Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: You Tell Me…Why Does Red Envelope Day Bother Me?

Matt Stokes responds like a reasonable person. Good blogger, Matt. Good.

It’s all over Facebook. All over email forwards. All over Christian discussion sites and blogs. All over evangelicalism and elsewhere.

It’s Red Envelope Day:

Hey everyone, I just was invited to a group on Facebook that I thought would be good to give you the heads up on. It is an event where on March 31 everyone who opposes abortion and wants to let President Obama know about it will send a Red envelope addressed to:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington , D.C. 20500

On the back you should write:

“This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion.
It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to be a part of our world.”

This would be a great way for all your pro-life people out there to let Pres. Obama know that you don’t approve of killing innocent babies.

So, Internet Monk audience….especially those of you who have been around a while…Why does “Red Envelope Day” bother me? (And why does it bother, or not bother, you….if you like.)

Liturgical Gangstas 7: Can the Church Require Fasting and Other Spiritual Disciplines?

Welcome to IM’s popular new feature, “The Liturgical Gangstas,” a panel discussion among different liturgical traditions represented in the Internet Monk audience.

Who are the Gangstas?

Father Ernesto Obregon is an Eastern Orthodox priest, who as a result of this IM feature, now has a fan club of several million :-).
Rev. Peter Vance Matthews is an Anglican priest and founding pastor of an AMIA congregation.
Dr. Wyman Richardson is a pastor of a First Baptist Church (SBC) and director of Walking Together Ministries, a resource on church discipline.
Alan Creech is a Roman Catholic with background in the Emerging church and spiritual direction. Alan Creech Rosaries is an IM sponsor.
Rev. Matthew Johnson is a United Methodist pastor.
Rev. William Cwirla is a Lutheran pastor (LCMS) and one of the hosts of The God Whisperers, which is a podcast nearly as good as Internet Monk Radio.

Here’s this week’s question: I (Michael) recently published two posts on “A New Covenant Lent.” The responses have been animated, and several have asked me to “gangsta-ize” one of the issues. So…

To what extent can a church (and this context will vary from gangsta to gangsta) mandate personal spiritual practices? For example, what is your perspective on mandated fasts at particular times of the Christian year or for other causes? More importantly, what theology of Christian spirituality lies behind your reasoning?

Readers: This was an outstanding response, and please don’t miss the Baptist response. Wyman is in rare form.Continue reading “Liturgical Gangstas 7: Can the Church Require Fasting and Other Spiritual Disciplines?”

Big Words, Barbeque and the Bus to the Church That’s Got It Right: Protestant Ruminations on Church Salesmanship

Occasionally, I get complaints for using big words on this web site. I’m not very impressed with that complaint, because I’m aware of the existence of dictionaries and I believe that most education consists of learning the meaning of words, putting them into thoughts and thinking differently.

So if terms like complementarian, discernablogger or antinomian make you whine, hit that dictionary in the search window. Learn something new.

In fact, I have two words for you today: soteriology and ecclesiology. I’ll do the hard work for you guys still playing World of Warcraft.

Ecclesiology is the study of the church. It’s what you believe about the church. What it is, what it does, what role in plays in your life as a Christian, and so on.

Soteriology is what you believe about how a person is saved. (Soter=save) This is how you are saved. How salvation works; How God does it and through what means.Continue reading “Big Words, Barbeque and the Bus to the Church That’s Got It Right: Protestant Ruminations on Church Salesmanship”

Review: 10 Things I Hate About Christianity by Jason Berggren (and Some Thoughts On Post-Evangelical Voices in Christian Publishing)

A lot of people write me every year and they say “Why don’t you write a book?”

Honestly, no one would like to be a published author more than me. I am eaten up with envy toward friends like Jared Wilson, Trevin Wax and Travis Prinzi who have turned their studying/writing/preaching/blogging into books.

Bill Kinnon writes me once a month and asks me if I realize I have enough material on the IM web site for several books. I know, I know. But that’s exactly the problem: some kinds of writing simply don’t seem like they belong in a book. Or maybe that’s just my problem.

I think part of my problem is that I have a definition of a real book that has this bottom line: It’s more serious literature than a blog.

“I can’t believe you’re bad-mouthing blogging, Spencer. What a crass hypocrite.”Continue reading “Review: 10 Things I Hate About Christianity by Jason Berggren (and Some Thoughts On Post-Evangelical Voices in Christian Publishing)”

What Have I Learned From Living In Community? (Part 1)

When you’ve lived in an intentional Christian community for almost 17 years, you’re a pretty sorry excuse for a person if you haven’t thought about how your life has affected that community or how that experience has shaped you as a person. You live together on the same campus, eat together for most meals, live by the same rules, worship together, serve one another, labor together, suffer together, counsel one another, sin with and in proximity to one another and offer your particular gifts and ministries together. You make an impact and the community impacts you.

It’s not like church. Many a day, when times have been tough, I’ve longed for the old days when I worked on church staff and I spent only a few hours a week with members of the congregation. A couple of hours on Sunday morning and, unless there was an emergency, that was it for the week with most of them. I could even have friendships that were outside of the congregation and no one noticed!

But in intentional community, all of that sort of thing is offered up. I see my students and co-workers for many, many hours a week. And they see me constantly; ad nauseum, I fear. Sometimes when someone will be having a social occasion and we’re invited, I think to myself “These people see and hear me so much, if I show up for this, they will all be depressed.”Continue reading “What Have I Learned From Living In Community? (Part 1)”

Internet Monk Radio Podcast #128

podcast_logo.gifThis week: Why is it so easy to walk away from the Gospel? (Some thoughts about Galatians)

Steve Brown, ETC Guest Room Blog. My piece shows up Monday March 2, I think.

Exit music from Randy Stonehill. The new CD, Paradise Sky.

Our sponsors are: 60 Ways to Leave Your Mother…Alone. A comic by Michael Buckley.

New Reformation Press. Download new teaching by Dr. Rod Rosenbladt.

Zaccheus Press– Fine Catholic Books, including Union With God.

Want to be an IM advertiser? Want over 450,000+ unique visitors with close to 5.5 million page views last year to see your ad on the sidebar? IM has the most diverse readership in the blogosphere. I am #12 on Relevant Christian’s list of blogs read by Christian leaders. Get your product out there to a loyal audience that supports this site. Contact me if you are interested. Outstanding rates available on request.

Twenty Kinds of People Who Lurk, Read and Comment at IM

We have a lot of good people here at IM, and I count many of you as dear and wonderful friends. But I got to making this darned list….Who actually hangs out here, reads this blog every day and comments on the posts?

1. People who strive to understand what I’m doing and take something good from it.

2. People who respect the diversity of opinions here and protect that by their respectful participation.

3. People wanting to learn more about evangelicals or other Christians.

4. People monitoring me for employers, friends and the “Chat Channel.”Continue reading “Twenty Kinds of People Who Lurk, Read and Comment at IM”

iMonk 101: Plan 9 From Lower Space

iMonk 101 features posts from the iMonk’s vast archive of provocative material.

A blast from the past; August 2005 to be exact. “Plan 9 From Lower Space” was an excursion into one of my favorite literary forms: The Screwtape Letter. In this episode, “Scrawlwart” orients “Bebblerot” to the greatest discovery the demonic realm every made: Without much trouble, the church will do your job for you.

One problem: none of the links work anymore and I’m too lazy to fix the ones to other pieces at IM (Wretched Urgency.) The referenced “file” was a story from our stalwart and dependable state Baptist newspaper telling pastors that parking and landscaping was more important than preaching in a visitor’s decision to return to your church. (Really, by the time that discussion is happening, things are so far gone there’s little hope for recovery. Check back in ten years and hope there was a split.)

READ: “Plan 9 From Lower Space.”

Recommendation and Review: Vintage Jesus DVD Curriculum

vj-seriesA few months ago, friends of this web site contributed over $600 worth of curriculum resources so my students could study Jesus along with Mark Driscoll. I’ve been using the resources with three of my high school Bible survey classes, and I wanted to do a brief review for those who might be considering the resource.

The resource is produced by Song of Solomon resources, which appears to be the ministry of Tommy Nelson and apparently is known primarily for materials on The Song of Solomon. Information with the curriculum indicates that the ministry is expanding into other types of DVD materials on various subjects featuring many well known teachers and preachers such as Matt Chandler, as well as live events.

The Vintage Jesus series is 12 talks, 30 minutes each, from Driscoll’s book and sermon series “Vintage Jesus.” A sharp-looking study guide accompanies the entire series.

Let me say the good stuff, and then a few criticisms.Continue reading “Recommendation and Review: Vintage Jesus DVD Curriculum”

Russell Moore: On Sacraments and Sawdusts: Toward the Future of Evangelical-Catholic Public Engagement

I’m really enjoying the speaking and ministry of Russell Moore, dean of theology at my alma mater, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Here’s a recent talk that may be of interest to IM readers: “Of Sacraments and Sawdust: Toward the Future of Evangelical-Catholic Public Engagement”