Pastor’s Page

bold galoshes investigate an icon
where dead anxiety can teach as rain
and inspire free color above rhythm
to paint music by symbol and form

Jonathan Barlow has written an excellent summary of the Federal Vision controversy/debate/mess on a blog given to discussing such issues. Thankfully, Jeff Meyers has posted Jon’s insights on his blog, making them more accessible.

http://jeffreyjmeyers.blogspot.com/2008/02/federal-vision-fiasco-in-nutshell.html

Not surprisingly, C.S. Lewis has an excellent quote on the Christian life. While stated in the context of living in in Atomic Age, the principles set forth address what is always to be true of the lives of believers in this world.

“If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things – praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts – not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”

It will be interesting to hear the media’s take on this. Looks fascinating, though not surprising.

http://www.expelledthemovie.com/playground.php

I came across this quote today in some reading from Where Resident Aliens Live, the companion volume by Hauerwas and Willimon. In the chapter, “Practice Discipleship”, they are commenting on the fact that “people often lie most readily in marriage exactly because they fear losing the intimacy they have achieved to that point… . That is why we Christians assert that marriages must be sustained by more fundamental practices than simply how they enrich the interpersonal relationship between two people. Marriage is subservient to discipleship. Our marriages are ultimately significant only as a means of supporting each of us in our ministry, including the ministries of childrearing, conversion of the young, protection of the old. We think marriage is a place where Christians are able to be truthful with one another because marriage is more determinative than their immediate feelings.
“Whether Christians in their marriages can be truthful depends on marriage not being isolated from the community. Christians are asked to have their marriages witnessed before before the whole community where that community can hold them to promises they made when they didn’t know what they were doing. How could you ever know what you were doing when you promised another to be faithful for a lifetime? But we know we can risk telling one another the truth, since the bond of marriage is more determinative than our personal satisfaction at any one time. That allows Christians to be married with joy” (85-86).

Came across this provocative quote today:

“The only advantage of the Church over against the world is that the Church knows the real situation of the world. Christians know what non-Christians do not… . It belongs to the Church to witness to the Dominion of Christ clearly, explicitly, and consciously.” – Karl Barth

Here’s a great sermon by Pastor Rich Lusk on marriage. Wonderfully foundational and well worth the time.

http://www.trinity-pres.net/audio/sermon07-07-08.mp3

After listening to the sermon, the accompanying notes are worth a perusal too.

http://www.trinity-pres.net/audio/070708sermonnotes.pdf

Much of what Rich has to say further confirms some thoughts I have had of late regarding the “liturgy of life.” In other words, there are patterns to life, habits that we pursue that affect us profoundly. Just as every worship service has liturgy, the question to be asked is whether or not it is good liturgy or bad liturgy. Analogously, what are the patterns of our lives? What are our habits? What does the liturgy of our lives reflect (how we speak, act, etc.)?

In a recent conversation with a friend, I mentioned that I think J.K. Rowling’s use of symbolism is deeper than she even realizes or intends at times. One such instance struck me recently when reading “The Wedding” chapter in Deathly Hallows. I’ve included the excerpt below, and when you read it, think of the way in which it pictures the ministry of the Church, the Bride of Christ to the world.

“A great collective sigh issued from the assembled witches and wizards as Monsieur Delacour and Fleur came walking up the aisle, Fleur gliding, Monsieur Delacour bouncing and beaming. Fleur was wearing a very simple white dress and seemed to be emitting a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else by comparison, today it beautified everybody it fell upon. Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses, looked even prettier than usual, and once Fleur had reached him, Bill did not look as though he had ever met Fenrir Greyback.”

Some friends sent this link to me:

http://www.doublesharpevideo.com/HomeSchool2/Homeschool2.html

Let’s hear it for a good sense of humor.

Awhile back I posted a couple of quotes from the book Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon. In the sequel, Where Residence Aliens Live: Exercises for Christian Practice, they make the following point that further bolsters my conviction of the importance of stories in the life of the church and the life of faith.

“We will tell even more stories, give more instances of fidelity, offer more examples of a church in which ordinary people are called to be saints. We have been blessed with much mail, wonderful testimonials and stories from those who have actually seen what we professors only describe. We offer these examples because we believe that the contemporary church suffers from a lack of political imagination. One reason why the church always focused upon the stories of the saints and the martyrs was to enlarge our imagination. No conversion or growth is possible without imagination” (20).

To illustrate this further, it is one thing to tell your sons to be courageous. It is another to echo the words of Bayard the Truthspeaker to Aidan Errolson in The Bark of the Bog Owl, when he instructs young Aidan, “Love goodness more than you fear evil.”

“Maker of the sun, He is made under the sun. In the Father He remains, from His mother He goes forth. Creator of heaven and earth, He was born on earth under heaven. Unspeakably wise, He is wisely speechless. Filling the world, He lies in a manger. Ruler of the stars, He nurses at His mother’s bosom. He is both great in the nature of God, and small in the form of a servant.”
 – Augustine