Want to Know More?

If you were in the Sunday School hour at Covenant this past Sunday, you heard about some amazing things from some places on the other side of the world. Here are two articles that tell a little more of the story: this one from the Washington Post, and this one (Sept. 2009) from Fortune Magazine. Very fascinating stuff.

Reading's Poor

According to an article in yesterday's New York Times, the city of Reading now has the nation's highest rate of people living in poverty. If you think these are hard times, you are right....

Why Reading of the Law, Confession of Sin and Assurance of Pardon?

Carl Trueman has written an excellent essay about one part of the church service: the reading of God's law, corporate confession of sin, and the assurance of pardon from God's word. During my sabbatical I visited a number of evangelical-ish churches in the Reading area--and in none of these was this part of the service. Which left me somewhat disappointed, frankly--and I don't say this to be an "ugly Calvinist," nor to judge these churches. I say that only because I need it. If I cannot hear of God's pardon for my sin, then nothing else really matters. All the advice in the world, all that anyone can tell me that I ought to do, even that God demands of me, is useless to me if I cannot go anywhere with all my failures to do what I am supposed to do. Confession of sin and assurance of pardon is the most basic outcome of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Well, read Carl Trueman's article. He said it better than I can.

"The God Who Is There" by D.A. Carson

Here is a good, 14-part series done by D.A. Carson, as an introduction to the gospel. Not short, but worth perusing, and passing on, particularly to those who do not know what Christ is all about. The main web page for the series is here.

Below is embedded the preview for the first part. All of the videos (and audio) can be viewed or listened to for free.

The God Who Is There - Part 1. The God Who Made Everything (Preview) from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Kenhorst Dairy Queen in the "Gray Lady"

Here is something different: an article in the New York Times about a Dairy Queen in Berks County. Check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/us/17land.html?ref=global-home

Michael Horton on Emergents

I have been reading Michael Horton's excellent book, Christless Christianity. Much thought-provoking there, but I wanted to give those of you who know something about "emergent" a few paragraphs he wrote that describe my own thoughts (with apologies to those who feel like they are walking into a conversation for which they have no context):

"McLaren would no doubt agree with the criticisms in this book of modernity's programmatic, technique-oriented, consumer-driven, and individualistic influence on the church. Having been reared in similar backgrounds, we share a common reaction against mere assertions and slogans and the often unreflective, unquestioning dogmatism that assumes that we have all the answers and everyone else is wrong. I share his interest in the wider horizon of the kingdom of God for our theology and his concern that the gospel is often reduced to a quasi-Gnostic promise of saving the soul (i.e., "going to heaven when we die") rather than ultimately, in the words of the Apostles' Creed, "the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting," which includes the whole creation. This leads to a world-affirming, world-embracing kind of Christianity rather than to a merely negative, reactionary, and reductionistic piety.

"However, I encountered this "new" paradigm by stumbling into Reformed Christianity. It was from this tradition that I learned that questions were good and that sometimes "I don't know" is the right answer; that the Bible is not simply about "me and my personal relationship with Jesus" or merely a doctrinal or moral textbook but a story in which we find ourselves--and the whole creation of which we are a part. In addition to being overwhelmed by God's amazing grace, I was also given a new sense of being called into a communion of saints and a new rationale for responsibility in the world--not to save it, but to love and serve my neighbors and to be a steward of a creation that will be renewed rather than to be simply a consumer of a creation that will be destroyed.

"However, McLaren seems never to have found an alternative kind of evangelical faith to the more pietistic and legalistic background in which he was raised. When he recoils from the doctrine of Christ's atoning death as bearing God's righteous judgment in our place (i.e., penal substitution), I know the distortion he is reacting against. Yet it was a wise and elderly systematic theologian at the seminary where I now teach who warned us never to present this precious truth as if a vengeful Father was taking out his anger on his Son. Rather, he instructed us from the relevant passages, the Father gave his Son because of his love, and the Son was not a victim but a willing substitute who gave himself in love as well." (Michael Horton, Christless Christianity, chapter 4; don't know the page number because I am reading it on my Kindle)

Calling in Campgrounds

As we travel, we often make reservations or requests at campgrounds. This opens a window on the matter of calling.

I can usually tell in the first 30 seconds of a phone conversation whether the campground is family-run, or run by an absentee landlord. Whether the person who answers the phone is committed to her work, or is merely a bureaucrat, a hireling dealing. The former are friendly and express a desire to serve; the latter are more concerned with whether they (or you) are doing things by the book.

As we were going through Iowa I had narrowed it down to two campgrounds. I called both of them. At the first one I got a bureaucrat. At the other I got a friendly welcome with a personal introduction (i.e. not just "Sleepy hollow Campground," but "Hi, this is Beth!"). I chose Beth's campground--no brainer. Sure enough, Beth was part of the family who had taken over the campground some years ago, and was committed to its well-being.

It is, I think, a matter of calling. I don't know that I would be good at answering phones at a campground--but Beth was, because the campground was her calling. She was not merely a "hireling." I fear that far too many people--and all too often I with them--are merely doing a job, not pursuing a calling. We are all worse off for it.

Blog for Western Trip

This Monday morning my family leave on a trip out west. I'll put that on a separate blog, not wanting to presume on anyone's interest in that. You can find that blog here:

proudfootwest.blogspot.com

By way of explanation, "Stoltzfus" is German for "proudfoot" (a name featured also in The Hobbit, you may recall).