Archive for April, 2007

Misusing God’s Name

Published
by
Mike
on April 30, 2007
in Church, General and Salt and Light
. 30 Comments

Yesterday someone told me that he was at an Abilene bus station this past week. There was a man there screaming obscenities, including the repeated use of God’s name. My friend figured there was nothing he could do.

Then he saw a member of our church who is mentally challenged. She walked over to the man who was screaming, hugged him hard, and then said, “God loves you so much. But it hurts his feelings when you talk about him like that.”

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Peter 3:15)

“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:6)

Near Lake Wobegon

Published
by
Mike
on April 28, 2007
in General
. 12 Comments

Back from Minnesota. (As per Diane’s request, I try not to mention my trips until I’m heading back.)

I spoke to a group gathered at Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul to discuss missional church.

One of my highlights was a day with our friends Kevin and Kamy. They have three daughters, two of whom are very handicapped (mentally and physically). To see the way they are loving those girls, to see how the gospel plays out in their home — well, that was worth the trip. Would like to tell more later!

I wanted to take a road trip with some friends to try to find Lake Wobegon, a place I’ve come to love over the past two decades, but, alas, we ran out of time.

Discerning the Body

Published
by
Mike
on April 24, 2007
in Church
. 50 Comments

In 1 Corinthians 11:17ff, Paul begins by the kind of evaluation you don’t really want to hear when speaking about your assemblies: they do more harm than good.

From the beginning of the letter (1:10), he’s made it clear that their divisions are a problem. But what’s even worse is that these divisions are made even worse when they come together.

Apparently, the wealthier members — the ones who would host the small house churches — would follow the practices they’d learned in Roman society. They’d gather in the small dining area for the kind of elegant meal they were used to and put everyone else in the living space where they could eat something simpler (maybe cheap wine, bread, and soup).

In Paul’s words, some were going hungry while others were getting drunk. In other words, the disparity was disgusting.

When they gathered for the meal — the meal of Jesus which was often combined with a common meal — they were to be one. Remembering that Jesus died, they should be announcing by their actions that everything is now different. The old divisions of this world collapse.

The table of Jesus is a place of reconciliation. It’s a place where we taste the future and announce that the reign of God is among us.

I’ve seen this before — haven’t you? (Go back and watch the communion scene at the end of “Places in the Heart”!)

Communion is a place where angry spouses can begin to release their anger; it’s where people who’ve disagreed over something (think, e.g., about all the things Christians have argued about just about communion itself!) can recognize a greater unity.

Could some of you take a moment to describe your most powerful experiences of communion — especially as a moment of reconciliation?

Published
by
Mike
on April 23, 2007
in General
. 20 Comments

My favorite is the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing. (It’s funny, but as a public speaker I wonder how many times I’ve done about the same thing. Mind in gear; body slightly delayed.)

- - - -

Thanks to David U. for this link. Do you know beauty in this wicked world?

Camille Rhoads

Published
by
Mike
on April 21, 2007
in General
. 5 Comments

In just a few minutes, I’ll be leading a memorial service for Camille Rhoads. A while back I wrote this blog about the wonderful people I’ve been privileged to work with. What I said about her was that she was an amazing woman who made people so glad they came by our office. (I’m afraid I don’t always give off that vibe.)

Cancer came and did its work to Camille’s body — but it didn’t even begin to defeat her gentle spirit. At the very end, she was encouraging her middle school daughter with words of faith and love.

What a tragic privilege it is to speak words of memory over someone who was so dear to me and to this church. Our prayers are with Bill and Danae.

Richard Hays

Published
by
Mike
on April 20, 2007
in scripture
. 13 Comments

I got to sit across from Richard Hays at dinner last night. What a relief! When you have been so influenced by a scholar whom you’ve never met, there is the chance that you’ll disappointed by the person’s character.

But no disappointment here. The guy is so humble, so real. Loves to talk about baseball (Yes, he coached his son all the way up) and about Dylan. Plus, I’ve been working through his incredible commentary on 1 Corinthians and was ready with a few questions for him. (Check out what he wrote on 11:2-16 if you get a chance.)

This is the guy who wrote two books that have influenced me about as much as any I’ve ever read: The Moral Vision of the New Testament (named by Christianity Today as one of the hundred most important theological works of the whole 20th Century) and Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul.

At last night’s lecture, he gave these twelve marks of the practice of “theological exegesis.” (I know they take some unpacking. Would love to come back and do that later.)

1. Theological exegesis is a practice of and for the church.
2. Theological exegesis is self-involving discourse. (In other words, we don’t stand apart from scripture. We are seeking to have it pull us into its gospeled world.)
3. Historical study is internal to the practice of theological exegesis. (He has little patience for biblical study that seeks to do an end run around serious historical work.)
4. Theological exegesis attends to the literary wholeness of the individual scriptural witnesses. (As an example, we don’t want to produce one gospel by conflating everything. We want the four gospels we were given, and we want to hear their unique voices.)
5. Theological exegesis presses forward to the synthetic question of canonical coherence.
6. Theological exegesis focuses on the texts as testimony. (The implications here are staggering!)
7. The language of theological exegesis is intratextual in character. (We seek, therefore, to stay with the concepts, images, and vocabulary of scripture.)
8. Theological exegesis engages the Bible’s complex web of intertextuality.
9. Theological exegesis is committed to the exposition of multiple senses.
10. Theological exegesis will find aid, not hindrance, in the church’s doctrinal traditions.
11. Theological exegesis will produce fresh imaginative readings.
12. Theological exegesis must be done from a posture of humility before the Word, in the expectation that we will be transformed by the text.

For more, try wading into Echoes of Scripture. I’m heading back for more today.

I’m so grateful that ACU is willing to bring scholars like Hays here. A couple years ago it was Luke Timothy Johnson. Waiting now for N. T. Wright . . . .

- - - -

Did you happen to catch the Wineskins/Zoe interview with Randy Harris (by Greg Taylor)? Here it is . . . .

Tell me about the Spiritual Director Program. You mean I get to tell people what to do with their lives?

Randy Harris: The irony is we are training spiritual directors and none of us are really qualified to “direct” another life . . . the heart of the program is that we both pay attention so God does the direction.

You and the other directors are not spiritual gurus?

Randy Harris: We have a non-guru approach.

You sure look like a guru, your shaved head, the little glasses bit you do before and after you talk. I like how you put them away in your Johnny Cash black jacket during your final point of a sermon.

Randy Harris: (smiles and perhaps chuckles a bit) We end the program with a ceremonial shaving of the head and uploading of Gregorian Chants to each participant’s iPod.

Come on, can’t you be serious? Hey, speaking of iPod, what’s on yours?

Randy Harris: Can’t you stay on the subject? Fauré Requiem, Pie Jesu.

Give me a break. What else is on your iPod?

Randy Harris: “Raise your skinny fist like antennas to heaven” by Godspeed you! Black Emperor.

Now, I’ve heard it all.

Randy Harris: I also have “Spirit of Gregorian Chant.”

No ZOE music?

Randy Harris: I don’t think there is . . . a few by Rich Mullins.

I like Rich Mullins . . . but you really don’t stay up on Christian music if the newest things you have are Rich Mullins and Gregorian Chant.

Randy Harris: (stares)

What’s your favorite VBS song?

Randy Harris: “I’ve got the Joy Joy Joy.”

Fair enough. The Cope/Harris version?

Randy Harris: Is there another version?

We were supposed to be talking about the Spiritual Direction Program. Who’s leading this interview?

Randy Harris: (stares again, saying nothing)

So tell me, how do I know if this program is something for me?

Randy Harris: The best reason to enter the Spiritual Direction Program is if you are already engaged in spiritually directing people . . . and the best sign that you are doing that is if people seek you out for it. So the program is to develop a gift you are already exercising. People ask, “Am I called to be a spiritual director?” and I ask “Are people seeking spiritual direction from you?”

So, to get into the program then hope someone will seek you out won’t work, right?

Randy Harris: Right.

Can we talk about the Growing Deeper Spirituality Program now?

Randy Harris: The program is for people going about the business of Christian life and asking, “Is this it? Is this what I signed up for?”

You mean someone who’s at a point of searching for something more in God?

Randy Harris: Yes, the church has been thinking about these things for two thousand years. We’re trying to recover what the church has learned about how to have a spiritual life.

Give me an example.

Randy Harris: Well, it’s like playing chess and ignoring hundreds of years of chess move theory.

You could say the same thing for Poker or some other pastime that people actually play more, but that’s beside the point.

Randy Harris: Yes, it is beside the point. It’s the same way with any game or sport-there is a body of knowledge that you access and practice to become a better athlete, and in the same way, we are seeking to tap into a long history of spirituality that helps us deepen our own life with God.

How to Encourage a Weary Church

Published
by
Mike
on April 18, 2007
in scripture
. 26 Comments

I searched for words yesterday to describe the horror of what happened at Virginia Tech, but couldn’t find them. My response these days to such wickedness is to pray the Lord’s prayer and trust that heaven is breaking into this world — often in silent, hidden ways.

- - - -

My braindead status continues. I have about enough creativity for preaching and barely enough for teaching (Hebrews yesterday). Barely. But I come to my blog and there’s nothing. Sometime I’ll have to look over the past four years and see if that’s always been the case as the spring semester draws to a close. I remember one spring when I was worn out David Wray said, “Around here we don’t accept resignations in April.” Wise words. The summer comes — along with rest, rejuvenation, and reading.

- - - -

Assuming Hebrews was written to exhort (13:22) a weary congregation to endure (10:36 - “You need to persevere”), it’s interesting to follow the writer’s strategy. In this book filled with journey imagery (my favorite imagery of spirituality), he makes these moves: (1) he points them to Jesus, the guide (2:10) and forerunner (6:20) in the journey; (2) he guides them through scripture (passages like Psalms 2, 8, 95, and 110); and (3) he calls for intense community.

Still not a bad strategy. Don’t you think?

Far As the Curse Is Found

Published
by
Mike
on April 16, 2007
in faith and family
. 16 Comments

Diane is back from seven days of grandbaby-holding. I’d like to see the size of the pliers they used to peel her fingers off Reese when she left. Good news: Matt, Jenna, and Reese will be coming soon for a few weeks so Matt can do his family practice rotation.

- - - -

Yesterday, here’s what struck me in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. Right in the middle of this puzzling passage (What’s up with the veils? And the angels?), Paul says, “Nevertheless, in the Lord . . . .” What a powerful move.

Everything has changed in light of the new creation that is breaking in through Jesus Christ. “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).

We can’t pretend he didn’t come. We can’t act as if everything isn’t being reordered by his power. We can’t settle for the fallen world and its curse.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.
Far as, far as the curse is found.

Single Parenting

Published
by
Mike
on April 12, 2007
in General
. 46 Comments

Wouldn’t it be nice if the Don Imus fiasco brought a reduction of hate language (by all races) in our culture? I’m not holding my breath, but it’s worth hoping for.

- - - -

Chris and I are home alone this week while Diane is hugging little Reese in Houston.

Don’t worry about my son. He’s being well fed. I’m an expert at drive-through. (When it’s not baseball season, I’m actually a decent cook, but this week we have one practice and three games.)

There are a few things falling through the cracks, though. For example, Chris and I are neither one really telephone people. We don’t associate the sound of a phone ringing with the need to answer it. We assume people who really need us will call the cell phone. It was hard, however, looking at the blinking “39″ this morning, informing me that we have 39 messages on our answering machine.

With all the baseball, the city track meet, a little basketball at AHS, etc., I’m getting by with the help of a niece at ACU and a local brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

But again I’m wondering how you single parents do it? Surely you — as you juggle all the balls — are heroes among us.

Assembling the Shed

Published
by
Mike
on April 11, 2007
in family
. 23 Comments

As the dad of a middle school son, I loved this piece by Bruce Cameron. He very kindly gave me permission to include it on this website.

Assembling The Shed
Copyright 2007 W. Bruce Cameron

Dear Rubbershed Company:

Having run out of storage space in my garage for all the stuff we’re hanging onto so we’ll have something to throw away when we move, I recently purchased one of your high-impact plastic sheds, whose parts are intended to snap together into a piano-sized, weatherproof container in a process your advertising claims “takes no more than a fast and convenient 25 minutes!”

I decided to assign the task of assembling the thing to my 13-year-old son, under the theory that (a) he needs to learn basic carpentry skills, and (b) otherwise I would have to do it.

I thought you’d be interested to learn that the actual assembly took considerably more than a fast and convenient 25 minutes. In fact, it took my son a fast and convenient Saturday. Perhaps you should consider revising your instructions along the lines that I’ve detailed, below.

Your Step One: Open box and remove parts.

Son’s Step One: Stand empty box on end and throw rocks at it from back deck, making incoming artillery noises. Jump up and down on box until it is flattened. Attempt to use the box as a sled, trying to induce dog to pull you across the yard. Get on bike and go search for runaway dog. Put some dead wood under one end of flattened cardboard and ride bicycle over it, shouting “air time!” before colliding with tree. Put ice on cut lip.

Your Step Two: Determine that all parts are present.

Son’s Step Two: Set up roof of shed like a pup tent. Lie inside pup tent and use prop rod to shoot down the enemies. Set up walls like giant dominos and knock them down.

Your Step Three: Lay floor down and insert back piece into floor
slots, secure with rubber mallet.

Son’s Step Three: Set up floor and walls like a giant drum set and bang on them with rubber mallet. Use rubber mallet to crush some aluminum cans. Throw crushed cans into the air, yelling “pull” and shooting at them with the handle end of the rubber mallet.

Your Step Four: Insert left wall and right wall into floor slot, secure with rubber mallet.

Son’s Step Four: Attempt to assemble entire shed in a single step, slapping up walls, doors, and roof. Frown when everything falls over like a stack of cards. Reassemble entire shed, frowning when it doesn’t fall over like a stack of cards. Wade in and knock everything over like Godzilla taking down Tokyo. Report to father that construction is “impossible.”

Your Step Five: Slide left and right doors into hinge slots, secure with rubber mallet.

Son’s Step Five: Respond to father’s directive to “finish shed or
never eat another meal in our house” by lethargically kicking walls. Notice that rear wall has tabs which look suspiciously like they might fit into floor slots. Halfheartedly insert tabs into slots, blinking in surprise when the wall snaps into place. Duplicate the process with left and right sides, shouting “dude!” repeatedly. Put on roller blades and skate around the block.

Your Step Six: Insert Roof into side and back slots, securing with rubber mallet.

Son’s Step Six: Search for rubber mallet, which was right here a
minute ago. Find a tennis ball. Throw tennis ball at shed.

Your Step Seven: Insert prop rod into side slot. Your shed is now ready for use!

Son’s Step Seven: Find a baseball bat. Hit tennis ball over house. Trot around imaginary bases in yard, high-fiving teammates at home plate. Pound shed walls with bat, continuing assault long after they are seated into place. Use bat as a bazooka, destroying enemy tanks, airplanes, and velociraptors. Insert doors, repeating aggressive bat use. Respond to father’s inquiry about the pounding noise by explaining “stupid mallet got lost.”

Son’s Step Eight: Turn on hose and fill shed with water to see if it could be used as a swimming pool. Stand in yard for forty minutes, spraying hose at random, slack expression on face.

Son’s Step Nine: Respond to father’s demand to pick up the scattered tools, the hose, the remnants of the box, and everything else by packing it all into the shed.

(A final note: After all this, there is still no room in my garage
for my car.)