. A whole new identity. He has reconciled us with God so that we might "become the righteousness of God" ,  and,  "he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."
For the next steps in my friends walk of faith, there will be constant challenges as to which identity he is going have dominate his decision making. Before Christ or  After Christ. There are things in his past that will have seemed perfectly congruent with how he saw himself before and if he submits to the reality of who he is in Christ these things will change. 
Some may ask "can someone really change?". That new identity in Christ will be crucial for the answer. Consider dirty diapers as an example. Our church congregation is teeming with toddlers and babies. Many new creations every year!  We warn new visitors that "someone is always pregnant at Renaissance!" As a result each Sunday on average about 10% of our congregation do something quite offensive to the rest of us. They soil their pants! It feels perfectly natural to them! They for the most part, feel no remorse! They probably feel relieved and perfectly comfortable doing it. They probably enjoy the whole experience. Every one of the other people in that same building on any given Sunday are perfectly capable of doing exactly the same thing , but you know there's something about it that just wouldn't seem right!
You see we have come to see ourselves differently. Based on who we have become it's just no longer appropriate. These changes did not happen over night, but eventually we actually lost the joy in the whole experience, because we came to see such behavior as inappropriate for a " grown up" . As we grew it was not even a temptation for us.
So when my friend just out of incarceration or anyone else with a new identity in Christ begins to make decisions in life. The question will be, is my decision, my action something that fits who I was before Christ "changed me" ( no pun intended) or who I am "in Christ".
 ¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

I am a roadie...no I don't haul amps and lights for Jackson Browne ...I ride a bicycle...a road bike...skinny tires , drop bars , stretchy pants the whole deal. I tell my mountain bike stump jumping friends: " If God intended men to ride on dirt trails why did he create all these miles of paved roads?" They usually have no good answers for such logic, of course most of them are concussed anyway , so air tight logic like that is not something they are often up for.
But I got an idea during a discussion, at my mid-week small group, about life as a follower of Christ and as a man in general, from one of my cycling pet peeves...headwinds!
I bike about 2300 - 2500 km a season. I ride in cold weather ( not too cold) in hot weather , in traffic , on country roads. On flats and hills, some big hills. I've never tried the famous Ontario Hilly Hundred , but I've come a long way. I used to hate big hills but I have gotten used to them. Once I get my fat carcass up a big hill I've learned that within a few minutes I've adjusted , and it's forgotten. As long as my wife didn't get to the top too far ahead of me, my ego is still fairly intact.

But I hate headwinds!

I watch the flags at the local elementary school when I head out. We always head north out of Brooklin; so when that flag is blowing straight south I know that the route is not only going to be uphill but against the wind. I realized that my definition of a good bike ride has come to be determined by wind direction. Flag pointing south = lousy ride, flag heading north= great ride. I realized my attitude goes south with that flag.
I have also realized that on a day with no wind, I ride for hours and have a great time. On the other hand, 30 minutes into a stiff headwind and I just want to go back home. It boils down to this: I have come to believe that an enjoyable bike ride is one that happens at the speed I am used to, with the effort that I want to put into it. That preconceived idea unfortunately doesn't stand up to headwinds! I could (theoretically) go for a long ride, into the wind and just travel slower than I think I am supposed to. It would be slower than what I think I should be going, for a ride to qualify as a "good ride". What I am trying to tell myself now is that it's just a good bike ride with a headwind!
Ultimately I asked myself, what has changed, on a head-windy day? I'm outside, on my bike, enjoying the outdoors getting some exercise but this one thing that is out of my control ( the wind) has me believing something is seriously wrong!
You see the guys in my men's group are learning together that things like: conflict/obstacles /blocked goals, in life/family/work/ministry, all create strong feelings. What we are feeling at those times is actually just life! Trials and difficulties, like headwinds happen, while you are living a life!
Here's the jump from the rims to the real life with Christ...my problem with head winds is my distorted idea that a headwind is some kind of thing that makes a good bike ride impossible ... when really it is just bike riding...with a head wind. I am tempted in the spiritual life in Christ to cherish comfort and "progress" ( my definition/ expectation of it). So when I feel "at peace" and things are "going well" I think to myself " now this is living". When difficulties disappointments trials pain suffering come my way, I can forget that what is happening most of the time is life. If I really wanted to become a strong cyclist, headwinds would be an opportunity to achieve that. James says :

James 1:2-4
² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Maybe this summer if you see me riding into a headwind and you ask me what I am doing? I will say " Going for a bike ride" (between breaths) or if you see me in a trial of some type and ask me what I am doing perhaps I will say "living, and growing stronger while I am doing it".
Don't let yourself believe that trials mean you are not really living.