My Problem With God’s Will

“God’s will is a profound and holy mystery, and the fact that we live our everyday lives engulfed in this mystery should not lead us to underestimate its holiness. We dwell in the will of God as in a sanctuary … it takes the humility and spiritual poverty to travel in darkness and uncertainty, where so often we have no light and see no sign at all.”

—Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island

Reading these words of Thomas Merton are both a blessed relief and source of immense frustration. On one hand they confirm the idea of God’s will as mystery and relieve me from feeling so spiritually dull. On another hand, the darkness and uncertainty of being a human engulfed in it proves that … I am so very spiritually dull.

Mysterious though it may be, Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). If it is true as Paul says that Christ followers are predestined to be conformed to his image and since we are also his body on earth, logic and Scripture tell us our food should also be to do God’s will (see Romans 8:29). The Holy Spirit is busy forming God’s will in us and prompting us toward it. Wanting to prove “his good, pleasing and perfect will” is a supernatural response to Christ’s transformation and renewal of those who’ve trusted him to save them. In spite of being weak and sinful and human, it is what I long for and it has prompted considerable thought and prayer over the years.

Yet, at times I don’t even know what God’s will is. So many Christians think it should be easy to discover. I have also thought this in the past. This idea, along with other equally simplistic ideas about equally difficult subjects prevails in American Christendom. Just follow these biblical steps and get out of debt … or these steps and safeguard your marriage … or those steps and raise kids who won’t ever, ever disappoint you. We write business plans and budgets, agendas and organizational charts. We are a nation of list makers. We like boxes to check off and prescriptions to follow. Why not apply the same thinking when it comes to trying to discern God’s will? I’m not throwing stones here. I like formulas too. I really enjoy following instructions and getting a desired result. It makes me feel productive …  like I’ve ended up farther down the road than where I started.

Continue reading “My Problem With God’s Will”

Swim Or Float? Guess What God Wants From Us

If you have read my essays over the last year or two, you will notice a common theme running through them. I am learning to trust God. Yes, after nearly 38 years as a Christian, I am finally learning to let go of my need to understand and trust the Lord. It has been a very long, hard journey, one I am not finished with yet, one I may never be finished with. But I am learning, and learning just how incredible it is to let go and trust the one who loves me the most.

I shared last week how I have been struggling vocationally and financially for the past eighteen months. That has been a very big area of my life where I’ve had to let go and trust God. My grip on the way I thought things should be done was so tight that the Lord has had to send severe storms into my life to get me to let go. I had controlled my own life for so long I just couldn’t see it being done any other way. And what he was calling me to believe him for was so crazy, so far-fetched (at least to how I was raised) that I had trouble at first believing it was God at all.

I asked my friend and spiritual mentor, “What if I’m trusting God for something and it is something wrong?” He responded, “So what? When you are thinking about what’s right and what’s wrong, you’re focusing on you. I hate to tell you  this, Jeff, but this life isn’t about you. It’s his world. He can do with it what he wants.”

My initial reaction was to say, “But he never violates his word.” It was then pointed out to me that he seemingly goes against his word quite often. And he very often demands of his followers things that are totally ridiculous. “God is not like we are, only more moral and more nice,” said my friend. “He is totally other.”

Continue reading “Swim Or Float? Guess What God Wants From Us”

Updating Updates

For my 20th college reunion in 2000 we invited Brother Bob Stamps to come speak to us. Bro. Bob was our chaplain back in the 1970s, and he is still much-loved by those who were in school during that time. When he got up at our banquet to speak, he said, “I wrote out a sermon last week that I really like. That I really want to share with you. But then two nights ago God gave me another message that I am to share with you. But I don’t want to give up my first message. So tonight I am going to preach two sermons to you.”

And we loved them both.

This morning I am going to share two things with you. There are a couple of items I want to update for you. That’s what I’m doing now. But I also had something on my heart to share with you concerning our trust in the Lord, and that’s what I’m going to do next. This afternoon, Lisa Dye has an essay to share with you that is frankly some of the best writing I have read. The Lord is using what she wrote to mess with my heart. So you will have a full plate today. Loosen your belt and let’s dig in.

Continue reading “Updating Updates”

Second Quarter Listening Report

By Chaplain Mike

It is time for my quarterly update on new popular music to which I’ve been listening. I don’t have a lot of money to spend on music, so I try to pick and choose what to put on my iPod. Like everyone, I have my favorites from whom I’ll buy an album just because they put one out. Occasionally I’ll try something new but it’s usually in a genre I’ve enjoyed before.

Whatever I may find, I’m happy to talk about music here at IM with you. Music is one of those “grace” aspects of my life in which I always find comfort, joy, and encouragement.

This quarter, we focus on new releases from a few of my constant musical companions.

Paper Airplane
Alison Krauss & Union Station

Another solid and eminently listenable, if unspectacular, effort from AKUS. I always appreciate their craftsmanlike musicianship, the democratic sharing inherent in their approach to music, Jerry Douglas’s unparalleled dobro playing, and, of course Alison Krauss’s angelic voice. Highlights include the title cut, the haunting “Lie Awake,” and the songs on which Dan Tyminski sings, recalling the roots of Americana. Do you know what I’d like to hear from AKUS?—a record that features Krauss’s fiddle playing. She has always kept that somewhat subtle, with occasional moments of jaw-dropping virtuosity. I’d love to hear her cut loose for an extended session sometime.

Continue reading “Second Quarter Listening Report”

Guest Post: Allen Krell on Evangelicals and Lutherans

Today’s post is from friend of iMonk, Allen Krell.

Note from CM: I enjoy getting comments from readers who have their own blogs. I often travel over to their sites to get a better feeling for who they are and what perspectives they have on a variety of issues, not just what we’re discussing here on IM.

Recently, I visited Allen Krell’s blog and was struck by a post he wrote discussing his experiences in a megachurch. The church operated by a particular model commonly called, “The Core and the Crowd.” Now a Lutheran, Allen reflects on that and a much different historic perspective on ministry.

Since my main interest and concern these past several years in the wilderness has been in the realm of ecclesiology, I’m always looking for ways to discuss how our communities are formed and what their values and operating principles are.  I hope Allen’s thoughts here will provide some good fodder for discussion for all of us.

Thanks, Allen.

Why Lutheran Churches Can’t Attract A Crowd (or How to grow a Lutheran church), by Allen Krell

First, a little background on my travels in the post-evangelical wilderness. I come from a strong Baptist background. In the 1990s, I became very interested in church growth methods, and studied all the typical contemporary church growth patterns. I became part of an elder team that led a church to bring in a pastor that was very experienced in the “crowd and core” church method. This pastor was very frank and honest about this method, and I learned a great deal about how it works. The church rapidly grew from 40-50 attenders to 700-1000 attenders in less than a year.

Although the church was a success, I became very disillusioned with what I was witnessing. Specifically, I realized the “How to be a better ___ in ___ easy steps” sermons were merely a rework of the law. In my disillusionment, I started down the historical path, reading my way backward through history.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Allen Krell on Evangelicals and Lutherans”

Major Megachurch Maniacal Missional Madness!

By Chaplain Mike

Headline from Christianity Today: “Multi-Site Churches Go Interstate.”

Subject: Megachurches are now expanding beyond their localities and regions to other cities and states.

Example: “Pastor Mark Driscoll’s megachurch [Seattle, WA] recently announced plans to expand into Portland, Oregon, and Orange County, California, using multi-site campuses that feature live bands and a sermon piped in from the main campus in Seattle.”
They already have an off-site campus in Albuquerque, NM.

Rationale: “Oregon [etc.] needs Jesus Christ” (Mars Hill website)

Context: “The surge is being driven by technology breakthroughs…” (Warren Bird, co-author of Multisite Church Roadtrip). In other words, because we can.

Concern: “If you are a church planter in Portland, it’s a bit like reading the notice that Wal-Mart is coming and you are the mom-and-pop store.” (Pastor Bob Hyatt, Portland)

Critique: “It’s not just an extreme example of the church-celebrity model. It’s complete capitulation. It’s enshrining that into the DNA of the church” (Bob Hyatt). CT summarizes: “Critics fear the out-of-state campuses turn churches into franchises like McDonald’s or Starbucks.”

Questions and Comments:

  • Really? Really?
  • I can’t imagine ever, ever, EVER attending a “service” at a “church” like this. Can you?
  • What kind of an ego must a preacher have and how controlling must one be to do something like this?
  • Is there ever a time to say, “Just because we can does not mean we should“?
  • Is it possible that evangelicalism will reach a point where it has emptied itself of historic memory, tradition, and practice so much that it will cease to be meaningfully “Christian”?

[insert phrase signifying speechless bewilderment and frustration]

Lady Wisdom’s Five Fair Daughters

Story of Ruth I, Rooke

By Chaplain Mike

Ordinary Time Bible Study 2011
The Book of Ruth (2)

Series Introduction (in case you missed it last time)

During Ordinary Time this summer, we will have a weekly Bible study on the Book of Ruth. I think this especially appropriate, for Ruth is a story about ordinary people in ordinary settings, in and through whom God did extraordinary things.

For our text, we will be using the NetBible, so that you can make use of their online study tools, including the ability to view parallel translations, study notes and articles, and the ability to download the text to your computer or mobile device.

Review Study One

Study Two: Lady Wisdom’s Five Fair Daughters

In our first study we noted that the Book of Ruth is found in a different location in the Hebrew Bible than in our English versions.

Our English Bibles derive from the tradition of the Greek Septuagint (LXX) translation, which organized the books according to historical chronology, then added the wisdom books and writing prophets. In this tradition, Ruth is placed in its historical context, after the book of Judges, and before the narratives of Samuel that introduce us to King David.

The Hebrew Bible, on the other hand, coming through the Masoretic tradition, organizes the books into three major sections: Torah, Prophets, and Writings. In the Hebrew Bible, Ruth is among the writings and considered both a Wisdom book and a story that has a great deal to say about the Davidic King, a major theme of this section that is dominated by Psalms.

Ruth is one of the Five Scrolls that are read at Jewish festivals each year:

  • Song of Songs, read at Passover
  • Ruth, read at the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost)
  • Lamentations, read at the Fast of Ab (commemoration of fall of Jerusalem)
  • Ecclesiastes, read at the Feast of Tabernacles
  • Esther, read at the Feast of Purim

These Scrolls, known in Hebrew as the Megilloth, follow the three books of wisdom in the Hebrew Bible: Psalms, Job, and Proverbs. The positioning of the Scrolls after Proverbs is especially interesting and suggestive.

Continue reading “Lady Wisdom’s Five Fair Daughters”

IM Film Review: The Tree of Life

By Chaplain Mike

“There are two ways through life: the way of nature, and the way of Grace. You have to choose which one you’ll follow…. Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries… Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Likes to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things.”

“Father, Mother. Always you wrestle inside me. Always you will.”

• from The Tree of Life

It is likely you have not seen a film like Terence Malick’s The Tree of Life. It is a sprawling piece of magnificent impressionist art. It may also be the most thoughtful and artful portrayal of the Judeo-Christian spiritual perspective that I have ever viewed.

I’ve heard Life compared to Stanley Kubrick’s magnum opus, 2001: A Space Odyssey. And, indeed, they may belong in the same category. Both tell stories with a scope that reaches back to prehistory and forward to the eschaton. In Malick’s case, he goes even further than 2001 and attempts to visualize creation and the early evolution of life itself, with a nod to dinosaurs along the way. Both films allow much space for silence and use the strains of sublime classical music to encourage contemplation. Both films build cathedrals of spectacular images that invite us to encounter transcendence.

Indeed, for The Tree of Life, Malick worked with Douglas Trumbull, who created the special effects for 2001, which were mind-blowing at the time. Forty-three years later, the ante has been raised again. The visuals in this film are truly awe-inspiring and, as in 2001, serve their purpose well. As A. O. Scott wrote in the New York Times, “The sheer beauty of this film is almost overwhelming, but as with other works of religiously minded art, its aesthetic glories are tethered to a humble and exalted purpose, which is to shine the light of the sacred on secular reality.”

Continue reading “IM Film Review: The Tree of Life”

A Hymn for Ordinary Time

Green Garden, Maule (info below)

By Chaplain Mike

Here is a wonderful hymn that would be appropriate for devotional and group use throughout Ordinary Time. It is sung to the tune many know as, “Be Thou My Vision.”

Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy
Whose trust, ever childlike, no cares could destroy
Be there at our waking, and give us, we pray
Your bliss in our hearts, Lord, at the break of the day

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith
Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe
Be there at our labors, and give us, we pray
Your strength in our hearts, Lord, at the noon of the day

Lord all all kindliness, Lord of all grace
Your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace
Be there at our homing, and give us, we pray
Your love in our hearts, Lord, at the eve of the day

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm
Whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm
Be there at our sleeping, and give us, we pray
Your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.

Text: Jan Struther, 1901-1953
Music: Irish traditional

Art from My Chloe Flower, Erica Maule

iMonk Classic: Worship, CCM and the Worship Music Revolution (part two)

Classic iMonk Post
by Michael Spencer
Circa 2002

Last week we posted part one of this series. You can review it HERE. In this group of three essays from nearly ten years ago, the iMonk observes the sea-change taking place in evangelical church worship and music and shares his reflections about them. Today, part two.

THE LORD IS MY SONG
Toward a Reasonable Regulative Principle (Part 2/3)

The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2)

Growing up in a large, fundamentalist Southern Baptist Church in western Kentucky, I never knew there was anything potentially controversial about worship. In fact, I never knew there was such a thing as worship. “Are you staying for preachin’ service?” was the question someone always asked after Sunday School. I knew about singing hymns, choirs, soloists and quartets, preaching, praying, offerings and invitations. I knew about revivals and crusades, but I never thought about worship.

Our church taught us that Southern Baptists were the only true Christians in the world, so I easily avoided knowing anything about any other Christians. When my best friend’s brother got married in a Roman Catholic church, I got so nervous that I walked out of the church in the middle of the service. The first time I attended a Methodist service with another friend, I was scared to death. What kind of rituals did these strange sects practice? I was an unlikely candidate for coming to appreciate the broader worship tradition of Christianity.

As a senior in high school in 1973, I got involved in the Charismatic movement in our community, which just happened to be dominated by Roman Catholics. We gathered in a church basement and sang choruses while Father Somebody played a rollicking electronic organ. They were raising hands, singing with enthusiasm, anointing the sick, talking in tongues and generally doing everything that would get a Baptist boy thrown to the lower reaches of purgatory. But I also felt, for the first time, a sense of dynamic corporate worship and the expectancy that God was present in the power of the Spirit.

Continue reading “iMonk Classic: Worship, CCM and the Worship Music Revolution (part two)”