Category: General

Preaching

I’ve always had a hard time with “preaching.” I’ve always associated it with the role of the evangelist. And then, I’ve always associated the role of the evangelis with a certain kind of preacher – the wild-eyed, impassioned, unthinking kind.

He proclaims what he has received from his forbears without any kind of seasoned alalysis, and blasts those who disagree with him *because* they disagree with him, again without any inquiry as to *why* they might think differently, or consideration about whether some small part of his opponent’s line of thought might be right. This is not to say my preacher isn’t smart. He’s smart all right. But he’s so confident in what he knows that he directs his intelligence to invective, with lancelike force skewering his opponent by means of a superior way with words.

He sounds like a rat, but that’s my envy talking. Continue reading “Preaching”

Honoring the Sabbath

One of the requirements for my Christian education class this semester was that we memorize the 10 commandments. It might sound a little silly, but try this little test: can *you* recite all 10 of them? Ask a couple of friends if *they* know all 10 of them. I’ve already said that content is the essential part of catechesis, and I’m pretty sure my professor agrees with me. And what did you think that essential content was supposed to look like? Few things are more basic than the 10 commandments, and hardly anybody knows them.

But here’s the odd thing: reading through the commandments, I find that here are a set of rules so basic that almost everybody can agree to them: don’t lie; don’t steal; don’t murder; honor your parents. Some of them, obviously, you have to be a montheist to get behind: no other gods before me; no graven images to worship. But there’s only one that I ,and most people I know, break regularly and with vigour. Number 4: Do no work on the Sabbath. Continue reading “Honoring the Sabbath”

Aargh! I Don’t Have Time for Either One of You!

Good posts to read and respond to are coming out of the woodwork suddenly, and I don’t have any time for either. But let me direct you at least toward two of them.

[Tim Challies](http://www.challies.com/archives/001489.php) has a lovely article on Evangelism and whether it is the chief end of man. I’ve been struggling with this concept for some time now, because I keep running into people who say that evangelism is flat out the most important thing we should be doing. Or, as one pastor I know put it, “Preaching is the highest form of worship.” What is up with this idea?

[Brad Hightower](http://21stcenturyreformation.blogspot.com/2005/12/reformed-and-charismatic-and-central.html) has an article on convergence between Charismatics and the Reformed tradition. It should be good. I wouldn’t know. I’ve got to study for a Greek quiz…

All Is Forgiven

Pyromaniac has a hiliarious article on worldiness up today. This line in particular made me chuckle:

> The truth is, you can live a totally cloistered life or be as unhip as a Stephen Foster song and still be worldly.

I don’t know who Stephen Foster is, but his music must totally bite.

So, all is forgiven, Pyromaniac. I still think you’re wrong about the gifts of the Spirit, and I still have no idea what’s up with the your pictures, but sometimes you have something really good to say.

Did C. S. Lewis Have an Insufficient Understanding of the Holy Spirit?

[This](http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=231) post on Narnia is obvious bunkum by someone who obviously learned the term *deus ex machina* when he was in 3rd grade and hasn’t learned anything about literature, philosophy or religion since. Basically, it’s a few thousand words complaining about the fact that Aslan shows up whenever he wants to and then leaves, and about the fact that Aslan suffers and then gets better. Good heavens! As if God, by virtue of being powerful, is required to break his own rules! Nevertheless, it did raise one interesting question for me:

Why *does* Aslan leave? Continue reading “Did C. S. Lewis Have an Insufficient Understanding of the Holy Spirit?”

Morning Dilemma

I am a newlywed. One-half partner in a newlywed couple. And we are definitely in the honeymoon stage.

I had no idea of the vast, incalculable advantages of marriage. Continence alone is so much easier since you can stay chaste by being married. But even beyond those most primal urges, just the sheer happiness of being nearly constantly in the presence of someone you like so much is nearly overwhelming. The pleasure of having near constant access to someone who genuinely likes you and is genuinely interested in what you have to say… lonliness is banished! (Even for someone like me who does. not. get. lonely., the difference is marked.) Oh the joy of discovering complimentary tastes – in food! in decorating! in preferred housework! (Let me tell you, there is something quite satisfying, almost a relief in discovering that one of you hates to wash the dishes, and the other hates to dry.)

I am told that this near frenzy of appreciation will soon wear off. I am already bracing my self and searching desperately for a way to make it continue. “Catch for us the little foxes,” the scripture says, and I am riddling my life with foxtraps. If there is a way to make the honeymoon last, I for one am desperate to find it. (All advice continues to be graciously accepted.)

But the one most noticeable advantage for me in marriage has been my productivity. Continue reading “Morning Dilemma”

Questions on Catechism and Culture

**Why is this essay written in question and answer format?**

Because Question and answer format is cool.

**Beg pardon?**

Sorry. It’s in question and answer format in imitation of Frederica Matthews-Green’s essay “Under the Heaven Tree” in the book *[The Church in Emerging Culture](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0310254876)*, edited by Leonard Sweet. Also, it is intended to be reminiscent of the question and answer format of historic printed catechisms, such as the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Catechism, and others.

**Why was Frederica Matthews-Green’s essay written in question and answer format?** Continue reading “Questions on Catechism and Culture”

The Church in Assembly

Jollyblogger [David Wayne](http://jollyblogger.typepad.com/jollyblogger/2005/11/the_church_as_a.html) has an excellent article up on what it means to be the church. He’s arguing against Evangelical pollster George Barma’s understanding in the book Revolution, where Barma promotes the idea that “the church” consists primarily of the universal aggregate of individual Christians. Jollyblogger says no. “Church” is not some specialized term that means all the Christians. It refers specifically to localized, committed communities of Christians.

I’m with the Jolly B. on this one. Continue reading “The Church in Assembly”