Christian Community, Friendship and the Quest for Accountability

Humility: True GreatnessI received this book from Sovereign Grace Ministries, not as a review copy, but as a nice gift from a staff member there. This post isn’t a review, but an exploration of one idea in the book- accountability relationships- that I want to encourage.

Twice a week, I meet with a group of men to study, talk and pray together about our journey as Christians. We’ve been reading and discussing C. J. Mahaney’s excellent little book, Humility. (After Thanksgiving, we’re going to read John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life.)

Mahaney’s book is a simple, straightforward exhortation to value and pursue humility. Mahaney is that rare reformed writer with a light touch. His book is full of self-deprecating illustrations and devotional insights based on a Christ-centered/cross-centered focus on the Gospel. Mahaney is a blue-collar preacher, not a scholar, and he speaks with a pastor’s heart and insights. I recommend the book for any group looking for a study of the Christian life that majors on ground-level application.Continue reading “Christian Community, Friendship and the Quest for Accountability”

The Red Wheelbarrow Debate Continues

wheelbarrow.jpgUPDATE: Here’s an excellent essay from Lawrence Perrine on the nature of “proof” in poetry. You should read it if you are interested in literary interpretation.

I’m sure some of you want me to blog on nothing but TRs, post-evangelicalism and the latest attempt to say that Mark Driscoll is Sam Kinison (I’m not making that one up.) But I am a teacher, and I am wanting more and more to spend my life teaching. Meditating on the issues that teaching raises within my faith and with my students is a big part of my “Christian Humanism.” So here we go.

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

-William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow”Continue reading “The Red Wheelbarrow Debate Continues”

Eyes Wide Shut: Denise Spencer and the Struggle to Stay Awake

sleeping_in_class.jpgLife with the iMonk is exciting. And if you believe that, I’ve got some land in Florida to sell you.

My wife has written an entertaining essay about her struggle to stay awake when I am anywhere in the vicinity. Those of you who are looking forward to the excitement of marriage may want to read this to see just how exciting marriage can be. Preachers….if you once wanted a large church, but now you’d just like a few people to stay awake through your sermon, then this post is for you.

Denise a great writer with a fine humorous touch. Enjoy.

Read: Eyes Wide Shut.

For The One With the Sad Eyes

Ju- Sad Eyes Never Lie 2 [18.12.04]1.jpgI gave up reading the blogs and MySpaces of our students this year because they weren’t having a good effect on me. Without sounding arrogant, I’ve heard it all before, and the personal references to my school, my friends, my fellow teachers and my life’s mission weren’t giving me any motivations or insights that truly mattered.Continue reading “For The One With the Sad Eyes”

Quitting Soccer: Thoughts From Mom and Dad

dad.son-749992.jpgFrom time to time I like to do something on here for the parents in the audience. This post will require you to read a post at Clay’s blog, but it will be worth it to read Denise’s excellent response.

Clay Spencer has written a post recalling one of the most painful episodes of his life: the death of his dream of playing soccer. It’s a fine post, but particularly interesting to me because of my own memories of the same events. Read Clay’s post, then come back and read some thoughts from Denise and me that we hope will be of help to parents working through this stage of life or similar issues. Now go read while I put on some coffee. (Here’s a non-Xanga version of Clay’s post for those of you who can’t get to Xanga.)Continue reading “Quitting Soccer: Thoughts From Mom and Dad”

The One and Only: Remembering that all those other books aren’t the Bible, or even all that close.

book_stack1.jpgThis is a corrective for me most of all, so don’t write me and say “What about Capon and Wright blah blah blah?” I’m already there.

“For evangelical people, our authority is the God who has spoken supremely in Jesus Christ. And that is equally true of redemption or salvation. God has acted in and through Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners.

I think it’s necessary for evangelicals to add that what God has said in Christ and in the biblical witness to Christ, and what God has done in and through Christ, are both, to use the Greek word, hapax–meaning once and for all. There is a finality about God’s word in Christ, and there is a finality about God’s work in Christ. To imagine that we could add a word to his word, or add a work to his work, is extremely derogatory to the unique glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”- John StottContinue reading “The One and Only: Remembering that all those other books aren’t the Bible, or even all that close.”

Introducing Clay Spencer

clay.jpgI’ve been reluctant to post any of my 18 year old son’s writing here at IM, but clearly, now is the time. If this piece doesn’t belong here, nothing does.

Clay has a number of literary gifts. He’s working to improve them, but what impresses me is that he writes life, and he finds Jesus in life. These days he’s finding life in the (flawed) family of Jesus followers and on the UK campus.

I believe my son is going to be the writer I wanted to be. This piece on a “street preacher” he encountered on campus reminds me that Jesus is still being mocked and spit upon all the time. If we love Jesus, we’ll know Jesus when we see him on the street or elsewhere. He will probably upset us, leave us mad at the world and ourselves, and refuse the easy answers and categories.

I think Clay knows the Jesus I want to know.

Read: Which does Jesus Find Funnier: You or Me Laughing At You?

Clay’s poetry is published at EthosHQ.

Recommendation: Judas and the Gospel of Jesus by N.T. Wright

Judas and the Gospel of Jesus: Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity?I frequently receive inquiries from readers wanting to know where to start reading N.T. Wright. I have a standard list that includes Simply Christian, The Everyone Commentaries and The Challenge of Jesus.

Now I have a new recommendation: Judas and the Gospel of Jesus is Wright’s smallest book yet, but is his most direct and one of his most readable. In many respects, this book is an extended “question and answer” to the subject “What are the implications of the gnostic Gospels for our knowledge of Jesus?” Wright is the leading figure in the “Third Quest for the Historical Jesus” and is a historian with a skill in speaking about difficult material to ordinary people. This book shows Wright at his best in answering a specific contemporary challenge to the traditional creedal view of Jesus.Continue reading “Recommendation: Judas and the Gospel of Jesus by N.T. Wright”