The Amy Winehouse of American Denominations

Just this once I'm going to break my vow and comment on denominational politics.

The PCUSA's General Assembly met last week and I can't help myself. It was like watching Amy Winehouse loose in a pharmaceutical warehouse. You don't want to watch someone talented and beautiful self-destruct, and yet it's almost impossible to turn away.

Here are the highlights:

1. They voted once again to ask the presbyteries to remove the ordination standards from the Book of Order.
2. They passed two Authoritative Interpretations designed to gut the ordination standards, no matter what the presbyteries do.
3. They voted to change the historic Heidelberg Catechism to match their theology.
4. They voted to create a legal fund to raise money to pursue legal proceedings against congregations who wish to leave the PCUSA with their property.
5. They voted to create a commission to pursue the insane idea that the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is somehow to blame for congregations wanting to leave the PCUSA.

If you really want more info, go to http://www.layman.org/ or http://www.pcusa.org/ or to some of the political bloggers http://reformedpastor.wordpress.com/ or http://www.classicalpresbyterian.blogspot.com/

We should pray for the folks we left behind in the PCUSA. There are many congregations who would leave but are afraid they'll lose their property. There are others who will continue to battle against the theological slide into the abyss.

Personally, I think I'll delete the bookmarked websites that discuss these issues. It's so emotionally and spiritually draining to watch. And God has called us out of the PCUSA so that we can build something new for him. It's time to get to work.

There is much that is still beautiful about the PCUSA but watching its slow suicide is profoundly sad. Goodbye, Amy.

Review of "The Seeking Heart"

Francois Fenelon was a French Catholic archbishop who lived in the late 17th century. Why would you read something from such a person? Because he lived a life of profound intimacy with God and his writings glow with the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This simple little book should be read as a daily devotional. More than once, his words have leapt off the page to hit me between the eyes. I found him especially helpful last fall, when we were going through all of the controversies and pains of a divided congregation and our battles with the presbytery. All the anger, hostility and falsehoods aimed at me (even if it was from a small number of people) could have been debilitating. Instead, Fenelon helped me to see God at work through the pain to kill off in me everything that is not God.

When I read him, I only read in very small amounts and very slowly. It is just too rich to take in large bites. Perhaps the best thing to do is simply give you the first day's reading:

Embracing the Cross

You need to learn to separate yourself from unnecessary and restless thoughts which grow out of self-love. When your own thoughts are set aside you will be completely in the middle of the straight and narrow path. You will experience the freedom and peace that is meant for you as a child of God.

I try to follow the same advice that I give others. I know that I must seek peace in the same way. Often, when you suffer, it is the life of your self-nature that causes you pain. When you are dead you do not suffer. If you were completely dead to your old nature you would no longer feel many of the pains that now bother you.

Endure the aches and pains of your body with patience. Do the same thing with your spiritual afflictions (that is, trouble sent to you that you cannot control). Do not add to the cross in your life by becoming so busy that you have no time to sit quietly before God. Do not resist what God brings into your life. Be willing to suffer if that is what is needed. Overactivity and stubbornness will only increase your anguish.

God prepares a cross for you that you must embrace without thought of self-preservation. The cross is painful. Accept the cross and you will find peace even in the midst of turmoil. Let me warn you that if you push the cross away, your circumstances will become twice as hard to bear. In the long run, the pain of resisting the cross is harder to live with than the cross itself.

See God's hand in the circumstances of your life. Do you want to experience true happiness? Submit yourself peacefully and simply to the will of God, and bear your sufferings without struggle. Nothing so shortens and soothes your pain as the spirit of non-resistance to your Lord.

As wonderful as this sounds, it still may not stop you from bargaining with God. The hardest thing about suffering is not knowing how great it will be or how long it will last. You will be tempted to want to impose some limits to your suffering. No doubt you will want to control the intensity of the pain.

Do you see the stubborn and hidden hold you have over your life? This control makes the cross necessasry in the first place. Do not reject the full work that the power of the cross could accomplish in you. Unfortunately, you will be forced to go over the same ground again and again. Worse yet, you will suffer much, but your suffering will be for no purpose.

May the Lord deliver you from falling into an inner state in which the cross is not at work in you! God loves a cheerful giver. (II Corinthians 9: 7) Imagine how much He must love those who abandon themselves to His will cheerfully and completely - even if it results in crucifixion!

Another Important Book Review

I thought I'd keep my reviews balanced and fair. You can't just read deep works of theology this summer. I won't say much about this book except you really can find it in book stores and Amazon. And it just might save your life.

Actual product description from the Amazon website:

The Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack

1. Organize before they rise!

2. They feel no fear, why should you?

3. Use your head: cut off theirs.

4. Blades don’t need reloading.

5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.

6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.

7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.

8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!

9. No place is safe, only safer.

10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.

Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

Review of "Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God"

Dallas Willard has written some amazing stuff. He's best known for his book, The Divine Conspiracy, which won Christianity Today's Best Book of the Year award back in 1998. He's a professor of philosophy at USC with a dry sense of humor and a nice conversational style of writing.

Hearing God is not a book full of gimmicks. What Willard does is help you understand the sort of life necessary to hear God. God is interested in speaking with you. The problem is, most of us have our ears and hearts tightly shut.

Professor Willard gives good, biblical, practical steps in learning how to open our ears and hearts and recognize all the ways God is constantly speaking to us.

He covers how God speaks through impressions of the Spirit, circumstances, the still small voice and many other ways. He is thoroughly orthodox in his use of Scriptures and how the Bible should always be a benchmark for measuring if we have, in fact, heard from God.

There is a fun section in which he shares his knowledge in learning how to discern the tone and quality of God's voice. Here's a quote from page 190:

"The voice of God speaking in our souls also bears in it a characteristic spirit. It is a spirit of exalted peacefulness and confidence, of joy, of sweet reasonableness, and of will for the good. It is, in short, 'the spirit of Jesus.' By that we refer to the overall tone and internal dynamics of his personal life.

Those who saw him truly saw the Father, who shared the same 'Spirit.' And it is this Spirit that marks the voice of God in our hearts. Because his voice bears authority within itself, it does not need to be loud or hysterical."

In other words, if the voice in your head is shrill and nagging, or loud and overbearing, or desperate and whiney....it ain't God. And just like dogs learn to recognize their master's voice, we can, with practice, learn to recognize our Master's as well.

It's been ten years since I read this book and it's probably time for me to reread it.

Review of the New Living Translation

I already have a Bible. Why would I need another one? Here are three reasons:

1. If you don't read the bible because you find it too difficult, the chances are you need a translation that will work better for you. Some translations really are easier to read than others. The NLT is extremely easy to read without dumbing down the translation.

2. If you don't read the bible because it no longer feels fresh, a new translation can liven things up for you. For my devotional reading I like to change translations every two or three years or so. It helps to keep me engaged. Plus, a different translation will make me think about a familiar passage in new ways.

3. You lied about having a copy of the Bible and you haven't seen your old one since you moved out of your mom's house.

Why the New Living Translation (NLT) 2nd Edition?

1. It's a new translation, taking into account the latest scholarship. It can be used for both devotional reading and bible study.

2. The language is modern without being too trendy.

3. It uses more of a meaning-for-meaning rather than a word-for-word philosophy. This means it is easier to read the more difficult passages of Paul or Isaiah than in some other translations.

Occasionally the NLT flubs something but no translation is perfect. For serious study one should always have a couple of different English translations on hand (or go to seminary and learn Greek...)

There is nothing wrong with the NIV or the NRSV but over all this is the translation I would recommend. I prefer the 2nd edition of the NLT, mostly because the 1st edition puts the poetry of the prophets in prose form and that drives me crazy.

Some Summer Reading Ideas....

In the past we had a Pastor's Book Table out in our foyer. On it would be four or five books for sale that people could pick up. They tended to be books that I had found helpful in cultivating my relationship with God.

In the near future we may reinstitute the Pastor's Book Table on Sunday mornings. In the meantime here are some things that would be on the table right now.

1. In Search of Guidance: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, by Dallas Willard

2. The Seeking Heart, by Francis Fenelon

3. Epic: The Story God is Telling by John Eldredge

4. Simply Christian, by N. T. Wright

5. New Living Translation of the Bible, 2nd Edition

Next week I'll write a brief review of each book and tell you why they are worth your trouble.

*Edit - I just checked Amazon and apparently later editions of Dallas Willard's book are entitled Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God. You'll have more luck finding it under that title.

Exploding Whale

Here is an example of an idea so bad that it falls into a special category:

A dead whale measuring 45 feet and weighing eight tons has washed ashore. The nearby residents complain of the smell to the local authorties. What do they do? Bury it? Tow it out to sea? Cut it up and haul it away? No, they call in the State Highway Division to fill it with dynamite and blow it up.......

Here is the News Report of the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_t44siFyb4

Favorite quotes:

State Highway Division worker - "I'm confident it will work. I'm just not exactly sure how much explosives it will take....."

News Reporter - "The humor of the entire situation suddently gave way to a run for survival."

News Reporter - "Everyone on the scene was covered with small particles of dead whale."

Things to Note:

The sound of the whale blubber as it falls from the sky and hits the ground.

The crushed car that was a quarter of a mile away from the blast.

Moral of the Story:

You know that little voice in your head that says, "This is a really bad idea"? Some people don't have that little voice.

Camping Trip to Queen Wilhelmina State Park

We spent most of the week up in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. The long drive was worth it as we escaped the Houston heat. Half the time the park was enveloped in a cloud with the temperature in the 60's and 70's. Queen Wilhelmina State Park is named for a Dutch Queen who changed her travel plans at the last minute and never showed up.

Here are the kids in the pop-up camper. It doesn't look like it but there's actually a lot of room inside.

There was a cool train to play on right across from our campsite.

There was also a little train that tourists rode around the park, passing our campsite several times a day. Once, Jake's mother stopped him as he approached the oncoming train with two fists full of rocks. It is not known whether robbery or simple assault was intended.

Of course we roasted marshmallows.

At the time this photo was taken no water had t0uched the boy for 3 days.

We did a lot of hiking.

A friend we met on the trail. Judith said it wasn't poisonous because it didn't have a triangle for a head.

Here we are atop Lovers Leap. The kids pronounced the hike a failure when no dead lovers were found.

We played several games of touch football. Sam and I are hatching a plan against the girls.

It was a fun trip. At the end of each day we were pretty tired.

Pray for Hannah Beth

Hannah Beth is having minor out-patient surgery today at Texas Children's Hospital. She's having a cyst removed from her head, just behind her ear. The doctors say it's nothing to worry about but she is going under general anesthetic so parents will worry anyway. Besides there's no such thing as minor surgery when it's happening to you.....

Hannah B is just about the sweetest kid on the planet. She takes care of the rest of the kids and they all adore her for it. Here she is with her brother during Field Day.

Say a prayer for her today! Thanks!

Raising Readers

Recently my daughter Maryallie came to me and said, "I've run out of things to read. Can you help me find something?" I looked at our shelves and pulled down Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer. She read the first page and gave me an I'm-not-sure-this-is-for-me look. "Well, read the first chapter and then decide," I suggested. She sat down and soon devoured the whole thing. I was a bit amazed: a ten-year-old reading Mark Twain. I don't think I knew who Mark Twain was until I was in high school.

Maryallie is not the only one. The other two triplets, Sam and Hannah Beth, constantly have books in their hands. Hannah-B loves Laura Engels Wilder while Sam tends to favor epic fantasy on the order of Eragon and JRR Tolkien. At six years of age Judith can be found on the couch reading One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish out loud to herself. Her twin Jake is the only one who, so far, doesn't pick up books without some prompting. But increasingly he brings me books to read to him, so perhaps there is still hope for him.

How did Allie and I luck into raising a bunch of kids who like to read? I'm not sure but I think there are several factors:

1. The TV is not the center of our house.

We have one TV and it's not in the living room. It's upstairs, a bit out of the way. We let them watch it some but they have to ask permission to turn it on. The same goes for the computer/computer games. They have to ask us before they can play at them. If they have been watching or playing for an hour or two it's time to turn it off. On the other hand, they never have to ask if they can read.

2. Allie and I read out loud to the kids.

Allie's been reading to them since they were tiny. I started a ritual of reading a chapter of a longer book to them before bed. We started at about age seven. I think the first thing we read was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It became something to do with daddy, a time to snuggle, a way to wind down the day. I make sure that I enjoy what we're reading too. If it isn't fun for me, I'll be less likely to read to them. Currently we're reading The Shadowmancer. Next year, I'll start reading the six-year-olds. I can't think of a better way to show them that reading is fun.

3. Create a culture of reading.

Our house is filled with books. The kids have shelves dedicated to their books in the living room. They see Allie and me reading all the time. We make sure they take things to read when we go on trips. We talk about what we are reading at the dinner table. Reading is "normal" in our house.

I'm sure we've made lots of mistakes in raising the kids but I'm proud we have given them the gift of reading.

5000 Years of Religion in 90 Seconds

A cool little video: http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf