The Internet Monk Archives

Saturday Ramblings 5.12.12

Well, iMonks, we’ve made it through yet another week. We’ve been cooking and cleaning and praying the offices and visiting with visitors. What we haven’t done is talk about the following topics. And once we have done so, you may have a good view of why we haven’t. Shall we ramble?

Thanks to the versatile Adam Palmer for presenting last week’s Ramblings. Yours truly was visiting with former classmates and students in Ohio last week (how come they have all gotten old, but I haven’t?), so AP stepped up to bat for me. You can read about Adam and his family—including a deep-from-the-heart story of Adam’s struggles with pornography—here. Adam is one of my closest friends, and Michelle has the best singing voice I’ve ever heard. They’re embarking on their “Group Hug America” in a few weeks. If you want to house them on their trip, or you want them to minister to your church or home group, you can also reach them on this site.

iMonk writer Mike Bell let us know that a student in Mike’s homeland of Canada was sent home from school for wearing a shirt that proclaimed his Christian faith. This week, that school system said the student could wear the shirt to school after all. Why can’t we all just get along?

In news sure to thrill frequent commenter Eagle, Sovereign Grace Ministries announced they’re moving their headquarters from Gaithersburg, Maryland to Louisville, Kentucky. While SGM has no churches in Kentucky, C.J. Mahaney says he will plant one there. I wasn’t aware that there was a shortage of churches in Louisville …

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The Paradox of Paul

Fridays in Ephesus (5)
The Paradox of Paul

During Eastertide on Fridays, we are reflecting on insights from Timothy Gombis’s recent book, The Drama of Ephesians: Participating in the Triumph of God.

• • •

Tim Gombis encourages us to note the dramatic contrasts in Ephesians 3:1-13 and to see them as the key to understanding this passage.

Paul, prisoner of Christ	Paul, steward of God’s grace
Paul. less than the least	Paul, chosen holy apostle
Paul, suffering	Paul, manifesting God’s wisdom

These descriptions set forth the “paradox of Paul” that he felt compelled to discuss in this part of his epistle.

Paul draws out the paradox of his life and ministry by emphasizing both sides of the tension; he carries out his privileged and cosmically significant ministry while occupying a position of weakness and shame. Paul becomes a perfect model for how the victory of God in Christ will be performed in our lives.

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Senator Lugar’s Lament

Veteran Indiana Republican Senator Richard Lugar, known for his bipartisan spirit and statesmanship, lost his primary race Tuesday to a strident Tea Party candidate after a bitterly contested campaign.

In Lugar’s concession speech, he summarized his fears for a nation in which partisan groups at both ends of the spectrum are “dominating the political debate in our country,” and are working “to make it as difficult as possible for a legislator of either party to hold independent views or engage in constructive compromise.”

Too often bipartisanship is equated with centrism or deal cutting. Bipartisanship is not the opposite of principle. One can be very conservative or very liberal and still have a bipartisan mindset. Such a mindset acknowledges that the other party is also patriotic and may have some good ideas. It acknowledges that national unity is important, and that aggressive partisanship deepens cynicism, sharpens political vendettas, and depletes the national reserve of good will that is critical to our survival in hard times….

I don’t remember a time when so many topics have become politically unmentionable in one party or the other. Republicans cannot admit to any nuance in policy on climate change. Republican members are now expected to take pledges against any tax increases. For two consecutive Presidential nomination cycles, GOP candidates competed with one another to express the most strident anti-immigration view, even at the risk of alienating a huge voting bloc. Similarly, most Democrats are constrained when talking about such issues as entitlement cuts, tort reform, and trade agreements. Our political system is losing its ability to even explore alternatives. If fealty to these pledges continues to expand, legislators may pledge their way into irrelevance. Voters will be electing a slate of inflexible positions rather than a leader. (emphasis mine)

By the way…

I think Senator Lugar’s words may have a message for the Church in our day as well.

Recommended Summer Listening

The sun is staying up later, the temperatures are getting warmer, and the Orioles (the Orioles? Yes, the Baltimore Orioles!) have the best record in baseball. In must be the cusp of summer. The kiddies will be out of school soon, which means most all of us will be getting on the road and driving away from the heat and humidity of our towns to the heat and humidity of other towns. Before we don a Hawaiian shirt, plaid shorts and flip-flops, we need to pick out our summer music. (This afternoon we’ll pick out our summer reading.) This is my list of recommended tuneage for the summer months, which means it’s an infallible listing. Buy them all, cranking up the sound on your Victrola, and let that smile grow into a great big grin.

There are car tunes for driving on the freeway (otherwise known as mileage disposal units) and car tunes for driving on the backroads. A good selection for the former is Pearl Jam’s Backspacer. Now, I’m not a huge PJ or Eddie Vedder fan, but this 2009 album by the Seattle band has the right mix of surf and rock to make it a very good summer travel album. Yes, you can buy it through the Amazon link provided, but if there is a Target store nearby, pop in there to buy it for $4.99. That’s what I did. Ok, I was already at the Target as I work there, but you get the idea.

(I love the people who tell me they don’t shop at Target because it’s French-owned. When I tell them that Target is based in Minnesota, they tell me, “That’s what the French want you to believe.” Really. I’m not making this up. When people tell me this, I direct them to the nearest WalMart where, I think, they will be right at home.)

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The Guest Who Is Host

Emmaus Supper Simmons — Supper at Emmaus, Simmons

Journey into New Life, part five
The Guest Who Is Host

Our Gospel text for this Easter season is Luke 24:13-35, the story of the risen Lord’s encounter with his disciples on the road to Emmaus. In this passage Luke tells us what it means to walk with the living Lord Jesus Christ. It is more than a story of something that happened back then. It represents what newness of life is all about, how it works, and what it is like to experience the new creation. We are the disciples on the road, and Jesus comes to walk with us.

• • •

“While he was sitting at table with them he took the loaf, gave thanks, broke it and passed it to them” (Luke 24:30).

Strangers who are shown kindness, who enter a home by invitation and are treated to gracious hospitality usually defer to their hosts, wait for direction, and quietly, gratefully receive what is set before them.

This is no ordinary guest!

Welcomed in as a guest, this stranger takes the host’s seat.

(By the way, I don’t see that he asked their permission.)

Instead of waiting for the host’s direction, this stranger takes initiative and begins serving the meal.

And it all seemed so familiar — the taking…the blessing…the breaking…the giving.

Even before their eyes were opened, before their perception caught up with their observations, this behavior must have caught their attention. The actions of the stranger marked yet another significant moment in the journey of these believers from Emmaus. They were not yet given the gift of recognition, but in this moment they must have felt a bit of disorientation, and perhaps a sense of heightened anticipation.

Things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser.

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Getting to Know the Gospel Better

First Things First
Restoring the Gospel to Primacy in the Church
Part Two: Getting to Know the Gospel Better – Introduction

• • •

“It may be patently obvious, but it’s not to most: they called these books ‘the Gospels’ because they are the gospel.” (Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel).

I suggested in last week’s post that, just as the Jewish people consider the Torah of Moses to be the most important “book” in the Hebrew Bible, so Christians should view “The Gospel of Jesus” according to Matthew, Mark, Luke/Acts, and John to be the most important book of the New Testament.

This five-fold “book” of witnesses is the Gospel, and it is this “book” that is designed to form the Christian believer’s theology, identity, and calling. The NT epistles are secondary, built upon the Story told in these books. They show the outworking of the Gospel in the life of the Church and her mission in the world.

How well do we know the books of the Gospel?
How does the church emphasize their importance and the priority of knowing them and internalizing their message?

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Rain Delay

Last night we had bad thunderstorms here in Indy and it knocked out Internet service while I was putting together this morning’s post.

Sorry.

Hopefully, I’ll have something up later today.

“Complementarianism” Is a Sham

UPDATE: Comments now closed.

I honestly don’t get it. Seriously.

I have been hearing conservative Christians talk about “headship” and “submission” in the marriage relationship for over 35 years now, I heard about it again yesterday in church, and I still don’t know what they’re talking about.

Am I that thick-headed, or is this whole subject a sham?

This position has come to be called “complementarianism,” which I think is a horrible designation. Isn’t it obvious to everyone that God created males and females to complement one another? Just look at our bodies. Just look at how sex and reproduction work. Just look how male and female fit together like two puzzle pieces and participate together in that combination to bring life into the world. That’s the “complementary” nature of male and female, the “image of God” spoken of in Genesis 1:26-28.

Fair enough.

But what “complementarians” are talking about is hierarchy; more specifically patriarchy — MALE RULE. The folks with penises get to be in charge and say what’s what.

Rachel Held Evans called them out on this last week with an eminently sane post, saying, “Complementarianism is patriarchy—nothing more, nothing less.” I would go further — in most cases, complementarianism is a purely theoretical construct that bears little resemblance to how most modern love marriages actually function.

Complementarians are advancing an argument about certain ideas, not about actual prescriptions for married life in the Bible, and most certainly not about facts on the ground.

You can see this in what Russell Moore was getting at when he said this at a recent Together for the Gospel conference: “What I fear is that we have many people in evangelicalism who can check off ‘complementarian’ on a box but who really aren’t living out complementarian lives. Sometimes I fear that we have marriages that are functionally egalitarian, because they are within the structure of the larger society. If all we are doing is saying ‘male headship’ and ‘wives submit to your husbands’ but we’re not really defining what that looks like, in a Christ-centered way of discipleship, in this kind of culture, when those things are being challenged, then it’s simply going to go away.”

And it should go away! Because most people, no matter what their ideology, simply don’t live that way. More importantly, you cannot “define what that looks like” from the Bible, because it’s not there. It’s not there.

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Open Forum — May 7, 2012

Med Meal — Sampler, Dawali Mediterranean Kitchen, Chicago

I am writing these words from the western suburbs of Chicago, where Gail and I spent the weekend.

On Sunday, we had a full day. We went to worship in the morning at the church we usually attend when we come up here (Gail’s sister’s congregation). Then we took the train downtown, had lunch in a nice coffeehouse in the Loop, followed by a ride on the “L” up to North Park University to hear our son’s spring jazz band concert. It was rainy on and off throughout the day, but we stayed mostly dry as we walked through various neighborhoods and around campus. We ate dinner together at a great Mediterranean restaurant near NPU (click on the picture to learn more about Dawali Mediterranean Kitchen) and then walked to the station to board for the return trip home.

Bottom line, we left early and arrived home late. I did a lot of reading on the train, but we were preoccupied with enjoying the day and one another, and I didn’t have a lot of time to put together a coherent article for my usual Monday post.

So…

I thought the Open Forum we had a couple of weeks ago turned out pretty well, didn’t you? I suggest we do it again.

This morning, the floor is all yours. This is another chance to get together with others and bring up topics you would like to talk about, rather than just responding to my pontifications.

The usual rules apply — No name-calling. No questioning of salvation. No food fights. You break it, you buy it. You mess it up, you clean it up. You get it out, you put it away. Flush. Wash your hands. Say “please” and “thank you.”

Oh, and have fun. Enjoy the gift of conversation.