New Blog Coming...

UPDATE: You can get a sneek preview of the site and enjoy a new music video by David Gray. Go to weak on sanctification.

Coming soon! Blogging will resume at a new site that will be announced in September.

The title of the new blog will be "Weak on Sanctification." I hope you will read and comment on the various posts as we carry on our discussion of life, love, and salvation.

See you in September!

Chaplain Mike

SUMMER HIATUS

Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun,
Vincent Van Gogh—November, 1889

I will be taking a hiatus from blogging and spending lots of time on the internet this summer. I need to give attention to other aspects of life. You know, marriage, family, neighbors, church, baseball. Some real flesh and blood concerns.

This might be a good practice for some of you as well.

For your edification, I urge you to read Michael Spencer's straightforward and wise cautionary post about the temptations of technology, HERE.

All things in moderation. As for me, I am pursuing other matters this summer. See you in the fall.

EVERYONE MUST ACCOMMODATE

Excellent post by Karl Giberson at Science & Sacred, the blog of BioLogos, called "God and Matter." He answers U of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne's contention that combining faith in God with scientific understanding results in a "hilarious goldmine of accommodationism."

Giberson makes the point that we ALL must make accommodations as we try to understand life and the universe.

But what about the accommodationism of materialists? How do they reconcile their materialism with the rationality of the world? It seems to me reality has to be grounded in one of two deeply mysterious foundations: God or matter. Each has its own set of questions. Theists wonder about the nature of God's existence, the problem of evil, how and why God acts in the world and why God has chosen to remain hidden from us. These are difficult questions and certainly must trouble thoughtful believers. But don't materialists have another set of mysteries? Don't they have to wonder about the nature of physical existence? Why is there something rather than nothing? Why are the laws of nature so rational? Why is our species so religious? Is the world just a big pointless accident?

Don't let the materialistic worldview back you into a corner and make you think theists are the only ones who must face troublesome intellectual problems. "Material alone plus time plus chance" has plenty of its own. In my view, even more troublesome.

A Christian Apologizes to Atheists

Rev. William Cwirla is a Lutheran pastor who is known for his direct teaching and defense of the truth. He and Craig Donofrio host a podcast called "The God-Whisperers" that is worth your time. Cwirla's blog is always good reading as well.

Today, I read a post there that I admire greatly and commend to you. It's called "Apologies to the Atheists." Christians who tend toward culture warrior-ism ought to meditate on it deeply. Cwirla makes the point that getting angry in response to the rants of today's popular atheists only proves...

1. Our view of God is too small.
2. We've forgotten that our anger does not accomplish God's righteous purposes (James 1.20).
3. We've forgotten Jesus' call to love our enemies.

As Cwirla says,

...I don't know why the atheists are so angry. Perhaps they have good reason to be. I know that Christians aren't always noted for their manners, much less their Jesus-like compassion for those with whom they disagree, myself included. Maybe the angry atheists are just getting back at the playground bullies. Fair enough.

Ghandi once remarked, "I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ." We can't expect the other guy to put down his sword while we are swinging ours. That's true for many situations. Don't expect someone who believes in nothing to put down his sword. We're called to go first. We claim to follow the One who said, "Turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, bless those who hate you, pray for your persecutors."

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: BioLogos

I am not an expert in any of the sciences, but I have been interested in the culture war that has been a staple of American society between Biblical Christianity and evolution. I was schooled to be a young-earth creationist, intellectually breastfed on books like The Genesis Flood. I never thought too deeply about the issues, and mostly stayed away from the fray when I was a pastor. It was only when I began studying Genesis seriously that my views began to emerge.

This is not the normal path that those who come to question creationism take. The stereotypical student who comes to reject the fundamentalist view becomes a questioner through considering scientific evidence. However, my doubts were born from studying Scripture! Genesis is so much richer and deeper than the bare literalist explanation. The creation narratives also fit within a larger work, the Torah, an interpretive context that most fundamentalists fail to consider adequately.

Now, esteemed scientist and believer Francis Collins has established a foundation with an excellent website that attempts to provide an alternative to the culture war approach of both atheistic and Christian fundamentalists. It's called BioLogos, and here is its mission...

The BioLogos Foundation promotes the search for truth in both the natural and spiritual realms, and seeks to harmonize these different perspectives.

It is a well-designed and well-written site that seeks to answer many of the questions that arise when one tries to take both the Bible and science seriously.

You can also check out the blog that complements the site at Science and the Sacred.

Highly recommended, even if you don't agree. BioLogos is a fine example of thoughtful, careful, and irenic scholarship.

WHY LITURGY?

Good post by Lutheran Rev. William Cwirla on The Top Ten Reasons We Use the Liturgy. Here's the list. Check out his blog for details.

1. It shows our historic roots.
2. It serves as a distinguishing mark.
   
3. It is both Theocentric and Christocentric.
   
4. It teaches.
   
5. It is transcultural.
   
6. It is repetitive in a good way.
   
7. It is corporate.
   
8. It rescues us from the tyranny of the “here and now.”
   
9. It is external and objective.
   
10. It is the Word of God.

I find the last point one of his most interesting. Critics of liturgical worship often claim that their churches are more "Biblical". However, they fail to realize several obvious facts:

• The Bible itself is filled with liturgical materials, in both OT and NT. This shows that God's people have always worshiped in a liturgical fashion.

• The Bible portrays God's people worshiping through liturgy. A simple example may be found in Acts 2.42: "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Note especially that they used "the prayers"—that is, the set liturgical prayers that they had learned in synagogue and temple worship. I find it interesting that this liturgical text describes the practice of the Spirit-filled church soon after Pentecost. Those who critique liturgical worship because they say it does not allow for the freedom of the Spirit have a problem here.

• The liturgy is filled with Scripture. More Scripture is read, prayed, sung, and referenced in one liturgical service than in an entire season of services in most free worship congregations. As Cwirla notes, the liturgy IS the Word of God spoken for and by God's people, not simply a "service" in which the Word is included.

Thought-provoking Stuff on Religious "Stuff"

iMonk takes evangelicals to task for their criticisms of Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians in the area of devotion to religious objects. Here's a sample from his riff...

Humans are religious. In their religious practices, they endow objects, associations, places, persons and certain sense experiences with meaning. They use these objects, etc. to focus upon God’s presence in the world. All that Catholics/Orthodox do is come out and tell you they believe God mediates his presence through matter. We believe the exact same thing, and can outdo our brothers and sisters in the gear department most days. (I haven’t seen Catholic amusement parks and their bookstores are not quite as numerous as Family Bookstores, Lifeway, etc.).

He's right. For years iconoclastic fundamentalists and evangelicals have looked down on their more liturgical brethren for their habits of worship, particularly when it comes to venerating sacred objects or surrounding themselves with material reminders of their faith. All the while, we've been doing the same thing and calling these objects "tools for witnessing," or something like that.

I encourage you to take a look at his post. Just click the link in the first paragraph to access it.

What do you think?

Another view...

Take a look at a blog called "Parchment and Pen," where you'll find a good piece of observational writing from C. Michael Patton, who made an ecclesiastical field trip to visit a couple of (quite) different churches.

The author is kind and generous, but also honest in his observations and evaluation. I think I would have been tempted to come across much more critically.

Read it, and let me know what YOU think.


...Wait, they had an elf who greeted the kids at the door?

AN INTERVIEW YOU SHOULD READ

Check out Michael Spencer's interview with Christine Wicker, author of the challenging book, The Fall of the Evangelical Nation.

Here are a couple of quotes:

The evidence comes entirely from evangelicals themselves. When I talk about demise, I’m talking about numbers, growth, attitudes and behavior. The preachers often say that the culture has had more impact on the church than the church has had on the culture.

...What worries me is that the split between evangelical ideals and evangelical actions may be getting wider. Not because evangelicals are comfortable being hypocrites but because societal pressures are more intense.

For instance, I’m told that many evangelical kids and single adults come to church on Sunday and are regularly sleeping around or living with people they aren’t married to. Why? Because waiting until you’re married to have sex means that you are very likely never to get married and never to have sex either. Those are the “facts on the ground.”

...For the brand [of Christianity] I like best, you would look among the quieter, more humble, probably the older members of the congregation. I’d look among those with the least power. Not because powerful people can’t be Jesus-shaped, but the temptations are so much greater for them. I suspect it’s easier to become like Jesus if you’re among the “nobodies” of the world.

For more of Ms. Wicker's perspectives, visit her website. I also recommend her book highly. You won't agree with all her comments or interpretations, but the the analysis is one we need to hear and ponder.

If you must have a "worship band," please read this...

Here's a good word on the Out of Ur blog to remind us who is accompanying whom when we sing praises in worship, and a few implications of that fact.

I'm Speechless...

This one gets a gigantic, "Huh?"

Read this post and see if you can make any sense of it. I sure can't.

It actually sounds like one of Jesus' parables, you know, those stories that so often shamed the religious folks by pointing out that "sinners" were acting in a much more godly manner than the "righteous."

A PROPHECY OF DOOM: What Do You Think?

Adam and Eve Expelled
Marc Chagall, 1954-67

UPDATE 3: Part 3 of Michael Spencer's forecast about the future of evangelicalism has been posted at Internet Monk.

UPDATE 2: Part 2 of Michael Spencer's forecast about the future of evangelicalism has been posted at Internet Monk.

UPDATE: In one of the comments on Internet Monk, the theological problem of evangelicalism has been called, "Therapeutic Moral Deism." This is a devastatingly accurate description of the kind of "teaching" that is permeating so many evangelical churches and groups today. I, for one, don't believe that such doctrinal weakness can sustain God's people for very long.

***

Echoing warnings from books like The Fall of the Evangelical Nation, by Christine Wicker, Michael Spencer at Internet Monk predicts that...

I believe that we are on the verge- within 10 years- of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity; a collapse that will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and that will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West. I believe this evangelical collapse will happen with astonishing statistical speed; that within two generations of where we are now evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its current occupants, leaving in its wake nothing that can revitalize evangelicals to their former “glory.”

The party is almost over for evangelicals; a party that’s been going strong since the beginning of the “Protestant” 20th century. We are soon going to be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century in a culture that will be between 25-30% non-religious.

Is there such a dramatic sea change in the near future for evangelicalism? What do you see from your vantage point?

This would be a great article to read and discuss. Feel free to do that at iMonk or here. I'd love to hear from you.

The "Right" Church?

Again I direct you to Michael Spencer's Internet Monk blog today for some wise pastoral theology and counsel.

Some of you might have the mistaken idea that the search we have been going through and writing about is a personal quest to find "the One True Church," or "THE Right Church" in contrast to all others who are deficient in doctrine or practice.

Listen up! There is no such place, and the compulsion to find it can drive you crazy.

MONDAY MUSINGS: Part Two

Too many musings to limit myself to one post today. Check out:

• Stephen Mansfield in USAToday on "The New Evangelicals." One observation regarding their political loyalties: "The new evangelical prays for all four nominees but commits unreservedly to none, choosing rather to speak of righteousness to each in the hopes of something more than a mere political victory in November."

• Internet Monk on how the stock of evangelicalism is way over-valued. A couple of his reasons:
  

• Evangelicalism is overvalued because its politically useful. (If I read another email telling me Sarah Palin is Esther I’m going to put a drumstick through my eye.)

• Evangelicalism is overvalued because it has too much music and too little Bible.

• Evangelicalism is overvalued because it constantly claims evidence that God is working through it to change the world, but the evidence in those places dominated by evangelicalism isn’t very convincing.

MONDAY MUSINGS: Blue Parakeet, part 4

Part Two: Listening
Many years ago, in his book Knowing God, J.I. Packer made an invaluable contribution to the church when he reminded us that there is a great difference between knowing about God, and knowing God. The Blue Parakeet takes up this theme in its second part, on "Listening."

Having helped us understand the Big Story by which we must read all the "wiki-stories" of the Bible, Scot McKnight next encourages us to remember another foundational principle. The Bible is God's story, God's book, and our aim in reading it is to listen to the one speaking to us so that we may deepen our relationship with him. He calls this "The Relational Approach to the Bible."

Reading the Bible is part of a personal conversation with God. It also involves us in the ongoing community conversation that God has had with his people over the centuries. We read with the tradition of those who have known God before us, both within the Scriptures themselves and in the subsequent history of God's people. Our goal is not simply to submit to the Bible's authority and obey, though that is clear. Preeminently in this relationship we learn to love. We delight in God's words and treasure them in our hearts. We stand in awe of his wisdom. We welcome his communication as truth, not so much as an intellectual category, but in the recognition that his words reveal reality and integrity and wholeness to us. They promote "shalom." They lead us to love God and others.

Part Three: Discerning
When you read a chapter like Leviticus 19, what do you do? Scot gives a quiz at the beginning of part three of his book, asking which of the commands in Lev 19 we think we should keep, and which we may ignore. It's a great test, because right in the midst of prohibitions against wearing garments made of mixed materials, etc., we are called to "be holy," and to "love your neighbor as yourself." And ALL are backed up, not by cultural reasoning, but by the words, "I am the LORD your God."

How do we know what to apply to our lives from the Bible? Well, one thing is clear—Bible readers, including you and me, have always picked and chosen which instructions we think we should follow from the Scriptures, and we have developed patterns of discernment that guide us in working this out.

What principles do we use to adopt and adapt the Bible? Given that the Bible is not simply a rule book that straightens out all our messy situations and questions, how do we discern? Scot sets forth specific issues raised by the Scriptures, including divorce and remarriage, circumcision, women's dress, cosmology, the death penalty, speaking in tongues, and being all things to all people for the gospel's sake. He does this mainly to prompt us to think about what it means when we say we approach these kinds of matters Biblically. The main test case is raised in the subsequent chapters—the ministry of women in the church—which I will talk about in future posts.

One of the main contributions of The Blue Parakeet is its call for us to own up to our selectivity. No matter how much we may proclaim "the authority of the Bible," or "the sufficiency of Scripture," most of us tend to ignore the processes by which we read and understand and apply its teachings. But the "how" question is so important!

Also, our arrogance in assuming that we know what we're doing when we approach God's words is astounding. I am thoroughly embarrassed by so many of the papers I wrote in Bible college and the "truths" I preached in my early ministry. I also remember reading early evangelistic sermons by one who has been acclaimed as one of the greatest preachers in the 20th century. In one of those messages, his great example of the sinfulness and need for revival among his people was that some of them had started taking daily baths!

Examples could be multiplied, ad finitum, ad absurdum. Thanks to Scot McKnight for calling us to think about these things at a fundamental level.

THURSDAY THINGAMAJIG: What is the Real Prosperity Gospel?

iMonk does it again—hits the nail on the head with a perceptive post on where the false teachings of the "Prosperity Gospel" hit most of us.

You don't want to miss this, and you don't want to fail to think and pray about this.

Read it HERE. Let it sink in.

TUESDAY TRAVELS: Mobility and Ministry

On the "Out of Ur" blog, Collin Hansen asks, "Can you shepherd a flock that won't stay put?"

His report asks us to consider the fact of American mobility and its impact on ministry. A USA Today report he cites says that 16% of Americans moved in 2006—that's nearly 50 million people! In the face of this reality, how can churches possibly promote the kind of deep fellowship that comes from long-term relationships, the longevity that makes possible respected leadership, or the connections that make true accountability and church discipline practicable?

If this fact of modern life is so counterproductive to the Christian way, is it possible that Christ-followers might find that one of the best ways of having a long-term influence in our world would be to put down roots in one community and stay there, sacrificing wanderlust or chasing the American dream, and simply living out kingdom values for a long time?

What do you think?

Here is Hansen's conclusion, which ends up focusing on a pastor's responsibility to set an example in this regard:

For the sake of loving each other and loving our neighbors, Christians should re-learn how to put down roots in one community. There will often be valid financial and educational excuses for leaving. But if you invest in your community, the community will invest in you. For too long Christians have followed that American dream to greener pastures, to the neglect of their genealogical and ecclesiological families. If we hope to reverse this trend, shepherds should set the example.

NEW NAME!

I have renamed the blog from "Mike's Studies and Pix" to "otium sanctum," a Latin phrase used by early Christians, meaning "Holy Leisure," the unhurried and unharried spirit by which we best approach life, work, relationships and communion with God.

These have always been among my favorite Christian words, and I felt it would be good to give the blog a name that provokes more thought.

The URL will not change.

YOU GOTTA READ THIS...

Are you ready for a big helping of in-your-face, honest, direct, controversial, passionate, subversive, countercultural, brass tacks TRUTH?

I dare you to read iMonk's replay of his 2001 essay, "Wretched Urgency."

Comment to him, or start a conversation with me by commenting here. This is something we all need to talk about.

Evangelicalism in Chaos?

I recommend that all who are concerned about the state of the church read today's post on Jesus Creed, Scot McKnight's blog, about the book "Finding Faith, Losing Faith." Today, iMonk responds to a chapter on evangelicals converting to Roman Catholicism, a matter he is facing in his own marriage. While reflecting on the experience and commenting on the evangelical church that some are leaving, he writes these devastating words:

Evangelicalism today is chaos. Doctrinal chaos. Worship chaos. Ecclesiastical chaos. Prosperity Gospel chaos. Christian media multiplies the options and amplifies the heretics. We are more removed from our common catholic, apostolic roots than ever. We are diseased and we need a St. Francis and a Luther combined.

What do you think? Is the situation as serious as he claims?