For Ash Wednesday: The Prayer of Manasseh

lenten_ashes.jpgO Lord, Almighty God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed; who hast made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof; who hast bound the sea by the word of thy commandment; who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name; whom all men fear, and tremble before thy power;Continue reading “For Ash Wednesday: The Prayer of Manasseh”

Converting the Consumers: Directions for the Lenten Journey

lenten_cross.jpgAt the ministry where I work, we have a little guy I’ll call “Charles.” A middle-schooler growing into a young man.

Charles is a church kid, and he’s a Christian. He’s also very, very serious about impressing the adult Christians around him.

He wears a tie every day. Almost no one on our staff does that, and the students certainly don’t.

He wears dress clothes all the time. Our ministry has lots of donated suits, and he loves wearing them. Especially the oversized ones. He especially loves ties and suspenders. He wears the tie at night, around the dorm, often during free time, work time and on Saturdays. Here in Eastern Ky, at a ministry where no one dresses formally, not even the local pastor (who wears overalls), he’s quite a dapper dresser.

Many days he carries a very large, leather, KJV Bible with him. Collins/World. Expensive leather. In the original box. I’d estimate it’s $125 of Bible.Continue reading “Converting the Consumers: Directions for the Lenten Journey”

iMonk 101: Can I Have My Bible Back? A Guest Post by Joel Hunter

bible2.jpgUPDATE: Joel has made an extensive explanation and defense of his “Story or proposition?” argument from this post over at the Boar’s Head. Be sure and check it out if you’ve read this.

I’ll be back to blogging in a day or so, but until then I want to re-run this fantastic IM essay by Joel Hunter, BHT fellow and soon to be Philosophy Ph.d from the University of Kentucky. Joel’s explanation of what has been done to the Bible by its contemporary defenders and the damage it’s done is a wonderful exploration of ideas of scripture that comport with Wright and Capon. If you love the Bible, but wonder if the focus on “propositional” reading of scripture is all it’s been built up to be, you’ll be encouraged by this post.

Read: “Can I Have My Bible Back?” by Joel Hunter.

iMonk 101 posts republish some of the best essays from the IM archives.

Sermon: You Got Schooled

carl-bloch-transfiguration.jpgUPDATE: To those of you writing me wondering about the day, check the Revised Common Lectionary.

Today is transfiguration Sunday, and that’s what I preached about. Matthew 17:1-9, but some in Matthew 16, too. I tried to give the event its wider context, and to convey that for his disciples, Jesus may have been the most frustrating teacher of all time. Of course, he is also the greatest teacher, and the greatest lesson. Jesus is never more “Zen” to me than at these moments he takes the disciples on the roller-coaster ride of understanding who he is and what is his mission. The answers go out the window, the questions get replaced and eventually the whole school is turned upside down. It’s like he’s trying to change YOU, not just give you little bits of information. (y’think?)

These sermons will be in a category called “London Presby.”

Thanks to Wyman Richardson for the Fred Craddock story. (Always credit your sources, preachers, or you’ll be in preacher’s purgatory for many more years.)

Luther on Sin and Grace

glass_down_south_2_closer.jpgThere are lots of Luther resources available from our sponsor, New Reformation Press.

I attended Southern Seminary in 1979, 1982-84, and 1986-87. I earned the M.Div and 36 hours of doctoral work. During that time, I studied with Dr. Timothy George in several classes. One J-term- I believe it was summer- I took Dr. George for “The Theology of Martin Luther.”

Up until that time, I had some notion of justification by faith alone, but it was not an existential grasp that grabbed ahold of ME, and made ME the recipient of grace and unassailable hope in Jesus. During Dr. George’s lecture on Luther and Justification, I had what I can only describe as a mystical experience. It was as if God were on one side of the universe and I was on the other. He was in heaven, and I was in hell. Then Christ himself, through his incarnation, overwhelmed and obliterated that chasm. God took me, from where and I what I was, and brought me into himself. There are, truly, no words for the experience. I realized that I and the universe were still as we always were, but at the same moment, God had come completely to me and there was no separation, no divide, no chasm. And all of this was because Christ, somehow, became both God AND the divide between us.Continue reading “Luther on Sin and Grace”

Internet Monk Radio Podcast #87

podcast_logo.gifPreaching news. Thoughts on the “false assurance” discussion at Frank Turk’s blog.

The Quote:

Think about who you are this weekend. Be in the Lord’s house with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day and let your assurance be challenged – because unless your assurance is changing you, unless it is putting your treasure in things which cannot rust and thieves cannot steal, you have a false assurance.

First Presbyterian Church, London, Ky.

Frank Turk’s blog post on Piper’s “Assurance” video. (There are other posts in the discussion as well.) Here, here, and here.

You all need to buy “The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church” from New Reformation Press.

Robert Capon on the “Baseball Game” Image of Scripture

14951231.JPGNo single book anywhere by anyone has had 1/100th the positive effect on my life as Robert Capon’s The Fingerprints of God: Tracking the Divine Suspect Through a History of Images. I have no idea what it will do for you, but it was the ingredient that turned a whole lot of dull this and that into an incredible Cajun gumbo of Gospel goodness for me. (That one was for you Fr. Capon.)

Capon’s book is a tour of, first, scripture, and secondly, church history. The history portion is outstanding. The section on scripture is still rocking my theological stadium. It’s implications for my reading, teaching and preaching of the Bible are profound.

I’m going to give you one of Capon’s images from his discussion of how all of scripture works together. The analogy- one of my favorites- is a baseball game. (Apologies to those allergic to sport’s analogies.) Continue reading “Robert Capon on the “Baseball Game” Image of Scripture”

Breather + Eugene Peterson on “The Church”

I’m going to take a brief breather from original posts for a while. I’ll be postings some iMonk 101 posts and some extended quotes from voices I believe are important and timely.

I have a lot of preaching to prepare for in the next few days, as well as some major school events to plan. I also need to spend some time considering what I’m going to try and do with Lent this year.

I’ll continue to moderate comments.

thejesusway.jpgHere’s a wonderful summary of “What is the Church?” from Eugene Peterson’s book The Jesus Way.

But Jesus as the truth gets far more attention than Jesus as the way. Jesus as the way is the most frequently evaded metaphor among the Christians with whom I have worked for fifty years as a North American pastor. In the text that Jesus sets before us so clearly (John 14:6) and definitively, way comes first. We cannot skip the way of Jesus in our hurry to get the truth of Jesus as he is worshipped and proclaimed. The way of Jesus is the way that we practice and come to understand the truth of Jesus, living Jesus in our homes and workplaces, with our friends and family. Continue reading “Breather + Eugene Peterson on “The Church””