Falling Through the Porch

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (NKJ John 1:14)

Odd Christmas Memory

    Just like you I have many Christmas memories patched together over the years. Every time the Christmas season finally arrests my thoughts, around the holidays I experience a number of unbidden recollections surfacing randomly.

    Oddly one memory persists while many others, which ought to be more easily remembered, have faded. It is the time my grandfather made a trek in cold snowy weather to a friends farm house in the country. These fine, hard working Christian people were struggling on this particular Christmas; and my grandfather and dad felt it the right thing to take them a gift of food. As my grandfather climbed their stairs and made in to the porch, his one foot broke through the wooden floor and went through. He was able to get it out and with only an injury that eventually healed.

    I cannot tell you why this memory sticks in my mind. It seems that it carries a significant for me that I have not previously, consciously appreciated. However, this year it clicked for me. I saw this simple event as a snap shot of Christmas.

God Broke Through

    At the first Christmas, God broke through to us. The whole world was in need of someone to come and give a package of sustenance. Our God and Savior, saw our need and came to us with the food of salvation. The great God of Heaven enwrapped Himself in humanity and journeyed to our "farm". He walked our stairs and stood on our porch. In coming, He broke through the rotting timbers of our fallen and decaying world, suffering injury. In order to deliver this salvation His Incarnation cost him more than an injured leg. It cost him his life on the Cross.

Christmas Mourning 

On Christmas day I weep 

Good Friday to rejoice. 

I watch the Child asleep. 

Does he half-dream the choice 

The Man must make and keep?

At Christmastime I sigh 

For my good Friday hope 

Outflung the Child's arms lie 

To span in their brief scope 

The death the Man must die.

Come Christmastide I groan 

To hear Good Friday's pealing. 

The Man, racked to the bone, 

Has made His hurt my healing, 

Has made my ache His own.

Slay me, pierced to the core 

With Christmas penitence 

So I who, new-born, soar 

To that Child's innocence, 

May wound the Man no more. 

  --Vassar Miller (1924- )

 A Break Through for Us 

    God's breaking through the porch brought great suffering for Him. But, to us it was a great salvation. This demonstration of His love and mercy gave us hope. It filled us with meaning. His suffering brought us a new song. 

Christmas Now 

Child, when Herod wakes, 

and hate or exploitation 

swing their dripping swords, 

from your cross and cradle

sing a new song.

Child, when Caesar's laws 

choke love or strangle freedom

calling darkness light, 

from your cross and cradle

sing a new song.

Child, when Caiaphas 

sends truth to crucifixion

to protect his prayers, 

from your cross and cradle 

sing a new song.

Child, your helpless love 

brings death and resurrection; 

joyfully we cometo your cross and cradle 

with a new song - Alleluia! Alleluia!  

 --Brian Wren (1936- )

 Breaking Through Someone's Porch

    There are so many all around us who are in desperate need of the food of Heaven. We trust that the Story of Jesus will inspire you to visit someone's "porch" and risk "falling through" to deliver them the gift of the Gospel of Jesus. Have a truly Merry Christmas!

Is Theology Unspiritual?

In certain circles of Christianity, there is an often implied or blatant disdain of theology. One might understand the aversion to theology in contemporary culture, where privatized feeling is thought superior to traditional or consensual thinking. But, it is disturbing to find many, even conservative, Christians who align themselves with the culture by placing the practical, emotional, and experiential above “contending for the faith.” I am concerned that a growing of number of divergent Christian camps is tracking the culture by treating theology as politically incorrect.

The spectrum of theological minimalists is broad. Those who come from a fundamentalist or anti-creedal tradition tend to assume that there is something inherently wrong with the whole idea of theology. Fundamentalism works off the assumption that the Bible needs little or no interpreting. The fundamentalist takes the Bible “literally” while unconscious of the fact that it is his interpretation of what is literal that really determines the outcome. Others from a more Anabaptist or Pentecostal/Charismatic tradition see the work of theology as less the formation of the mind and more the formation of the spirit. Revivalism tends to see subjective experience as the source of truth, thus spiritual experience is prized over objective truth. Why would a Christian need to exercise his mind to edify his faith in Christ, when he can simply pray for a direct experience? Sacramental Christians place more weight in the effective grace channeled by the sacrament than in the faith that receives it. In short, the sacramental system obtains the needed grace, therefore the quality of a Christian’s faith is not linked to the quality of one’s theological knowledge.

In these spiritualistic or mystic forms of Christianity the source of theology tends to be the individual rather than the Bible and the historic faith of the Church. They are persuaded that theology, with an inordinate focus on the intellectual, slights of the work of the Spirit in the soul. These groups tend to minimize theological reflection. There is a growing trend among evangelicals, pastors, churches and seminaries to minimize the intensity and extent of theological training, while dedicating more concentration on the pragmatic demands of church growth. Focusing on the individual’s personal needs and developing programs to satisfy them, church growth reverses the Church’s historical priority of grounding believers in the foundations of the faith – theological formation – as the chief resource for all religious issues. For these and others, theology is deemed cold, arid and spiritually stifling. Basically, theology is either regarded as unspiritual, or not spiritual enough.

[to read the rest of this article go to: Is Theology Unspiritual?]

Other Links: All Bible Readers are Interpreters

Great Resource for Young Adult Christians

I want to share a great resource for you as a young adult Christian. It's a gathering called "New Attitude." I have high regards for this group and the message they present. I have a YouTube link of their conference. Check it out. If God is calling you to deepen you relationship with Him and to grow is the Gospel, this is worth praying about. 

New In Chris Alone! Podcast

I've just started a new Podcast featuring my and Jeff Harkin's teaching. If you wold like to listen or subscribe use the following links:

• In Christ Alone! Podcast
• Subscribe to our Podcast
• You can subscribe through iTunes as well.
  

A Tribute to John P. Soberg

A Tribute to John P. Soberg

By Bernie Gillespie November 11, 2007 

[Note: John Soberg went to be with God Nov. 11, 2007]

John Soberg was my good friend (and still is).

Seven weeks ago, I was especially privileged to enjoy a few, warm, Fall, Twin-cities hours with John. Sitting in their home, eating a great, fresh muffin made by Tarryn, we talked about our families, our friendship and eternity. Riding in the car to Minneapolis and back, John and I recalled old memories and talked about the future. We prayed together. I look at it now as a very precious time.

Even though he was in obviously in pain and life was ebbing, I was struck by the fact that he talked with optimism about the future. He talked about things that he wanted to do. That’s how John was. He was one of the most optimistic and forward-thinking people I know. Typically, he spoke hopefully in his journal entry of Sept. 23, 2007:

• It has been useful to frame my current journey as just another Lewis & Clark expedition. It is so uncharted, but I have a strong confidence that I am going to make it through to the other side. So I journal and take note of things along the way, even when they are weird and unknown. I am so blessed to have a great traveling companion and so many friends that are along, in a way, for this unusual trek. I have been so encouraged by Tarryn’s consistent faith. My faith community has been steady, strong and unwavering. The journey continues, by faith. John
  

Over the twenty years of knowing John, he has always encouraged me. I mean really encouraged me. I appreciated his bright, intelligent mind that loved ideas. I admired his creativity inventiveness that allowed him to see things that others could not.  I enjoyed the hours of conversation about God and faith – and “theology”. I also respected his singular sacrifice and contributions to Christian education at the graduate level.

While there were so many things about John that I appreciated - especially his ability to eat two large pizzas by himself - I valued his encouragement most. Every phone conversation, at every meal we shared, even in his emails, he encouraged me about my ministry. He wrote me a few years ago encouraging me to continue “providing pathpoints of light for others to follow.” These words still give me direction.

They say that our daily lives are shaped by what we perceive our ultimate future to be. Our faith as Christians is unique. Believing that death is defeated in Christ changes the way we think about our future. The Apostle Paul said “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have not hope.” While we grieve, it is not without hope. Indeed, there is a terrible “bite” to death. Yet, we believe Jesus has taken the sting of death for us, and immortality is in our future. That changes everything about how we live in the present.

I believe that John’s optimism was because of his faith. The Gospel infected his life in a unique way. He saw the possibilities and was excited about what could be. That hope in the future is John’s legacy to all of us. John was so into the future that ultimately the present could no longer hold him. His mind and body ached for God’s prospects … until they finally surrendered him from our present to God’s future.

And with your final heartbeat

Kiss the world goodbye

Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and

Fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus and live!

 

I can’t wait to see you John – in God’s future.

The Truth in the Word

Image via Wikipedia

A friend of mine recently asked: "Can the Gospel be truly proclaimed without propositional truth statements?" I add another: "Can we ask or respond to your question without using propositions?"

A proposition is a "setting out in words." This is what the Bible does and this is what the Gospel does. How else do we communicate to the world that Jesus rose from the dead. Now, we may use a number of different culturally relevant symbols to help people understand the fact and meaning of Jesus' resurrection. Still, the proposition "Jesus is risen!" is necessary for first order communication. To me, skepticism about truth communicated through propositions is as much skepticism about truth as it is about propositions. (And why is it that propositional truth claims are always shot down by those using propositional truth claims?)

I like what Francis Schaeffer said to a professor who challenged him about the Bible. The professor questioned the likelihood that we could communicate with God because our finitude would make it impossible to understand God. There would be no "core of univocity" he said. Schaeffer said in a very humble voice: "I think when God said, "Don't commit adultery," He knew we would understand what He meant." Another great Bible scholar, Mark Twain, said: (I paraphrase) "Many things in the Bible I can't understand, but there are many things in the Bible that I cannot misunderstand." It seems to me if God made us to symbolize and use language, He also assumed we could understand Him and each other, regardless of the problems of culture and sin.

If we tailor our beliefs or approach to reach postmoderns by minimizing the use of words, by the time we get it together, they will be change into something else. The Scripture is a story, as some would say, a meta-narrative or great story. This is obviously true and it speaks to the current fascination in our culture with narrative. Ultimately, we must keep in mind, that the meaning of the story is defined and clarified by the didactic in Scripture. I find it amazing that the Bible has such appeal and power to communicate over 2,000 years to disparate cultures of varying communication modalities. It has told the Gospel in literate, non-literate, oral, and symbolic/visual settings. It has been effective to tell the Gospel in every culture despite the unique, intrinsic cultural barriers to its message. In most cases, whenever the Gospel is received by a culture, the people in that group seek a Bible in their own language. (I know there are exceptions, but exceptions don't discount the majority.)

I don't argue that people groups can't receive the message of the Gospel without a Bible. Just as Prof. Librescu at Virginia Tech displayed self-less courage in saving his class, one can express truth without words. But we only know about what this noble man did through the words of those who witnessed his sacrifice. People can see and experience dimensions of the Gospel in a number of ways. However, unless there are propositions - statements of fact and truth - behind the other forms of communication, the clarity and certainty of meaning will fade into the relativity of subjectivism. As the meaning becomes more subjective and less universal the message is increasingly lost. To have faith in Jesus one must listen to a "gospelizer" who tells the Gospel in rational, understandable, verbal statements (written or oral).

I think part of imaging God is the ability to communicate through words and to understand God when He speaks. The Bible should set the agenda for our preaching and not what is "hot" in the culture. At the same time, narrative is essential to message of the Bible and the Bible message is one grand story about God. Too often culture sets the agenda for our methods (and even our message) when it should be Scripture. I believe in Truth with a capital T. And I believe that Truth is communicated through propositions. This is not the prevailing view in our culture, but the fundamental assumption of the Bible is: the God of truth speaks through words.

Soul Searching

Twenty years ago Robert Bellah's Habits of the Heart made the point (as mentioned by Ken Myers), that many Americans don't have a vocabulary for talking about their lives except in individualistic terms. Even when they are communally active, the language of individualism provides categories of thought and deflects their the sense of what they should be pursuing in their lives.

Recently Christian Smith released new research on the religious views of teens. [Smith is the Stuart Chapin Distinguished Professor and associate chair of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] He is also the director and chief investigator of a year’s research with thousands of teens called "A National Study on Youth and Religion." The research was based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a result of this research, Smith co-authored (with Melinda Lundquist Denton) a book, "Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers," which summarizes the research. [summaries of the research can be found at www.youthandreligion.org]

One of the things they discovered was another language deficiency (than Bellah discovered) among most American teens. They were shocked about the lack of knowledge teens had about their own religious traditions and how little they seem invested in their own particularities. He was surprised that many of the Baptist kids he talked with were virtual deists. He came to see that among a widespread sample of young people, across denominational (Pentecostal to Baptist to Episcopalian) and even religious (Moslem) lines, a fairly coherent religious belief system. He labeled this belief system "therapeutic-moralistic deism." He summarized this system with these basic tenets:

• God exists, God created the world, God ordered the universe and this is how we understand that things are the way they are. The purpose of life is to be a good, nice and kind person. God does not have to be particular involved in one’s life, but He is available if you get into trouble or need some help along the way. He professionally takes care of your problems (kind of like a therapist), but he doesn’t hang around to get in the way. The purpose of life is to be happy. There is a heaven and a hell. Good people go to heaven. Most people are good and go to heaven.

He observed that mainline Protestant, Catholic and Jewish youth speak more in these terms. He also noted that the higher percentages of teens who don’t talk in the "therapeutic-moralistic deism" terms are found among conservative, Protestant, evangelical youth (and even Mormon’s). Nevertheless, he was astounded at how many Evangelical teens don’t know how to talk about Jesus, the Bible, or justification. They talk as if religion is just about being a good person so what else is there? Theological terms – such as redemption or grace – are virtually non-existent. Very few teens used the word "grace" in a theological sense; it was used mostly when referring to the TV show "Will & Grace."

There were those teens who could articulate the idea that Jesus died on the Cross to forgive our sins. But, when they were asked to explain what that meant or how or why that was so, they were at a loss. It was more of a catch-phrase.

Smith says that when he interviews older theology or Bible teachers who have taught across generations of students, they say their students today are typically less literate in their faith than students of prior generations.

Another trend they observed in their research is that teens’ faith will turn out looking mostly like their parents’ faith. The presence of the therapeutic beliefs is thought to come from the influence of the culture on parents. Smith cited the works of scholars like James Hunter to show how the therapeutic culture has deeply infiltrated the Evangelical church (not to mention the mainline churches). This has significantly impacted today’s teens.

He believes the "therapeutic-moralistic deism" of teens is also a result of our culture growing increasingly pluralistic with the emphasis on multi-culturalism. [Smith calls this "pluralistic civility." This is not having any beliefs that others might find intolerable.] In public and educational settings there is a lot of pressure on teens to speak more in generalities and not the particulars of their faith. So teens are fine talking about God, but they tend to choke on getting the word "Jesus" out of their mouths. In navigating through a pluralistic culture many teens have learned how to talk about things in ways that won’t make trouble at school and work. Ken Myers comments that this not multi-culturalism but mono-culturalism. It is the flattening of all cultures into the prevailing philosophical construct of secular, and relativistic pluralism.

Christian Smith said what was astonishing to him was that in schools and in general, there is not a lot of learned capacity to talk about difference. There is a lot of talking about different. So many teens we interviewed took the strategy in dealing with moral disagreement was, just don’t go there. You just don’t get into it. He sees a lack of training in moral argumentation in whatever subject. Teachers are not enabling students to discover their presuppositions, their assumptions, where they are starting from, their commitments, how that structures a debate, how do they engage someone who is quite different from them in a constructive way. Instead teens are learning is ‘we don’t want conflict here so we’re not going to get into that." This may work in eight-grade but it won’t work in negotiating through a culture where there is a great deal of difference.

Ken Myers appreciates Smith’s observations, and adds that he lays fault with churches who do not provide their members a Christian way of naming the world. The Church has a different account of the world, different story about reality, a different vocabulary and language. The Church’s account of life, meaning, human nature and well-being is different from the World’s. Myers cites Robert Louis Wilkin who states that at this moment in the Church’s history, in America and the West more generally, it less urgent to convince the alternative culture of the truth of Christ, than it is for the Church to tell itself it’s own story, and to nurture it’s own life – the culture of the city of God: the Christian republic.

Myers theorizes that possibly the reason teens are so sadly inarticulate because many church leaders have been so eager to reach youth in their own language, that they have failed, having reached them, to impart the vocabulary of the Kingdom , in which words like sin, grace, judgment, forgiveness, love, hospitality and vocation have a meaning that is distinctive and unlike the way the world speaks. That vocabulary is plausible and makes sense only if it is transmitted by within a community in which such terms have tangible consequences. So that distinctive language is expressive of a distinctive way of life. Eugene Peterson in his book Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places says: "It is the task of the Christian community to give witness and guidance in the living of life in a culture that is relentless in reducing, constricting and enervating this life." He also comments: The Church’s message of salvation is not an amendment offered to already well lived lives, the message of the gospel is a radical alternative to the way our culture defines the good life. And some points it is so radically different that it appears as foolishness to the world.