We've had grey, rainy weather, so I thought that
maybe some sunflowers would greet us this morning
for a little lift.
Like Lake Wobegon, it's been a busy but good week in cyberspace...
Colson's piece on atheists who become believers: any comments?
Sarah Pulliam Bailey's discussion of Hillary Clinton's stance against the anti-defamation agenda and pro-freedom of speech point of view. (Congrats to Sarah for her coverage on this issue.)
A joke that appeals to more than one arena:
A minister stood in front of his congregation and announced, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is we have enough money to pay for our new building program. The bad news is that it's still in your pockets."
I pay attention to and support organizations that track and interpret and judiciously speak against abortion, and I find
Americans United for Life, led now by Charmaine Yoest, intelligent and fair-minded.
The future of newspapers? Will we see space where various voices can interact? The priesthood of all news readers and the citizen journalist. (HT: TJ)
Stressful jobs where the salaries are not good (ministers are among them).
Collin Hansen keeps his finger on the Reformation issues at work in contemporary evangelicalism.
Did you see the Ten Most Expensive colleges? North Park, which is about half the tuition of these schools, has one of the best tuition packages in the USA for a private school.
News:
4. Instead of helping us understand the genuine plight of nuns,
Maureen Dowd turns her column into a bully pulpit about the Pope.
5.
Hispanics and the future of the American Catholic Church: "Hispanics are the present and Hispanics are the future of the Catholic Church in the United States," says Moreno Garcia. One-third of all Catholics in the United States are now Latinos thanks to immigration and higher fertility rates, according to the Pew Forum on
Religion and Public Life. While St. Cecilia's parish has relished the growth, elsewhere, the Latino population boom has rocked the pews."
Sports
I don't know U2, and evidently this puts me totally out of sync with the rest of the world.
So, I need an introduction to U2 and their music.
What's the best?
But ... I do know
this one: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.
Love itself can become a counterfeit god. In fact, it can become "apocalyptic romance" -- that is, love can be used to attempt to gain transcendence, meaning, and ultimate joy.
And Keller's touches on the hook-up where the claim is that sex can be divorced from love. "Don't bet on it," he observes.
He anchors this chp in the Jacob and Rachel story from Genesis. Jacob idolized Rachel; got Leah; worked even longer to get Rachel. The whole story is about the idols of love.
Anyone, and I mean anyone, who can help us think about how the gospel and the church and life itself is being reshaped (or influenced or revolutionized) by social media like Facebook is worth listening to. Jesse Rice's new book,
The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community
, is not only worth listening to but it's worth church staffs reading together to discuss.
The Church of Facebook does not approach the subject with a holier-than-thou critical attitude, it doesn't bring in Bible and theology to make it sound Christian... the sort of approach that may sound right but be short on critical analysis. My summary statement:
Facebook is a spontaneous ordering of humans that both benefits us and is reshaping our sense of community and provides us with challenges ...
The Church of Facebook explains through (what I'd call) social psychology how the Facebook phenomenon arose (spontaneous order is his term -- great story to begin the book) and what it provides for 300 million people (connection, not to be confused with community) and how it is illuminating so many things about life (like relationships) and how we are adapting to it in so many ways ... and then he offers some warnings about how to live in a Facebook world as followers of Christ.
There's more to be said about Facebook, and more will be said over the next few years, but this is a fine book and one that penetrates deeply into the Facebook world and then comes out to explain to us what is going on in that world.
I had a great time at
Ashland Theological Seminary giving four lectures on the topic "The Battle for the Gospel." Just a brief note on the various lectures: first, an introduction to the gospel in current evangelical conversation, the gospel of the kingdom, the gospeling sermons of Peter and Paul in Acts, and how the conversion statements of Paul reveal his understanding of the gospel.
Ashland, one of the cities in the heart of Ohio -- home of such notables as one of my favorites, James Thurber -- and where one senses that tranquility follows hard work, was a delightful place to visit. David Baker and his wife, Morven (hope I got that right), kindly picked me up at the airport and we shared the table at an Italian restaurant. David years ago accepted my proposal to edit a book with Jimmy Dunn on the historical Jesus. I got to spend time with some of the fine professors at Ashland, including David DeSilva, John Byron and Lori, Wyndy Corbin-Reuschling, Alan Bevere, Russ Morten (and Dawn), Charlene Moss, and Paul Overland. I got to spend time in Dan Hawk's senior seminar class where we talked about atonement -- good group of students -- and a final luncheon with some discussion was fun. I felt at home with these folks, and I highly recommend the seminary.
One of my highlights was seeing some old friends, including Matt Montinnini (and wife), Ted Gossard, some pastors I had met, some book-and-blog readers, and Mark Farmer who has written a post or two for this blog.
Perhaps the highlight for me was all the pastors in attendance -- my lectures were shaped for the pastor-evangelist and the role pastors play in "mediating" the gospel and how to "gospel" in our world today. Great questions and comments.
The listeners -- both Jews and god-fearing Gentiles -- wanted more out of Paul after his initial gospeling in Pisidian Antioch. 13:42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people were urging them to speak about these things on the next...
John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) discusses a major Christian claim: God speaks (chp. 7) and Scripture is God's Word (chp 8).Thus, God is Truth and God communicates Truth to...
You can get folks to roll their eyes just mentioning the Book of Revelation, and mostly they do this because of the utter silliness of so much that is said and believed about the book these days -- and, yes,...
From CNN.com... In the age of hookups, friends with benefits and online dating, and as human life expectancy grows, is it still reasonable to expect people to pair up and stay monogamous until death do them part? "It's realistic that some people...
Once again, the mission of the church, the mission of Paul and the mission of Christians today is the mission of God -- the Book of Acts records for us the works/acts of God in this world through the earliest...
Today I'm departing some from offering basic economic concepts and interjecting a sociological element into our discussion. There is considerable energy to today around the idea that Christians need to resist impersonal capitalism and Western individualism. The most common characterization of...
In our series on young Christian authors, it's a bit unfair to include Margaret Feinberg -- not because she's not young, which she is, but because she's written already a bundle of good books. Her newest book is a treat....
From Christianity Today: Some Christians today are fasting during Ramadan as an act of solidarity with Muslims. What do you think about this?"Christians may fast alongside Muslim friends, either as a gesture of friendship or in order to open dialogue, but...
The Spirit spoke through the leaders at the church in Antioch and directed them to set apart Saul and Barnabas for the work to which God had called them. Acts 13:4-12 clarifies what that work is:13:4 So Barnabas and Saul, sent...
John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) addresses the topic of truth. No one speaks entirely for the emerging conversation, but many speak against the emerging conversation as if it can be...
The pilots say they weren't arguing or sleeping. So, what are the Top Ten suggestions of what the pilots were doing? (No report, yet, that they were reciting Jesus Creed followed by rapid repetitions of the Jesus Prayer.)...
The Book of Acts, in Acts 13, turns once again toward Paul and from here out it is mostly about Paul and Paul's missional work. The opening verses of Acts 13 are fitting beginning for the week because it is...
Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC, is perhaps the most balanced pastor, theologian, cultural critic and evangelist in the American scene today. His newest book, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only...
I will do this week a post of three young Christian authors whose books I've recently read and whose books help us all. I begin today with Josh Graves, a young pastor in Nashville whose new book (The Feast ) can...
Books on the Holy Spirit are not as plentiful as one might think, and books on the Spirit that take on the entire scope of evidence are fewer yet -- but there is a new book that will become, and...
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and...
Question: What makes a gathering "church"? What are the elements that turn a gathering into a church meeting? Is it "church" when I have coffee with two Christian students? Is a Bible study "church"?There was quite the dustup at Christianity...
Chicago's Fall Weather I will be at Ashland Theological Seminary Monday and Tuesday giving four lectures on "The Battle for the Gospel." Talking about pictures, wow, have you seen this one? What kind of twitterer are you? (HT: TT)Why aren't 20somethings...
The latest little fiasco from the airlines is the plane that overshot its airport by a mere 150 miles. Let's not dismiss this as simply funny. But, let's have some fun with it. Let's assume the pilots were sleeping. Let's...
A few years back, when I was working on a small book on prayer, I found my way to the Eastern Orthodox standard prayer book. I began to use it with the goal of using it every day for a...
Nightline and ABC news are doing a series on the Ten Commandments, one of which is the Third Commandment from Exodus 20:7, which reads: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone...
This is getting fun: RJS posts about Dorothy Sayers book and PW, another regular writer here at Jesus Creed, responds ... or I should say that RJS's post generated a reflection by PW.As the spouse of a pastor, I have...
This little guy got his name, well, ... you read it, but we'd like to hear where you got your nickname...WLS-Ch. 7 morning news anchor Judy Hsu gave birth this morning to a baby boy as she and her husband...
Luke ties off the end of chp 12 with subtle words, but words that indicate that God is in charge and God's mission will move forward -- even if it means death of God's special servants, like James, and corrupt...
John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) is mapping the plural nature of truth in the Christian faith.His concern in chp 4 is how the diversity of the past and the...
Those who preach books of the Bible eventually find their way to 1 John; those who preach a lectionary always find their way to 1 John, and there are some fantastic commentaries on the Epistles of John, beginning with:Surely the...
What holds Acts 12 together is as much Herod as it is the mission of God -- in fact, the chp is about God's mission in spite of Herod Agrippa I. Herod's a creep, a brutal despot who puts people...
Today's post promises to be "profitic." :-) We are exploring the concept of profit. What is profit? What is its role in business and the economy? Unlike most economies of the past, most of us earn income by engaging in a narrow range...
This is our last post on Dean Nelson's book, God Hides in Plain Sight: How to See the Sacred in a Chaotic World , and it's been a good book. One I expected to scan and then put away, but...
This weekend I attended a conference at Lipscomb University on Reclaiming the Imagination and the focus was on Wisdom, wisdom literature in the Bible, and preaching. It was the best conference I've attended ever. I don't know exactly why, but...
The story in Acts moves from the martyrdom of James, brother of John (sons of Zebedee), back to Peter, whose own agency in the mission of God shapes the first half of the Book of Acts. Peter, along with James,...
John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) , learned as a kid that one way to settle theological questions was to appeal to the "historic Christian faith."So John looked into it,...
Do you know someone facing death? Are you being asked to help someone face death?I love how the 7th chp of Dean Nelson's new book opens up: I have found what I was searching for without ever having discovered what...
The mission of God in this world -- that is the message of the Book of Acts. It tells us the story of how God as at work -- in Christ's death, resurrection and ascension, along with the Pentecost Spirit...
It would be easy to say low church evangelicals clamor for community because there is so much individualism at work, but that's a cheap shot that misses the target. Liturgical churches can struggle as much with community too. But what...
Again, another great post from Jeremy Berg, and I'm keen to hear what you have to say. How do you respond to this mixture of football (sports) and faith? It has made the news here and here. Al Mohler...
Why is our media so fixated on balloon boy and his silly parents, while ignoring the judge in Louisiana who chooses not to marry an interracial couple?...
I can't possibly discuss every book I'd even like to discuss at length on this blog, let alone books I get that deserve to be mentioned. I would need four blogs to get all this accomplished. Yet, I've been frustrated about...
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ...
We are honored to have been invited to speak at the 2010 Synergy Conference in Orlando Florida. The conference will be March 5-7, and will begin our Spring Break ... and I can't think of a better way to begin...
Chicago's Marathon!I'm with Dan Reid on the multiple value of multiview books (even if I've been asked a few times to contribute to such volumes and always declined).Cynthia Weems on how messy the Lord's supper becomes.Thanks to Fr Rob, I suspect we'll...
I saw this at Amazon the other day: What is your top five greatest albums of all times?Click on the image and it will give you Amazon's Top 100.Cool to see some of those old albums. Top 100...
Free book offer at bottom of this post!Pastors need to hear from fellow pastors. There's a place for pastors listening to biblical experts -- when they study the Bible. There's a place for pastors listening to theologians -- when they...
At times I sense Dean Nelson could be our generation's male Anne Lamott. He offers to us a disarming honesty along with an honest quest for God, but there's nothing romantic, idealistic or utopian. He offers the quest for placidity,...
Ten years ago, Kris and I subscribed to three newspapers -- Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, and the local Pioneer Press publication. Today we subscribe to no newspapers ... we get our mail from:Internet, primarily CNN, MSNBC, NYTimes, Washington Post, Chicago...
The gospel is moving in all directions: the folks in Jerusalem are embracing it; Jews in other cities embrace it; Gentiles begin embracing it; and the whole movement looks like the work of God to save through Messiah Jesus, the...
John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) takes on the central issue of our age: the plurality of truth.It doesn't take long in this world to realize that most people in...
I've been negligent in getting the final posts done on New Testament commentaries, and I apologize. Today we list valuable commentaries on 1 and 2 Peter and Jude. Again, I'm open to any suggestions you might have.No commentary is as...
The center of the messianic movement was Jerusalem, and this is clearly seen in our text from Acts 11:11:22 A report about them came to the attention of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 11:23 When he came and...
Today we turn to the topic of wealth. Let's start with a simple question: What is wealth? The answer may not be as obvious as it seems. Consider the following. The Nature of Wealth How much would you say a diamond is...
How does marriage fit into the presence of God in our lives today? Families mediate God to children and to adults.How has family mediated God to you? to your family? This is what Dean Nelson examines in God Hides in Plain Sight:...
From Umair Haque... Harvard Business Publishing:Dear Old People Who Run the World,My generation would like to break up with you.Everyday, I see a widening gap in how you and we understand the world -- and what we want from it. I...
It is not often recognized that Peter formed the vanguard of gospeling the Gentiles. But in his wake came Barnabas and Saul (aka, Paul):11:19 Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen went as...
Perhaps the central issue for the emerging movement is the issue of truth, and at the core of the issue is what John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) , calls...
Sunday Kris and I attended the Gloriae Dei Cantores [Unto Ages of Ages: Sacred Choral Music of Sviridov, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky] concert at St. Andrews Greek Orthodox Church in Evanston. (Touring schedule.) A capella. I told Kris the choir had to be...
I haven't talked about this coffee maker in a long time, so it's time to inform my readers of a coffee maker.AeroPress Coffee and Espresso Maker , hands down, the best coffee maker for the workplace -- not quite as...
Peter was called to explain himself, his behaviors, and what had happened when the Jerusalem church heard that Gentiles were doing these most Jewish of things -- believing in Jesus as Messiah, mixing with the messianic movement, accepting the word...
One of my students told me he had read Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality four or five times (I can't remember the number now). I had not read it and he rolled his eyes when...
Many of us prepare ourselves for the Great Interior -- a life of intimate communion with God. But, after all the preparation, how many of us enter into that Interior? I do wonder if the Interior is where we are...
A number of inviting reads have crossed my desk of late, and I want to mention a few we will be discussing on this blog...Greg Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Religion: Losing Your Religion for the Beauty of a...
C.S. Lewis, in "Footnote to All Prayers" (Poems ), made this brilliant observation:Take not, O Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in thy greatUnbroken speech our limping metaphor translate....
Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and...
Navy PierChicago We need a lawyer: FTC is now suggesting (?requiring) bloggers to disclose payments for endorsements. OK, many of the books I blog about are sent to me as a "Review Copy." Is this new ruling about books or...
I learn so much from pastors, and I'll be blogging about one such pastor soon, and I've learned that I learn so much because we learn from one another. Pastors sometimes write me about cracking the code of a passage...
We pride ourselves on civility at this blog, but I had to remove a comment or two because they went over the top. Please treat the President and others with civility. Thanks. By the way, I weighed in in the...
Do you practice confession? Do you know the power of forgiveness and grace and reconciliation? Why are these terms so challenging?This is what Dean Nelson in God Hides in Plain Sight: How to See the Sacred in a Chaotic World explores...
Our friend, L.L. Barkat, was inspired to reflect on Mary and it led to her thinking it would be good to give a copy of our Mary book (The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus...
Peter's gospel, inspired as it was by God's revelation that all humans are on the same plane, results in a Spirit-inspired response:10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the message. 10:45 The circumcised...
[We've added the captcha text because we were bombarded by a spammer Monday. We hope the captcha text will disappear with the spammer soon.]This post finishes off our review of Jim Belcher's book, which raises many of the pertinent issues,...
Kris and I were visiting Lukas and Annika recently and we frequented Sapore, the local coffee shop. Sitting there got me to thinking about all the good coffee shops -- not chains -- local folks visit, and how hard those...
Peter's message reshaped the Church to expand it to its universal proportions:Acts 10:37 .... you know what happened throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 10:38 with respect to Jesus from Nazareth, that God anointed him with the...
"Love your neighbor as yourself." This injunction is mentioned once in the Old Testament (Lev. 19:18) and seven times in the New Testament (Matt. 19:19, 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8) It is the core...
How can meals become places to see the presence of God?This is what Dean Nelson in God Hides in Plain Sight: How to See the Sacred in a Chaotic World explores in chp 2 of his new book.A Belgian couple found...
In light of Jim Belcher's response to Doug Pagitt's own proposal for "progressional dialogue," I want to weigh in with what I suggest is my own proposal for a Third Way. I have been in contact with a few persons who...
The following words of Peter are boundary-breaking theology, and as we have said a number of times, we are using Beverly Gaventa's fine commentary on Acts for our conversation partner (The Acts of the Apostles (Abingdon New Testament Commentaries) ).10:34 Then...
Are there any new emerging proposals for what church is all about? Jim Belcher, in Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional examines the emerging criticisms of the traditional and the traditional criticisms of the emerging. The issue...
We flew to Buffalo and down to Luke and Annika's to wish birthdays to Aksel, Annika, Pat and Kari -- all at once! We had a wonderful time, and here are some pictures of Aksel's favorite gift: golf clubs (and...
In Peter the church finds one who paved the path toward the Gentile mission. Paul gets all the credit, but Peter paved the way, and the speech is Acts 10 is breathtaking.On the next day he got up and set...
Jeremy Berg is a youth pastor; he's done some Friday is for Friends for us, but I wanted to get this one up today. I have long been irritated by a common critique or complaint people have after listening to a...
How does our vocation fit into a life that is increasingly attentive to God's presence and God's work in this world?This is what Dean Nelson in God Hides in Plain Sight: How to See the Sacred in a Chaotic World asks...
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Life Together was ahead of his time in Bible reading. Or should I say that we are just now catching up to our past?In the "Day Together" chp Bonhoeffer urges daily Bible reading from beginning of the Bible...
From Nicholas Kristof, of the NYTimes. Who has faced this sort of situation? Any response to Kristof's article?So what would you do if your mom or dad, or perhaps your sister or brother, needed a kidney donation and you were...
This summer we were at Aldersgate UMC in Alexandria Virginia and we were deeply honored to hear a musical rendition of the Jesus Creed. Andreas Barrett, who wrote the song and music, now has the piece available for free streaming...
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our...
Did you see the new report about the piece in Science? Anyone read the article and have anything to add or say?Scientists in Ethiopia have found a 4.4 million year old human predecessor that promises to upend long-held notions of...
A baby rhino,rejected by its mom,finds zookeeper parents.Blogs... well, I'm near the end of what has been three very full weeks, and I'm hoping I can get posts up for next week -- but here goes with our weekly edition...
David Brooks, in his piece in the NYT, is right; genuine Republicans are not extreme. Real Democrats do not respond in kind. The world of political commentary needs more like David Brooks -- intelligent, articulate, and wise. Political Third Way. I...
Yesterday I posted a recent interview with Rob Bell about what an "evangelical" is, and I said I'd weigh in today. I don't think Rob Bell has defined "evangelical" but given a set of statements that are true about the...
Chris Armstrong finishes his book, Patron Saints for Postmoderns: Ten from the Past Who Speak to Our Future, with a chapter reflecting on how these saints -- ten of them, some unknown and some unusual -- can be of help...
Evangelical pastors have flipped in the last generation. 30-40 years ago what most incited excitement was a new book by the arch-pastor and expositor, John Stott, expositing a New Testament book or a J.I. Packer book on theology. Today's evangelicals...
This post concerns tonight's Nightline show about the Ten Commandments. The second commandment concerns idol-making and idol-worshiping, and there are some things said here that are often enough missed.20:4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of...
One of the most notable features of "missional" work is the awkward, surprising works of providence -- how God brings events and people into a moment where the work of God occurs. (Again, see: The Acts of the Apostles (Abingdon...
Are there any new emerging proposals for preaching? Jim Belcher, in Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional examines the theory of Doug Pagitt. (I blogged about that book with Doug when it came out, and since then...
I want to post two answers Rob Bell gave to the Boston Globe where he defines evangelical. Tomorrow I want to discuss something about a trend I've observed about the word "evangelical." What do you think of his definition?Q. What does...
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treats love as one of our counterfeit gods.
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