Hellboy...

Somedays I think we're raising one. 

We had a friend over who is thinking about homeschooling.  My older son beaned my other children with rocks in the head and narrowly missed our friend's children.  My younger son wouldn't share his toys, was fussy, and lived up to the "Terrible 2" stereotype.

I don't think we'll convince many to homeschool when we make an impression like this.   

A Gospel-Haunted Life  
  
We're learning the hymn, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah.  Lyrics like, "open now the crystal fountain, whence the healing stream doth flow", and "be thou still my strength and shield" are full of faith and love. 
 
Many folks love hymns like this, partly because the tune is familiar, and partly because the language rightly commends faith in God despite adversity.  
 
But when does our life get beyond the mere enjoyment of these sentiments?  Why don't I live more like God is "my battleshield, sword for my fight", "mine inheritance now and always",  and "his kingdom is forever"?
 
If I give intellectual assent to the power, love, and faithfulness of God, but live as if I don't really believe it, I'm only letting the Gospel haunt me.  How much better to believe, to trust, to act in faith!      

Thy Word is a Lamp
 
I worshipped at a reformed Episcopal church for the first time today.  Much of the liturgy was new to me, but one new part in particular moved me.
 
I'm accustomed to standing during the reading of the Scripture to be preached, but in this church the reading was handled in even a more reverent and inspiring way.  As the congregation rose and sang Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, the acolyte proceeded from the alter with a cross followed by the rector holding up the Word of God.  They stopped in the middle of the congregation, we turned to face the rector and the singing quieted.  Then, in the midst of the people, the words of Christ from St. Matthew's Gospel were spoken to us. 
 
This approach presented a vivid reminder that our Lord humbled Himself, dwelt among those He came to save and with Him we have the very Word of God.     

Spending a lot of time in the Pub
 
I've been listening to the back issues of St. Anne's Pub and enjoying them.  Their critique of evangelical evangelism got me thinking more about what has and is influencing me in this area.  I wouldn't be surprised if many folks coming out of evangelicalism and into a reformed church share the same thoughts.
 
There seem to be two common American approaches to evangelism to avoid.  First are those that proclaim a very diluted gospel (think "4 Spiritual laws") without living out the consequences of the gospel (i.e. their life has no obvious elements of mercy, compassion, love for their neighbors, etc).  And second are the social gospelers.  These have mercy, service, etc, but proclaim very little gospel.
 
Seeing the problems with these approaches is not enough.  We must sew back together the proclamation of the Gospel and a life full of the claims of the Gospel.       
 
 
    

Let Us Welcome The Newly Baptized

I'm delighted to see that my previous church, North Macon Presbyterian has begun to use scripted prayer. I'd love to witness the beauty of this worship service when these two children are baptized on the Lord's Day. Here's an excerpt from the Worship Guide...

Congregational Prayer
ALL: Almighty God, we thank You that by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ You have overcome, sin and death and have brought us to Yourself. We thank You that by the sealing of the Holy Spirit, You have bestowed upon us the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection to newness of life and have bound us to Yourself and to your service. Renew us, O Lord, by the same Holy Spirit, granting us an inquiring mind, an affectionate and discerning heart, and the courage to will and persevere in all that You would call us to, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

PASTOR: Dear Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray for Jerry and Stacie, who come with Rachel Morgan and Nicole Elizabeth, to declare publicly their allegiance to your Son our Savior: Deliver them, O Lord, from the way of sin and death. Daily open their hearts to your grace and truth. Fill them with your life-giving Spirit. Keep them in the faith and communion of your holy Church. Enable them to love others in the power of the Spirit. Send them into the world to be a witness to your grace and love. And preserve them until they arrive in their heavenly home to enjoy the fullness of your peace and glory.

PEOPLE: Lord, hear our prayer.

PASTOR: Father, we pray for these two children, Rachel Morgan and Nicole Elizabeth. Deliver them from the way of sin and death; open their hearts to your grace and truth; fill them with your life-giving Spirit; keep them in the faith and communion of your Church; prepare them to witness to your love; and bring them to the fullness of your peace and glory.

PEOPLE: Lord, hear our prayer.

PASTOR: And for these parents, Jerry and Stacie. Grant them grace so to live before their children, teaching them, praying with them and for them, that by their faithful living and through the power of the Gospel, all the promises of the covenant may be fulfilled in their lives.

PEOPLE: Lord, hear our prayer.

PASTOR: And we pray for ourselves, the congregation of North Macon Presbyterian Church: Grant us grace to see Rachel Morgan and Nicole Elizabeth as our own; to love them, pray for them, and assist these parents as duty done to You,
the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

PEOPLE: Lord, hear our prayer. Amen.

The Welcome
PASTOR: Rachel Morgan and Nicole Elizabeth have been received into the one holy catholic and apostolic church through baptism. God has made them members of the household of God, to share with us in the priesthood of Christ. Let us welcome the newly baptized.

ALL: With joy and thanksgiving we welcome you into Christ’s church to share with us in his ministry, for we are all one in Christ.

PASTOR: The peace of Christ be with you.

PEOPLE: And also with you.

I'm Pro-Church

I love this from the Book of Common Prayer:

"O Gracious Father, we humbly beseech thee for thy holy Catholic Church; that thou wouldest be pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen".

What if...

...There was a small town with only two churches. Thanks to creeds, confessions, and a rich history of gifted teachers, one of the churches was blessed to possess nearly all of the Truth. The other church had significantly less, and sadly, was content with that.

Yet, the people of the blessed church, knowing that they had more Truth, became unteachable, and over time came to live out only a fraction of what their church professed.

Regrettably, the other church taught against much of the Truth they lacked; however, they were able to consistently live out what Truth they did have.

If you've just moved into this town, which one would you choose?

Look What We Got...


With the move out of the apartment and into our rental house, we're up to 11 address changes in 10 years. This may explain why when asked for our mailing address or phone number, we pause a little too long before replying with shaky confidence.

So far the unpacking is going well, thanks in large part to the loving service of the church we've been visiting. They've kept children for several hours, prepared several delicious meals, and helped rearrange several pieces of furniture.

We've also met two homeschooling neighbors--a great praise. Oddly enough, since moving into our house (2 days ago), four people have invited us to a church. I might have thought I was back in the Bible belt, except that none of the invites were to Baptist churches...

Back to unboxing...

Proclaiming Without Living

I'm finally getting to Ken Myers letter (from Mars Hill Audio) that he sent out sometime in May. Assertions, like this one, hit hard:

I believe that Christians make a great mistake if they separate proclamation, that is, the announcing of the basic truths of the Gospel, from faithfulness, that is, the living out of all of the consequences of the Gospel.

The rest of his letter is powerful, too, but the quote above resonates most strongly with me at this time. In the past I have prayed, sought out, and took opportunities to proclaim the Gospel to those around me. But admittedly, my life lacked some basic consequences of the Gospel, such as, love for my neighbors, mercy, compassion, service.

It's my heart's desire here to both proclaim the Gospel while also consistently, clearly living out the claims of the Gospel.

A Mad Baptism

Some new friends from church invited me to join them on a regular canoe trip down one of the rivers here in the Dayton area. This time it was the Mad River, named after a local hero here, not because of any Bermuda-triangle like effect.

As the only unexperienced canoe-man, I rode as a spectator. After about 5 minutes of turns and scenic straight-aways I received the Mad Baptism. It's as close to death as I've ever been.

The bend in the river was narrow and tight, requiring the canoe to sweep out 90 degrees and then back another 90 very quickly. At the entrance to the bend was a large felled tree with thick limbs and branches, many submerged. The tree had been skinned barkless by the force of the current as the water rushed into the bend.

Unknown to us at the time, our canoe, newly out of the shop after a lengthy repair, was a sluggish turner. As we approached the bend, the canoe lumbered slowly in the direction of the turn, but not nearly quick enough. We lightheartedly mused about this and prepared for a light bump into the tree. The last thing above water that I remember was hearing the front of the canoe tap the tree.

In a flash, quicker than can be believed, the entire 3-man canoe was sunk deep, fully submerged in a split second. Underwater and unable to see at all I felt something on top of my head and something else over my shoulders. Oblivious to my peril, here I was, still smiling, thinking I would pop back up in an instant. That feeling soon passed as I struggled to surface but was unable.

How I eventually surfaced I don't know. But when I came up, there I was wedged in among the limbs of that fallen tree. The current was strong enough to pin me to the limb in front of me. I looked up and saw the two bobbing heads of my friends and thanked my Savior.

You can understand my amazement and delight, when listening to a sermon the next day, I heard:

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine. When you pass through the water, I will be with you; in the rivers you shall not drown. Isaiah 43:1-2

Happy Second Birthday, Isaiah

Birthday Q&A with our 2-year old:

Q. How old are you?
A. Good.

Q. What's your name?
A. Baby.

Q. What's YOUR name?
A. Yea-yeah
*sounds kinda like Isaiah

Conversational English and the Gospel

We're almost at the end of our 6-week stay in the apartment complex. What has surprised me the most hasn't just been how loud footsteps from the apartment above can be, but how cosmopolitan this apartment community is.

Much more than anywhere else I've lived, the nations are gathered here. This is largely due to the homogeneous (read yuppie) neighborhoods I lived in for most of my adult life.

I've heard many different languages while walking the dog near the community pool and tennis court. Last week I started asking some of the people about their backgrounds. There are a lot of Asian families, some Africans, and even one Arab family that I've seen so far.

These families have been friendly and enjoy meeting other people that live here. For many of them English is a second language, this seems especially true for the young mothers I've seen. It seems that a church could easily reach-out to this multi-ethnic community by offering conversational English classes to the ladies. Through the relationships that would be formed over time, this could be a great opportunity to proclaim the gospel to other cultures.

A Work of Necessity


Just after sunrise I saw a strange sight off in the distance while taking Glory out for a morning stroll. From afar it looked like a drunk cat wearing a straw hat. For several minutes the dog and I stood staring at this thing that was aimlessly wandering around the field, occasionally bumping into a tree or a curb in the parking lot.

As we neared the strange animal, we saw that here is a poor little raccoon with its head completely stuck inside a metal can. Who knows how long it had wandered around. The can must of prevented it from realizing that a very eager Border Collie was near by. The raccoon was totally oblivious to our presence.



Being the Sabbath and thinking that perhaps this is like a "donkey that fell into a pit", I decided to help. Here at last, a work of necessity! My first attempt was to kick the can from its side, hoping it would free the raccoon while I remained at a comfortable distance. This resulted in the raccoon spinning around in the air, but landing with the can still firmly in place. A more gentle approach was required. I stepped on the metal can with one foot and this allowed the creature to dig its claws into the ground and free itself.

At this point I thought the fun was over, although Glory laid down in front of it as a sign of friendship (she has no mean bone in her body). But the raccoon was in a bad mood and let her know it with a hiss and growl. We turned to go back to the apartment, but the raccoon, realizing it had no clue where it was, decided to follow us at a comfortable distance.

The furry raccoon decided that our van was a safe looking place and I spent several minutes trying to coax it out from underneath. This failed and it decided to seek better shelter from the engine compartment. So once again the raccoon was stuck in a metal can.

It stayed in our van until we had to leave for church. I opened up the hood and there it was staring at me from on top of the battery! It refused to leap out, and I couldn't succeed in prying it out with the stick I had, so it got a free ride to church this morning (a 30 minute drive). Once there I opened up the hood and as far as I know it hopped out during worship.

Here's Eli enjoying an easy homemade game.

It's called "Double-Ball" and I'm told it's about 800 years old. It's an early Native American form of Lacrosse. All you need is a smooth stick, 2 tennis balls, and a sock. Tie the balls in the sock so that there's a knot in the middle. You use the stick to pass and catch the double-ball.

Besides being fun for a young child to make, it's also pretty easy to throw and catch over long distances. Young boys who aren't quite ready to catch a touchdown pass or an over-the-shoulder pop-fly, can enjoy snagging a long bomb from their dad's stick.

Becoming Uriah Heep

The hypocritically humble Uriah Heep from Charles Dicken's own favorite, David Copperfield , had good reason to at least feel humble. After all, compared to those around him, his conditions were quite humble.

I can relate to Uriah Heep. Everyone else seems either better off or more gifted than me. Wallowing in the mire of self-deprecation, I can start hating more than just my shortcomings. Of course it starts with hating myself, forgetting that "by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace toward me was not in vain". But with that comes ill feelings towards my classmates, who are ahead of me only because they had better college math teachers than I did. This spills over into anger towards my family for not understanding my needs, my teachers for their inability to teach at my level, and on and on.

A better approach is needed. I must do my best, for when Paul says, "whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord", I suppose this includes Calculus, too. But beyond that I am to trust our Sovereign God. His plan cannot be thwarted. And remarkably, He is out for my good. I can trust Him even though the hill is difficult and there any many "signs" telling me to despair and turn some other way.

Falling behind my classmates in every subject is a humbling experience. I am not going to rise to the top of this class. This is true in many other areas of my life. There are many great things that I will never be. But I am comforted by the words of a reformed Scot preacher Andrew Bonar (1810-1892), "The Lord shows me that He wishes me to be one of the common Levites who carry the pins".

After all, the true heroes are not the intellectual geniuses, the sports stars, the bold and the beautiful. But instead, the real heroes, the ones for whom the world is not worthy, are those who diligently seek the one true Rewarder.

I can stop wringing my hands and instead fold them.

Go to the Ant

Kristin spent the day at a Ladies Retreat hosted by the church we've been attending, Covenant Presbyterian. The speaker was Judy Rogers. Our whole family has enjoyed her music since we learned of her during our time in Georgia.

The mothers at this church have been getting together frequently, which has helped Kristin and our children get out of the apartment and make friends. I especially like an exhortation I saw from the pastor's wife. She wrote, "remember to schedule your life
around YOUR church not fit your church into your life's SCHEDULE.:-)".

From Doug Wilson's blog, concerning the Ronald Reagan funeral...

The comment I want to make here concerns that which is before us right now, as we consider the funeral and the events surrounding the funeral. The events of the last week have shown us (in the civil realm) the potency of symbols and the power of liturgy. Ideas are important, and ideas have consequences. But liturgy has consequences also. Liturgy moves people, and it is not an irrational and emotional display when it does so. In many ways, and on many levels, Reagan was a class act. How he has left us has been no exception. This has been a grand example of what C.S. Lewis described with the Middle English word solempne -- a joyful and august solemnity.

The striking thing about this is that it represents the polar opposite of most worship in most evangelical and Reformed churches.

Spankers Need Not Apply

I wrote earlier about the difficulty in finding a trustworthy agency to do our homestudy. Since then we've received the list of adoption agencies that the local Crisis Pregnancy Center uses for referring birthmothers.

Today I contacted two of those agencies. Both look down on any form of "physical discipline". Both think that spanking could be okay if it's a last resort, done with only an open hand (no wooden sticks, etc), and rare (one said 8 times in a childhood).

I understand that these policies are intended to protect the children, who in the case of young children have often been abused by their birth parents. But the policies leave no room for biblical discipline in the adoptive family. And of more concern to me right now, paying a social worker to come to my house for a homestudy and find that we "abuse" our children, is a tremendously risky proposal.

We deeply want to care for and raise another child, especially one who would otherwise be without a loving, Christian family. But we seem blocked by the very folks whose job is to find loving Christian families for needy children.

The 'Nevers' of the Gospel

O Lord, may I,

Never rest in a system of doctrine that does not teach me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, or help me to live soberly, righteously, godly;

Never rely on my own convictions and resolutions, but be strong in thee and in thy might;

Never cease to find thy grace sufficient in all my duties, trials, and conflicts;

Never forget to repair to thee in all my distresses and troubles, in all the dissatisfactions experienced in creature comforts;

Never fail to retreat to him who is full of grace and truth, the friend that loveth at all times, who can do exceeding abundantly for me;

Never confine my religion to extraordinary occasions, but acknowledge thee in all my ways

Never limit my devotions to particular seasons but be in thy fear all the day long;

Amen.

adapted from The Valley of Vision

Witnessing from Weakness

I've been thinking about my classmates here at AFIT. Since we spend so much time together, including lunch most days, it's probably the best assignment I've had to speak of Christ and the gospel. However, since my classmates are all at least a decade past the college years, it would be easy for me to write them off as past their "formative years". But I see no such evangelism-exemption in Scripture.

The more challenging obstacle for me is my class-ranking. Many, perhaps most, of my classmates are better suited than me for a technical master's degree. I am far from being the brightest student in class. Since these folks know me through my performance in class, this will affect my attempts to evangelize. When I witness, it will be from a position of weakness. When I speak to them about the wisdom of God it will be "that guy who we have to help in calculus and programming" who is talking.

Yet, God often honors the efforts of those who are seen as weak by their hearers. Think of Paul before rulers. Or on Mars Hill. Or think of simple fisherman before the Sanhedrin.

This really may be my best opportunity at evangelism.