More than I ask or imagine. . .

An Invitation to Lament: The Bible "Rolling in the Deep"

I am beginning a sermon series on Lamentations this Sunday.  Many of our hymns or songs in Evangelicalism have no room for lament.  Lamenting is part of life and reflects the glory of God in whose likeness we are created.  I find that the only place in our culture we can lament is break up songs.  Country songs do this too.  What happens when you play a country song backwards?  You get your wife, car, and dog back, as the old joke goes.  But this morning I was thinking about our lack of lament in our culture and heard this song, Rolling in the Deep.  Adele reminds me of Dusty Springfield, and the song reminds me of the Stone's great anthem, Gimme Shelter.  In the video, a city is destroyed, a warrior stirs up the dust that is settled, and plates are broken. What a great picture of relationship loss and struggle. Enjoy the video with the song as an example of modern day lament.

My Credo Part Three: Judgement and Mercy in Christ

As continuing this series on my Credo, I wrote about the Christology and Trinitarian views of the Primitive Church before the split between East and West.  I love that ecumenical team work but as you will read below, I have the Holy Spirit proceeding from both the Father and Son as the Western church has taught.  I take that position knowing that the Filioque Controversy behind that statement. The question is where in the Nicene Creed the Western Church added the phrase filioque to the original "the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son." I firmly believe that both sides of the church were talking past each other as Christians have been known to do. Another lesson in church history why we need one another as Christians.

I believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God eternally begotten by the Father.  The Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Son and the Father.  This is the Trinity that is united as one Godhead in three distinct persons all equal in power and glory.  The Son is the image of the invisible God while at the same time he is fully human.  He was born of the Virgin Mary living a life that succeeded where humanity had failed in the past, then died on the Cross as a propitiation for humanity’s rebellion and mine.   Then, the Father declared him to be the Son of God with power by raising Him from the dead by the Holy Spirit.   The Gospel message is that Christ died and rose again to defeat death. He is coming again to make everything right bringing even more peace and prosperity as Heaven and Earth become one.  Thus, humanity and creation are brought into the fellowship of the Trinity after the world is purified through Final Judgement.

I firmly believe that Judgement was poured out on the Cross of Christ, but there is still a final judgement coming.  I am not a universalist and I do not think that all paths lead to God.  As I will divulge later, I am a Post-Millenialist so I believe at the end there will be universal salvation because there will be no one left on Earth except the church.  BB Warfield in The Plan of Salvation calls this the escathological 'all'.  Salvation is collective, personal, universal and particular in Christ, "rolling as a mighty ocean in its fulness over me".

My Credo Part Two: I Believe in God the Father Almighty

 

This is my opening paragraph on my statement of faith. I followed the Apostle's Creed, and as always being anchored in History always wins.

"I believe in God the Father who created all things invisible and visible.  I believe that God’s Creation was good revealing the way things are supposed to be in Peace (Shalom), comprehensive human flourishing.  Every human being lives in God’s world with a longing to know the Creator behind all beauty, pleasure, love, and goodness.  I believe that humanity committed cosmic rebellion, sin, against God’s created Peace.  This rebellion infected every part of humanity and left no part of the human heart or mind untouched, thus we are totally depraved.  God began putting this beloved Creation back together through Abraham, Isaac, Israel, and ultimately and finally, Jesus and his people, the Body, which is his Church."

It is a very simple story, but one that we often forget.  Being a story teller, I wanted to embellish and say more about the Creation Narrative and poetry.  I wanted paint the picture, but then I could have turned in the Bible and just highlighted the whole thing. 

In these types of statements, what you do not say also speaks volumes.  In the area of science and faith, I do think you do damage to force the text to say 6-24 hour days.  I believe the notion of everyone saying that is has to be is already living in the Scientific world and submitted to it.  Science does not give me my values, my worth, my purpose, my family, or my story.  So why would I want to put science there in The Story.  Science is supposed to be about hypothesis and repeatable events, but this is difficult with history. The question of origins is about values.  Is this God's world? Yes  Do we owe him honor and worship living lives in obedience because this is his World and he calls the shots? Yes.  We are not animals helpless to our appetites, and we are not clocks knowing precision.  The Story is accurate and qualitative and its authority wants to do more in us and through us than just tell time. The Story, God's Truth in Scripture, wants us to worship and love with a full thankful heart.

The Fellowship of Presbyterians: Why a New Reformed Body? #MN2011 @fellowshippres

Here is a just posted video from the Conference from Minnesota that I attended last month.

 

 

John Crosby - "Why a New Reformed Body?" from Fellowship of Presbyterians on Vimeo.

My Credo Part One: Too Many Influences Make Me a Theological Mutt

Yes, I am a mutt and a theological one to boot. What I mean is that I have a Presbyterian tradition and call, but my background and theological outlook is much more broad.  Recently in my transition to the PCUSA, I had to write up my theological commitments in about a page.  This practice showed me how influenced I am from many different angles by such a diverse amount of traditions.  Below is a list of influences historical and literary that have formed my view of theology, Scripture, and the Church. My next few posts will be paragraphs from that theological summary.

Methodism- In my formative years, I attended a UMC church that said the Lord's Prayer and Apostle's Creed every week.  This had its effect in my having these truths drummed into me at a very young age. The power of repeated words said in unison gave me direction in my prayer.

Fellowship of Christian Athletes- You may have heard that the Christian faith is about a "relationship not a religion".  Now I consider it cliche but it was very powerful for me as a teenager. It was through this ministry that I began to learn to repent of my sin, even intentional and premeditated sin.

Thomas A Kempis- At Vanderbilt, I read "On the Imitation of Christ" for my Class on Reformation History. It was the first textbook that I read that grew my faith.  His mysticism intrigued me when I thought everything was about a re dedication of your life.

John Calvin- I remember reading the "Institutes" for the same class above and thinking, "This man knows a God much bigger than Max Lucado".  Granted I did still love Lucado, but the capacity and vision of God's power turned my world upside down. I am a Presbyterian today because of that encounter.

Westminster Theological Seminary- I graduated in 2004, and am still amazed at how the whole program from Biblical Studies, Counseling, Church History, Apologetics, and Theology formed one whole worldview and Biblical view. 

James Jordan and Peter Leihart- These two Westminster graduates took me to a place of appreciation of the whole Christian tradition including some elements of Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Orthodox.  They were very keyed into the symbolic worldview that dominates the Hebrew Mind.  I am continued to be encouraged by their agrarian worldview, biblical theology, and sacramental practice.

NT Wright and Karl Barth-Although these guys are very different, I saw them both as suspect at one time, but now see tremendous amount of gain in interacting with their thought.  I do not sign on to everything they say, but I do find they help me think through the truth of Scripture.

The Jack Miller Movement- This is a renewal movement out of Westminster Theological Seminary that emphasized Sonship and understanding the blessings of salvation to such an extent that your functional theology would be the same as your formal theology.  So if you really believe that you were justified by Christ's work and not based on your own performance, you would be less defensive, less self-righteous, but more loving and trusting. This movement was influential to Tim Keller and the ministry of the PCA.

Eugene Peterson- The author of The Message has given me a view of Pastoral practice that I will never exhaust and never recover from.  As a college in the PCUSA, I have found his view of pastoral ministry to be so appealing and so church affirming. From his series on Spiritual Theology to The Contemplative Pastor, I have learned how to see my calling and see my story to be about God's Story in Christ.

GK Chesterton and Charles Spurgeon-My two fat Englishmen!  I cannot tell you how influencial both of these men have been.  One is Catholic and one is Baptist, but both enjoyed life and the romance of orthodox belief.  I guess in many ways I am right in the middle of both of these men, but tremendously indebted to them. How can I love both liturgy and freedom in worship?  Because I have been so influenced by both of these men.  I highly recommend Orthodoxy by Chesterton and Morning and Evening by Spurgeon to begin.  I could go on for hours about these guys, but that is another post.

Friends and Family- The diversity of my geography and network have opened my eyes to see life through many different windows, and even recommended the above influences. I am a product of all of those and am full of thanks for all of you.

Yes, I admit it. I am a Neil Diamond Fan. Here are 3 videos of Great Songs.

Beware after listening to these you may become a Neil Diamond fan too! These are Holly Holy, Forever in Blue Jeans, and Yesterday's Songs. These are three lesser known but great songs. Yesterday's Songs is my favorite.

 

Prayer, the Water, and the Cup: Curse turning to Blessing in the Cross

Today, I have been reflecting on prayer, that strange and, yet, very simple, action that we often take for granted.  I reflected on unanswered prayers, and the prayer that seems the most common is about my sin, as I continue to learn repentance.  I so often pray that God would take away my sin, not just forgive it but that I would no longer struggle with it.

The thought came to me, what would life be like then if that prayer was answered.  Ideas of tranquility, serenity, and ease bounced around my mind.  But then, those things look nothing like the Cross of Jesus.  Then as I mentally kick myself for having prayed this silly little prayer. I am reminded of Christ's prayer in the Garden.  "Let this cup pass." In some ways this prayer is largest unanswered prayer in Scripture. The prayer here is the beginning of Jesus Christ becoming a curse for his people.

Whether it is the struggle with sin, disappointment, or even suffering, we find ourselves in the same Garden with Jesus, being baptized in the same way he was baptized on the Cross, drinking the cup of the wrath of God to the dregs. Then, by his power all those things become life, fruit of the Spirit, baptism for the remission of sins, and the cup of blessing and fellowship.

So somehow, these prayers are about finding myself in Christ and shaping me into him so that I become by grace crucified as a living sacrifice. God calls us into his death therefore he will also call us to his glorious life in his victory over death.  So then, my words, my posture, my participation in the sacraments and my story is all wrapped in His Death.  Perseverance then is perseverance into death, so prayer is working life into that deadness.  It is the battle zone in the fight for life.

NT Wright on the Sweep, Scope, and Beauty of Scripture. Makes me want to read a whole Gospel.

The above video is from NT Wright interviewed about the practice of reading the Scripture.  Whatever you think about the man, you must admit he is passionate about Scripture and wants people to know it.

Take some time today and read a whole book in one sitting.  Let me know if you take the challenge and what book you read.  I will read Mark.