A Good Weekend

The Friendly Confines—Wrigley Field

NOTE: Sorry it took me awhile to get to comments and clean out the spammers today. If your response comment got deleted, it’s because the whole thing was just too weird to try and explain. Sigh…

What is your definition of a “good weekend”?

How about this?

  • I traveled to my favorite city in the world—Chicago—to spend the weekend there.
  • I did so with my favorite people in the world—my family.
  • They had given me tickets for the Cubs game, so on Saturday, we all went to Wrigley Field (my favorite ballpark), and spent the afternoon watching baseball.
  • The Cubs won. Yes, you actually read that correctly.
  • The Cubs won in dramatic fashion, tying the game with a homer and then pushing across the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. So, not only did we see a game, and a win, but a win of the most exciting kind.
  • After the game, we ate at Giordanos, my favorite place for Chicago-style stuffed pizza (my favorite kind of pizza).
  • Sunday was Mother’s Day, a bright beautiful spring day, a time to celebrate all the wonderful women in my family—my favorite women in the world.
  • We had breakfast and spent the morning with Mark Galli and his wife. Mark is one of my favorite authors and columnists, and it was stimulating and encouraging to talk about life and writing with him.
  • We attended our first service in an AMiA (Anglican Mission in America) church. A two-hour service! We participated in a liturgical service that combined old and new music, formality and spontaneity, seriousness and joy. It went long because it included two ordinations, which in my view gave a profound education to the congregation of the foundations of pastoral ministry and vocational service in the church and helped them celebrate the calling and enabling of the Holy Spirit.
  • We went to North Park University and heard our son’s Jazz Ensemble concert. They were spectacular, and even better because they had the privilege of playing with professional tenor sax artist Mark Colby.
  • While we were away, we received the good news that our Little League team won our first game (maybe the manager should leave more often, huh?).
  • God granted mercies for our travels, and we made it home safely.

I call that a good weekend. “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.”

My boyhood hero, "Mr. Cub," Ernie Banks

 

iMonk Classic: In the End, God Knows Us (A Meditation for Friends)

Classic iMonk Post
by Michael Spencer
From May 3, 2009

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God… (Galatians 4:9a, ESV)

I’ve been teaching Galatians for over a year, and I happened to cross this verse this week, a week marked by the passing of one of my most significant mentors. She exemplified many things in my life, but one of the most significant was her amazing hunger for the teaching of the Word of God. She had a quick and focused mind that was always taking in a sermon or a book of theology or Biblical teaching. Right up until her last few months, she was accumulating knowledge about God.

It’s interesting to me that Paul interrupts himself in Galatians 4 — almost corrects himself — to say that the better way to describe the Christian experience is coming to be known rather than coming to know. People who make this kind of distinction can be a bit irritating.

But there’s a reason to make such a distinction, and it’s very important we make it.

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Saturday Ramblings 5.7.11

Welcome to the Mother’s Day edition of Saturday Ramblings. All moms who are reading this, thank you. Thank you for all you have done, are doing, are trying to do. Raising kids is no picnic today. Enjoy all the praise given you tomorrow, even if it is the only day out of the year your kids say or do anything nice for you. You deserve all the honor that will be given you, and much more. Moms are great. My mom knew that there was no problem that couldn’t be solved with a batch of fresh chocolate chip cookies. Thanks, Mom. Now, let’s ramble, shall we?

Here is a bit of tease. This Thursday we will learn about the practice of praying to saints as taught us by Martha of Ireland. Many of you look forward to her comments, and now to her posts. There is a good one coming up this Thursday. You won’t want to miss it.

Also this Thursday, Adam Palmer will take a look at Rob Bell’s Love Wins. When he first approached me about reviewing Bell’s book, I said no. I thought the subject had been discussed enough. But Adam shared his take on the book and all that surrounds it, and by the time we were done talking, I wanted that review right now. But I will have to wait with you until Thursday. In the meantime, Mark Galli says that Rob Bell should not be a litmus test of our beliefs. Very good stuff here.

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The Liturgical Gangstas Talk about What They Read

Presented by Chaplain Mike

TODAY’S QUESTION: What do you read? What kinds of books do you most frequently read? What do you read for pleasure? What is the best book you’ve read in the past year? In our day, reading habits include blogs and web publications. Which are required reading for you?


Alan Creech, Roman Catholic

I’ll do what I can to answer this one. I assure you, it will be the shortest among the Gangsta gang. “What do you read?” Not much is the short answer. I don’t read a great deal at all. I’ll have a little fit from time to time, go buy something and try to read it. I say “try” because that’s what it ends up being – trying to read something. I’m a slow reader – very slow. I don’t get how some people can barrel through a 400 page book in less than a week! That blows my mind. And it frankly puzzles me a little bit. Why? What’s your hurry? I don’t know – I just don’t get it.

Briefly, I’ll say something about the reading culture in some Christian circles in recent times. It seems a bit on the voracious side to me. I mean, it seems almost like a fetish. Having to have another, then another, then 5 more, then 10 more new books to read, to devour. Now, while I would honor the desire to learn, to grow, etc., I would also say that reading something new is by far not the only way to learn or grow. Spiritual growth more than likely often happens in ways we have no idea about – God working in us when we’re not even acutely aware that He’s doing so, and in ways we don’t even come close to understanding. Clamoring for much knowledge could well be a distraction from the real work that needs to be done in cooperation with our transformation. OK, that’s that.

When I do read, it has historically been, well, Thomas Merton – more his sort of mystical theology stuff than his poetry or anything else. Also, things like St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Teresa of Avila, Church Fathers, and the like. Or possibly anything written contemporarily which is in the same vain – on spiritual formation, theology of our union with Christ, etc. Dense I can handle – very long and overly worked out, I cannot. It just wears me out. I’m not advocating overly simplistic, just not the opposite. Many words do not make for anything but, many words.

I do read blogs and some articles on the internet. I have a feed reader set up and skim through several daily. Sometimes I stop and read something all the way through – not too often, but sometimes. Here are a few that come to mind…

And a lot of personal blogs – no, not just Catholic stuff as you might think from the above. I don’t even heavily “read” those – just skim them and read something if I see something that catches my attention.

Read for enjoyment?? What’s that? The only thing I guess I probably “read” for enjoyment are fly fishing magazines – Fly Fisherman, Fly Rod & Reel, and American Angler – 3 good ones. Also some fishing/fly tying related websites here and there. If we’re too flooded to fish, I can at least read about it, right? 🙂  Peace to all in this house.

Continue reading “The Liturgical Gangstas Talk about What They Read”

The Scariest Word Of All

This morning we looked at the name many Christians shy away from —the name of Jesus. Now I want to look at the scariest word to many who claim to be followers of Jesus. I wrote on this word a few weeks back and took shots upside the head in the comments for days afterward. Chaplain Mike tried to help out with a beautiful story of grace by Shel Silverstein, and was pelted himself. I expect no less here today. Grab a handful of rocks on your way in. You will want to cast them at me before this is over.

Grace.

The very thought of God totally forgiving us all, and then turning us loose to live in freedom, frightens most Christians more than the thought of Bill Clinton returning for an encore presidency.

Grace. The complete power of the omnipotent God released to us in our weaknesses without our earning one ounce of it.

Grace. It is the essence of the Gospel. It is composed of, as Robert Capon says, Jesus Jesus Jesus.

And it is the scariest word most Christians are ever forced to hear.

We are a self-reliant people through and through. “If it is to be, it’s up to me” is our banner. Give us a task to do and we are as happy as clams to bend our backs and go at it. Your local bookstore has shelves lined with stories of those who faced insurmountable odds and yet surmounted anyway. By comparison, there are very few books telling the story of those who sat by and let someone else do all the heavy lifting. How is that inspiring? Give me the tale of hard work and perseverance, please. Sunrise to sunset we are to toil and sweat if we are to get ahead.

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A Most Difficult Name

I am a man of words. Not a man of few words—just ask those who have spent any time with me. I read and write and speak in words. We all use words everyday in one way or another. As Christians, we are people of The Word.

But I’ve noticed there are certain words we avoid because they make us uncomfortable. We’ll look at two such words today. Stand by to squirm.

Jesus.

Why is it that Christians of all people have so much trouble with the name of Jesus? “God?” No problem. “Lord?” Even better. “Father.” “Supreme Being.” “The Almighty.” All of these are perfectly acceptable names in referring to deity. God, etc., keeps us at arm’s length—and a very long arm at that—from any actual encounter with the divine.

But Jesus? That gets just a bit too personal. His name is raw and earthy. God is in the heavens. He is safely distant, coming only when we call for him. But Jesus? Jesus is intrusive. He is here. He wears sandals and a tunic and eats fish and rides donkeys and makes mud from spit and dirt. Jesus doesn’t wait to be invited—he barges right into life.

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You Knew It Would Come, Sooner Rather than Later

By Chaplain Mike

Amid the discussions of how Christians should respond to Osama bin Laden’s death, you knew, you just knew we would learn sooner rather than later how this all fits into Biblical prophecy.

Since this is not my specialty, I will leave it to the “experts,” who with perfect hindsight, now tell us, “Of course! This is a key part of the perfect set-up for the end!”

In this spirit, here comes John Claeys, professor at Le Tourneau University, author of Apocalypse 2012: The Ticking of the End Time Clock—What Does the Bible Say? (No, I am not going to put up a link for this book. Sorry.)

According to Claeys, as cited in The Christian Post,

  • The Bible says God will put an end to terrorism, for that is the only way the Antichrist will be able to proclaim, “Peace and security!” (1Thess 5:3).
  • Islamic terrorism is the main obstacle to the end-times treaty Israel will make with ten national leaders, which is clearly taught in Scripture. “It will be that treaty which will begin the clock ticking on the final seven years leading to the return of Christ.”
  • Bin Laden’s death is therefore part of a process (and it may come quickly!) of ending Islamic terrorism.
  • We need to factor in that bin Laden’s assassination along with other developments in the region will also embolden the pro-democracy forces in Iran that will bring down the Iranian regime and create a context in which Israel will be more open to working on “peace and security,” leading to the end-times peace treaty.
  • Claeys concludes:

This means that bin Laden’s death was perfectly timed (by God, of course) to prepare for the end-times treaty with Israel, which will cause world leaders to believe they have achieved “peace and security”. As quickly as events in the Middle East have occurred in the past few months and weeks, the death of this avowed leader of terrorism could lead to a quick series of events that will significantly change the Middle East, leading to that seven-year treaty.

And, oh yes, look for the rapture of the Church to occur at the completion of that treaty. For Christians, that means to keep looking up!

Wait…this happened in time for Harold Camping’s prediction, too! My friends, (he said in a deep, serious voice) the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.

Who thinks this stuff up?

 

How I Got to “OK”

Winding Road, Raymond Murray

By Chaplain Mike

From the start of my ministry three decades ago, there were aspects of being an evangelical pastor that I simply did not “get.”

I would hear other ministers speak and tell about what God was doing at their churches, learn about their approaches and their programs, listen to testimonies from folks in their congregations, and I would leave scratching my head. It seemed to me that many of them, certainly the ones with forceful personalities, had a way of convincing others that their agenda as pastors was the same thing as God’s agenda for Christians.

In my circles, very rarely did I hear the full-blown “God told me to do this” account that was more prevalent in charismatic or pentecostal churches. Still, that was the impression, even in our more theologically conservative groups. Whether it was defining a preaching series, implementing an element of worship that the pastor thought the church should practice, organizing an outreach program, expanding staff, building new facilities, using a certain method of teaching or training in the educational program or youth group, or designing the way the church should be overseen by its leaders, these ministers had a way of making it sound like these were directives from God himself. And the corollary to that, of course, was—if you are a truly dedicated, committed Christian, you will participate.

Over and over again, I watched as the pastor’s agenda became the church’s agenda, because the pastor was able to persuade people that it was God’s agenda.

I never felt comfortable with this. It always felt like a shell game to me. I came to believe that it is one of the key dynamics that has contributed to the “churchianity” which Michael Spencer lamented. Identifying a particular church program of the moment with the path of the Christian life, leads to “church-shaped” people; not necessarily “Jesus-shaped” people.

I guess that’s one reason I’m in the wilderness, and not a pastor in a local church today.

Continue reading “How I Got to “OK””

Another Look: It’s OK…to Just Be a Christian

By Chaplain Mike

I thought this post from last year (4/19/10) was worth another look. I hope you will too. It’s a bit of a riff on the question asked by the prophet Micah: “What does the Lord require of you?” (Micah 6:8) In the light of last week’s discussions on “radical” and other adjectives we apply to Christianity, these words came back to my mind. I’ve made a few minor editorial changes to the original post.

I hope this will come as a bit of good news to you today. Maybe it will help you stop beating yourself up unnecessarily. I hope it will help us all to that end.

What I have to tell you is:

It’s OK.

It’s OK to just be a Christian.

It’s OK to just be a person who knows and is thankful that God loves you and gave his Son for you.

It’s OK to just be a person of the cross, to know that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again for the world’s salvation.

Really, it’s OK.

Continue reading “Another Look: It’s OK…to Just Be a Christian”