Liturgical Strategy

The worship of the Church accomplishes work in the world. Battles are won or lost as a result of how our churches worship God. Too often we act as though our differences over liturgy were simply differences over decoration, instead of differences over effective strategy in the midst of a fearful war. There should be no disagreement over whether the warfare of an army should be coordinated or not…when the choir in militant joy goes out as the advance guard of the army, then God’s name is glorified, and His enemies are scattered.

{Doug Wilson, Mother Kirk, 146}

First Sunday in Lent: Psalm 25, David’s Distress and Deliverance

People of God, this is the first Sunday in Lent. And as we enter into this season we will take a look at Psalm 25. In fact, if you plan on meditating on a biblical book this Lenten Season, I encourage you to make your way through the Psalms several times. If you have been here at Providence for at least a couple of years you may be able to sing through about 25 of those psalms.

If we were to ask ourselves what is unique about the psalms, a good way to begin answering this question is by saying that “in the law and the prophetic writings, it is God who speaks to his people; in the Psalter, we listen to the saints speaking to God.[1] It is the language of God’s people. The reason the Psalms are so inviting is because it is the language of life, of worship, and of the deathbed. Geerhardus Vos wrote the following words: “Our Lord himself found his inner life portrayed in the Psalter and in some of the highest moments of his ministry borrowed from it the language in which his soul spoke to God, thus recognizing that a more perfect language for communion with God cannot be framed.”[2]  This morning we are called to place the psalms in front of you, and see the psalms as images of a Christ-centered people.

In the 25th psalm we see a man after God’s own heart. David’s trust, his many conflicts, his great transgression, his bitter repentance, and his deep distresses are all here.”[3]  The psalmist makes painful references to the skills and cruelty of his enemies. This is the lament of David under distress, and this is his response to the unfathomable pain he is enduring. But though we are looking at only the first ten verses, it is wise to keep this psalm together. David individualizes his pain in this section, but ultimately David is speaking on behalf of the bride. David sees his distress as the distress of God’s people, Israel. We get to that in the last verse of this song: “Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.” David’s supplications are communal. As we consider this passage, do not forget that David is acting as Bride. David is us. He is the picture of redemption accomplished and applied in the midst of suffering; in the midst of grief; in divine guidance. Continue reading “First Sunday in Lent: Psalm 25, David’s Distress and Deliverance”

Election and Mission

I think it was N.T. Wright who once said that conversion is never separated from calling. In the same manner,  election is never separated from mission.

The Story of the Bible

The Bible is about maturation. The story of Scriptures is the story of growing up into maturity. It begins in infancy in the garden and it ends with a mature man in a new world. The story of redemption is the story of how Christ’s bride grows up to become the adorned and radiant bride fit for to marry the King.

Festal Laughter

Peter Leithart quotes sections of Mikhail Bakhtin’s Dialogic Imagination and Rabelais and his World. In his discussion of laughter in the Medieval Ages, Bakhtin talks about how laughter invaded certain celebrations in the Church Year. In particular, he references the paschal laughter:

During the paschal days laughter was traditionally permitted in church. The preacher permitted himself risque jokes and gay-hearted anecdotes from the church pulpit in order to encourage laughter in the congregation — this was conceived as a cheerful rebirth after days of melancholy and fasting.

The problem with most American churches is that laughter is a part of the overall message conveyed on Sunday morning. However, it is not a laughter grounded in a historic event–such as the resurrection–but a laughter grounded in the silliness of random events in the news or sports. Laughter, when synonymous with biblical joy, must always be grounded in paschal joy. Only the resurrection permits us to laugh without the after thought that our laughter is in vain.

Catholics and Romans 13

In a recent conversation with a Lutheran pastor here in Milton, Florida we discussed the nature of the Roman Catholic revelations of abuse in the church,which has been going on for decades. In my mind, the issue boils down to celibacy. It is simplistic, but sociologically it makes sense. My Lutheran brother argued that the problem with Rome is that they do not understand the role of the civil sphere (Rom. 13). If a priest abuses a child, you do not take the matter and make it a hierarchical secret; rather, you take it to the cops. Somehow, I think celibacy and this failure to understand the role of government in issues outside of the church’s calling summarize the matter quite well.

The Trinity and Feasting

The problem with ascetic traditions or traditions that highly exalt solitary contemplation as a way of life is that it is inherently Unitarian. On the other hand, Trinitarian theology calls for celebration and feasting in community as a way of life, since the Trinitarian God has always enjoyed perfect unity and fellowship with one another from all eternity past.

Carl Trueman on “Should we respond when criticized on the blogosphere?”

Justin Taylor–who I am in the habit of visiting at least once a day–posted this interesting quote from Carl Trueman about responding to critiques on the blogosphere. Now Trueman and I would probably not drink beer in the same pub, but we do both share the same commitment to Christ and His authoritative word. This morning I had an interesting conversation with a fellow pastor about finding ways to bring about catholicity. One way to do this is to give credit when credit is due.

This blog is five years old. Hopefully over the years I have become less pugilistic. I am still a fighter at heart. But our priorities should change our motives and the use of our time. Facebook affords thousands of opportunities to respond to others (all day long if  one would like); blogs also afford endless opportunities to do so. Some thrive in responding to others. The world is watching…or a dozen are watching, whatever the case, there is an insatiable need to make sure we have the last word. This quote from Trueman helped crystallize a bit for me what my priorities shoud be and how I should look at future blogosphere/facebook interactions:

From Carl Trueman’s latest:

I have been asked by several people over recent years whether Christians should respond if they are criticized or defamed on the web. The answer is simple: for myself, I do not believe that it is appropriate that I spend my time defending my name. My name is nothing—who really cares about it? And I am not called to waste precious hours and energy in fighting off every person with a laptop who wants to have a pop at me. As a Christian, I am not meant to engage in self-justification any more than self-promotion; I am called rather to defend the name of Christ; and, to be honest, I have yet to see a criticism of me, true or untrue, to which I could justifiably respond on the grounds that it was Christ’s honour, and not simply my ego, which was being damaged. I am called to spend my time in being a husband, a father, a minister in my denomination, a member of my church, a good friend to those around me, and a conscientious employee. These things, these people, these locations and contexts, are to shape my priorities and my allocation of time. Hitting back in anger at those who, justly or unjustly, do not like me and for some reason think the world needs to know what they think of me is no part of my God-given vocation. God will look after my reputation if needs be; He has given me other work to do.

Government and Hubris

David Brook’s Op-Ed piece in the New York Times is quite insightful. He argues that “humans are overconfident creatures.” They tend to assume that they are smarter than they really are. But it seems that this human overconfidence has been transferred to Washington. Brooks writes:

…the bonfire of overconfidence has shifted to Washington. Since the masters of finance have been exposed as idiots, the masters of government have concluded (somewhat illogically) that they must be really smart.

Government has attempted to regulate executive pay assuming that it is the central problem of the market. Brooks observes: “The Federal Reserve…has decided to police banks and veto pay deals that lead to excessive risk. Those experts must have absolutely gigantic brains if they can define excessive risk years before investments pay off.” This type of hubris is prevalent in Washington, because in the spirit of humility, thinking that regulating everything and everyone is the “wise” solution, they have become political asses. Even if they know nothing concerning a particular industry, yet their supposed wisdom tells them that they do. Brooks concludes brilliantly:

Sometimes we seem to have a government with no sense of those limits, no sense that perhaps government officials don’t know how to restructure General Motors, pick the most promising battery technology, re-engineer the health care system from the top, or fine-tune the complex system of executive pay.

Government’s conceit is their own destruction. The wisdom that gives them temporary power is the wisdom that will eventually bring the entire system down.