Covenant Blogs

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And maybe even better, check out Brad Boydston's Regular Reads:

http://regularreads.blogspot.com/

Facebook Quizzes for Those Over Fifty

No wonder Facebook has all sorts of Likeness quizzes about relationships and romance--its main users are kids, college students and young adults. But what if there was a Facebook for the over 50 crowd? What sort of quizzes might be pitched to me and my peers ?

One might well be "What Things Do You Fear Most About Aging? Choose from most to least."

Dementia

lack of adequate medical care

losing a spouse

losing friends

living on a fixed income

diminished hearing/eyesight

having to move from my present home

diminished mobility

not being able to keep up with technology

not being valued by younger people

(????)

At the top of my list would be dementia. My mother suffered with Alzheimer's Disease for over a decade, and eventually was unable to remember who she was, muchless that I was her firstborn and only daughter. Now when I catch myself making errors in my checkbook and forgetting words, I fear that I will repeat her nightmare.

Yesterday at VCC's annual Worship in the Park, a friend poured our her heart to me about having to recently place her mother in a skilled care facility, as her father was no longer able to care for her. She has some sort of dementia. "All my life my mom has been my role model," she wept. "I've always wanted to be like her...but now, for the first time ever, I don't want to be like her."

Feelings of grief, betrayal, confusion, guilt. Unspoken fears that we will share the same fate as those for whom we now now care. This is the fruit of Alzheimer's and its ilk.

Tonight at ten o'clock Steve got a call from one of the saints of our congregation. Don is spry, 90+, and has been caring for his beloved wife. She has been in declining body and mind, and broke her hip a year ago. That did something to her to make her mean and violent, but Don's gentle spirit usually managed to calm her. Not tonight, though. Or last night. Don called to say she's been shouting and carrying on for two days straight, and that tonight she wandered out of the house and was yelling in the street. He's exhausted, having had only four hours' sleep during all that time. Steve is now with him, helping him call the ambulance and get his wife admitted to the hospital. "Don't worry if I don't come home afterward," he phoned me. "I'm going to spend the night with Don."

Lord, watch over all those tonight who mourn, especially those who grieve the loss of loved ones who are still with us.

Goodness and perfection

Don't confuse goodness with perfection.



http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90645101

Quotes: Augustine on the Gospel

via Randall Friesen

"If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.”

- Augustine of Hippo, doctor of the early church

Obama Captures Oregon

The Oregonian is reporting Obama is leading 60 percent to 40 percent in partial returns.

"The numbers keep him on course toward what many political analysts say is an inevitable win and a matchup against Republican Sen. John McCain in November.

Oregon's vote count capped what has been the most closely watched primary in 40 years. As one of the last primary states in the nation, Oregon became a crucial battleground this spring, and voters from Medford to Pendleton got numerous up-close opportunities to see the contenders and their families.

Intense interest in the Obama-Clinton battle sparked the highest voter turnout in 32 years among Democrats. Election officials reported 63 percent of Democrats cast their ballots. Overall turnout, including Republicans, stood at 48 percent late Tuesday, with more than 1 million voters casting primary ballots."

The Shyness of God

this is via the Gauthiers....

The 'Shyness' of God

When the Son of God was on earth, one argument that broke out often among his followers was "Who's the greatest?" In our day, this line is most closely associated with Muhammad Ali, who once told a flight attendant that he refused to wear a seat belt because he was Superman and "Superman don't need no seat belt." Her response: "Superman don't need no airplane."

This is the original temptation ("You shall be as God"), and it continues to infect both families and small groups, congregations and denominations. Whenever we insist on our own way, take credit for a group's accomplishment, or walk away hurt because we weren't consulted, we're struggling with this form of self-centeredness and self-glorification.

By way of contrast, think about life within the Trinity. How do Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to each other? Are there lots of arguments over who's the most omniscient, the most omnipresent, or the oldest? In that absence there is a lesson.

Dale Bruner, in an essay on the Trinity, begins with the person of the Holy Spirit:

"One of the most surprising discoveries in my own study of the doctrine and experience of the Spirit in the New Testament is what I can only call the shyness of the Spirit …

What I mean here is not the shyness of timidity (cf. 2 Tim. 1:7) but the shyness of deference, the shyness of a concentrated attention on another; it is not the shyness (which we often experience) of self-centeredness, but the shyness of an other-centeredness.

It is, in short, the shyness of love. Bruner points out the ministry of the Spirit in the Gospel of John, a ministry constantly to draw attention not to himself but to the Son—the Spirit comes in the Son's name, bears witness to the Son, glorifies the Son (cf. John 14:26; 16:13)."

The ministry of the Spirit could be pictured, Bruner says, by my drawing a stick figure (representing Jesus) on a blackboard. Then, to express what the Spirit does, I stand behind the blackboard, reach around with one hand, and point with a single finger to the image of Jesus: "Look at him, listen to him, learn from him, follow him, worship him, be devoted to him, serve him, love him, be preoccupied with him." This is what Bruner calls the shyness of the Holy Spirit.

But when we look at the Son, oddly enough we see that he didn't walk around saying, "I am the greatest." He said, "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing" (John 8:54). He said he came not to be served but to serve. He submitted to the Spirit, who Mark tells us "drove him into the wilderness." He told the Father in his climactic struggle, "not my will, but yours be done." Jesus, too, has this same "shyness."

Then there is the Father. Twice in the synoptic Gospels we hear the voice of the Father: once at baptism and again at the Transfiguration. Both times his words are a variation of this message: This is my priceless Son. I am deeply pleased with him. Listen to him! It is worth noticing, Bruner writes, that this voice does not say, "Listen to me too, after listening to him; don't forget that I'm here too; don't be taken up with my Son." Because "God the Father is shy, too. The whole blessed Trinity is shy. Each member of the Trinity points faithfully and selflessly to the other in a gracious circle."

I was raised in some ways to think of God as a proud, almost arrogant being who could get away with his pride because he was God. The doctrine of the Trinity tells me it is not so. God exists as Father, Son, and Spirit in a community of greater humility, servanthood, mutual submission, and delight than you and I can imagine. Three and yet One. Oneness is God's signature. The whole blessed Trinity is "shy."


It's not just in relation to one another but in relation to us that God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—shows forth a stunning humility. For example, what cost does God pay for us to have fellowship with him?

The Son says, "I will leave heaven to come to earth." This is something more than leaving a really nice location (like southern California) for a less desirable one (Chicago). In some way we don't fully understand, the Son freely chooses to leave the perfect oneness he has known for all eternity, to become like human beings in their brokenness and aloneness, to die on a cross, and to experience what Luther called "godforsakenness": "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

But it's not just the Son who pays a price. The Father says, "I will offer my Son whom I love beyond words. I will see him be broken and rejected and killed. I, who have known only perfect oneness with him through eternity, will take on the anguish of estrangement. I will know the broken heart of a father."

And the Holy Spirit pays a price as well. The Spirit says, "I will be poured out on earth, and in mostly silent, invisible ways I will offer to lead and guide; never exalting myself, always pointing to the Son." To a large extent, the Spirit's promptings will be ignored or even denied. The Spirit will be quenched on Earth. The Spirit, to use New Testament language, will be grieved. The Spirit had never known grief through all eternity, but he will be grieved now, day after day, century after century. The Spirit says, "This price I will pay so that any who will might enter our fellowship."

Of course, comprehensive information about the inner life of the Trinity is beyond our grasp. Attributing to Trinity human kinds of emotions—like all our language for God—involves analogies at best. Still, there is a biblical sense in which God is anguished by the unbelief of his people, such as the wonderful reversal in Hosea 11: After a wrenching description of Israel's faithlessness and deserved judgment, the Lord says, "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?"

Occasionally Christians—even those who have been in the faith for many years—wonder why the doctrine of the Trinity matters all that much. Dallas Willard writes,

"The advantage of believing in the Trinity is not that we get an A from God for giving the right answer. Remember, to believe something is to act as if it is so. To believe that two plus two equals four is to behave accordingly when trying to find out how many apples or dollars are in the house. The advantage of believing it is not that we can pass tests in arithmetic; it is that we can deal much more successfully with reality.

The doctrine of the Trinity teaches us that at the core of reality lies not an isolated self but a community of humble love. So self-serving and disunity are not just wrong but doomed. To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, this reality is like the law of gravity—we can never break it, we can only break ourselves against it."

---John Ortberg


Concluding Prayer

O God and Father, by sending the Word of truth
and the Spirit of holiness into the world
you revealed to mankind the great mystery of your being.
Grant that we may profess the true faith,
acknowledge the eternal glory of the Trinity,
and worship your Unity of majestic power.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
Amen.

Meditation for Worship: Trinity Sunday, 2008

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...I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I bind unto myself this day
the strong name of the Trinity.
The Creator’s gifts of earth and sky,
the flowing creeks and fertile land,
the winter sun and summer moon,
the roaring sea and golden sand.

I bind unto myself this day
the Christ who wears our human clay.
The Baby sleeping in a stall,
the Healer touching our disease,
the Man of love upon the Cross,
the risen Friend who hears our pleas.

I bind unto myself this day
the Spirit who is here to stay.
The Breath that makes the broken whole,
the Truth that flows like liquid light,
the Wind that sweeps my dusty soul,
the Fire that warms the darkest night.

I bind unto myself this day
the Fellowship that’s our mainstay.
The Grace that holds us all in thrall,
the Love than links us one and all,
the Peace that sweeps away our fears,
the Joy that wipes away all tears.

From now unto infinity,
The strong name of the Trinity.
( B D Prewer. Inspired by St Patrick)

Laminin and Colossians 1:15-17

My uncle just passed this on to me from a friend of his:

A couple of days ago I was watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio...and I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned....but I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.

He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is...how He spoke the universe into being...how He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire...etc. etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know.) .....and I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical school as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking....'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???'

Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.

And then I lost my breath.
And it wasn't because I was running my treadmill, either!!!
It was because he started talking about laminin.
I knew about laminin. Here is how wikipedia describes them :'Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' You see....laminins are what hold us together....LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what laminin LOOKED LIKE.

But now I do.
And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)....
Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it....if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...




Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!!
Amazing.
The glue that holds us together....ALL of us....is in the shape of the cross.
Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.

'He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth , visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things HOLD TOGETHER. '

Colossians 1:15-17


Call me crazy. I just think that is very, very, very cool.
Thousands of years before the world knew anything about laminin, Paul penned those words. And now we see that from a very LITERAL standpoint, we are held together...one cell to another....by the cross.

You would never in a quadrillion years convince me that is anything other than the mark of a Creator who knew EXACTLY what laminin 'glue' would look like long before Adam even breathed his first breath!!

We praise YOU, Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JoVeta Wescott
Ex. Dir. Kansas Parish Nurse Ministry, Inc.
www.KansasParishNurseMinistry.org

Now, like Thomas, I am not one to accept things without a bit more evidence. So I did a brief google search, and found corroboration
here, here, here

and most incredibly, here.

May those who have eyes to see praise Him.

Do What Now

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine..." yeah, I know I'm dating myself; but in those days we memorized everything in AV.
Anyway, I chanced upon this blog, and chuckled all the way down memory lane.

DO WHAT NOW
In which retro-obsessed nerd Jim Dunn indulges his taste for musty old magazines, horrid cookbooks and truly frightening design books. Click on pictures to embiggenate. Click the author link to tell me how lame I am. Enjoy.

People of the Lie

Years ago I read a book by M. Scott Peck called People of the Lie. In it Peck, a psychiatrist, "describes the stories of several people who came to him whom he found particularly resistant to any form of help. He came to think of them as evil goes on to describe to describe the characteristics of evil in psychological terms, proposing that it could become a psychiatric diagnosis."

Peck tells the haunting story of a troubled boy, brought to him by his parents for evaluation. Horrible enough to read that his brother committed suicide, but incredibly, Peck goes on to reveal that for the boy's birthday, his parents gave him, as a gift, the same gun his brother used to kill himself. It is this sort of evil that defies natural explanation.

Here is Michael Covel's summary:

The central defect of 'the evil' is not the sin but the refusal to acknowledge it. More often than not these people will be looked at as solid citizens. How can that be? How can they be evil and not designated as criminals? The key word is designated. They are criminals in that they commit crimes against life and liveliness...their crimes are so subtle and covert that they cannot clearly be designated as crimes. The theme of hiding and covertness will occur again and again throughout the rest of this book. It is the basis for the title People of the Lie.

Evil deeds do not make an evil person. Otherwise we would all be evil. If evil people cannot be defined by the illegality of their deeds or the magnitude of their sins, then how are we to define them? The answer is by the consistency of their sins. While usually subtle, their destructiveness is remarkably consistent. This is because those who have crossed over the line are characterized by their absolute refusal to tolerate the sense of their own sinfulness.

The poor in spirit do not commit evil. Evil is not committed by people who feel uncertain about their righteousness, who question their own motives, who worry about betraying themselves. The evil of this world is committed by the spiritual fat cats, by the Pharisee's of our own day, the self-righteous who think they are without sin because they are unwilling to suffer the discomfort of significant self-examination. It is out of their failure to put themselves on trial that their evil arises. They are, in my experience remarkably greedy people.

A predominant characteristic of the behavior that I call evil is scapegoating. Because in their hearts they consider themselves above reproach, they must lash out at anyone who does reproach them. They sacrifice others to preserve their self-image of perfection
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Utterly dedicated to preserving their self-image of perfection, they are unceasingly engaged in the effort to maintain the appearance of moral purity. They are acutely sensitive to social norms and what others might think of them. They seem to live lives that are above reproach. The words image, appearance and outwardly are crucial to understanding the morality of 'the evil'. While they lack any motivation to be good, they intensely desire to appear good. Their goodness is all on a level of pretense. It is in effect a lie. Actually the lie is designed not so much to deceive others as to deceive themselves. We lie only when we are attempting to cover up something we know to be illicit. At one and the same time 'the evil' are aware of their evil and desperately trying to avoid the awareness. We become evil by attempting to hide from ourselves. The wickedness of 'the evil' is not committed directly, but indirectly as a part of this cover-up process.

Evil originates not in the absence of guilt but in the effort to escape it.

It often happens then that 'the evil' may be recognized by its very disguise. Because they are such experts at disguise, it is seldom possible to pinpoint the maliciousness of 'the evil'. The disguise is usually impenetrable.

They are not pain avoiders or lazy people in general. To the contrary, they are likely to exert themselves more than most in their continuing effort to obtain and maintain an image of respectability. They may willingly, even eagerly, undergo great hardships in their search for status. It is only one particular pain they cannot tolerate: the pain of their own conscience, the pain of realization of their own sinfulness and imperfection.

They are men and women of obviously strong will, determined to have their own way. There is a remarkable power in the manner in which they attempt to control others.

Those who are evil are masters of disguise; they are not apt to wittingly disclose their true colors - either to others or to themselves. It is not without reason that the serpent is renowned for his subtlety. We therefore cannot pass judgment on a person for a single act. Instead judgment must be made on the basis of a whole pattern of acts as well as their manner and style.

Think of the psychic energy required for the continued maintenance of the pretense so characteristic of 'the evil'! They perhaps direct at least as much energy into their devious rationalizations and destructive compensations as the healthies do into loving behavior. Why? What possesses them, drives them? Basically, it is fear. They are terrified that the pretense will break down and they will be exposed to the world and to themselves.

Evil people would be distinguished by these traits:
1.) Consistent destructive, scapegoating behavior, which may often be quite subtle.
2.) Excessive, albeit usually covert, intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury.

3.) Pronounced concern with a public image and self-image of respectability, contributing to a stability of lifestyle but also to pretentiousness and denial of hateful feelings or vengeful motives.

4.) Intellectual deviousness, with an increased likelihood of a mild schizophrenic-like disturbance of thinking at times of stress.

If Peck's description of "evil" is accurate, I think I might have come upon one of the first truly evil people I have ever known. Kyrie eleison; Christe eleison; Kyrie eleison.

The SLU Center for Liturgy

here is a wonderful resource courtesy of our brothers and sisters at St. Louis University.

I only spent one semester at SLU but it was fantastic.

A holy week: Part 1

It never fails. Whenever Steve is gone, (literally) all hell breaks loose.

After long and painful deliberation, Steve decided that he would go to San Jose after all. He was scheduled to help teach a longstanding "Orientation to the Covenant" class, May 12-16, where 13 prospective ministers from all over the country would assemble at Mission Springs Covenant camp. Even though H. had dismissed hospice, it looked like A. was gradually sinking, but would not die immediately. We figured that if necessary, Steve could fly back; but that seemed to be a remote possibility. I would continue to visit daily and report back to him.

So Sunday, after worship, he drove to Portland to catch his flight, and I went to see A. while Joanna was at an ultimate frisbee practice. I was with her for about a half hour when X came. "Doesn't she look better!" she chirped. I couldn't believe it. A. was in her sleepy mode, muttering incomprehensibly. She had gone from her fighting weight of 118 to 74 pounds. If anything, she looked worse to me.

It had been Communion Sunday, so I brought the song sheet we had sung during communion and was singing to A. I invited X to join in, but she didn't know the songs. One of them was Wimber's "Spirit Song." Before long it was time for me to pick up Joanna, so I prayed, with X doing tongues for continuo. I promised A. I would come back as soon as I could.

When I returned at about 4:30 pm, X had gone, but I met Candy, a home health care worker who was setting up the nutritional infusion for A. This was news to me! While H. and Momma D. were with A. (cleaning her up after another bout of diarrhea) I had a chance to have a long talk with Candy. Seems that H. couldn't stand the idea of his wife starving, so he thought she should have food. A's doctor had resisted this, but somehow Candy had gotten permission and had started a line. God had sent Kathy; now he was sending Candy. We spent a long time chatting about A's situation, hospice and Iranian attitudes toward death.

Momma D. was even more agitated than A. When I returned they had her morphine going again (thanks to Candy) and the sides of the bed up, because A. had been trying to get out of bed throughout the night. (So much for miracles!) H. and D. were still disputing the need for morphine, so Candy only increased it to 4 (which, she said, was really next to nothing) A. seemed to be resting comfortably, except for a funny cough/clearing of her throat. H. feared she had caught a cold from someone who had visited the day before, and blamed himself for allowing that person to visit. Candy listened carefully to her lungs, but said they were clear.

5:30 pm. Momma D. made dinner, so Candy and I stayed to eat. H. decided A. needed a different doctor. When Candy heard about how A's doctor had been treating her pain (or failing to!) she was appalled but not surprised. She suggested a couple of other oncologists who worked with teams, including nutritionists, pain management people and social workers. A's coughing increased throughout this conversation, so much so that Candy left the table to take another listen. This time she heard liquid in the top of A's lungs. "This is the beginning of the end," she told H.. "You could drain that liquid, but it will just come right back. She is not going to get better; it is a signal that she is dying."

Momma D. insisted that A. be taken to the hospital and see a doctor. She began to get hysterical. Poor H.! It was at that point that he finally realized the truth and began the hardest journey of his life. "No! She would have to go in an ambulance, and I am not going to disturb her. She wanted to die here, not in a hospital!" From this point on I got the feeling from Momma D. that she dind't think H. was doing right by her daughter, and things just got more tense as the night wore on.

It was clear to me that I needed to stay, and so did Candy. I called Joanna to let her know I wouldn't be home until after she went to bed. H. called some friends to take M. to their house for the night. My heart broke when it was time for him to say goodbye to his mother. Poor baby, he had no idea it would be the last time she would ever kiss him.

Isn't it incredible how quickly pneumonia can progress? And yet, not quickly enough. Poor A.! She kept trying to sit up and clear out that fluid, but she didn't have the strength to even cough. About 9:00 pm we started to hear nasty rattling sounds. That's when the tug of war began. H. was on one side of the bed, gently speaking to A. about happy times they shared together: their wedding celebration, their honeymoon; riding an elephant in Thailand, parasailing. What tenderness! On the other side of the bed, Momma D. was wailing and pulling at A. and demanding that she stay. "Who will take care of me if you go?" she sobbed. "You cannot die!"

It drove H. nuts, and several times he was so angry he had to leave the room. "Doesn't that woman realize its not about her?" he muttered bitterly. Meanwhile, M. returned. He was crying so much for his father that the friends didn't know what to do, so they finally brought him back. H.'s college-age daughter from a previous marriage and I took turns watching him, making sure he wasn't in the room to see and hear what was going on. It was frightening enough for us; I can't imagine what it might have been for a two year old. Thank God Candy was there to monitor and explain the situation as it developed.

When I wasn't with M, I tried, alternately, to calm Momma D. and then H. His blood pressure must have been off the charts, not helped by his forays into the garage for smokes. Then I sang to A. and read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and Romans 8:18-39.

After midnight, A. started in with the Cheyne-Stokes breathing. That cut H.to the core. Momma D. was frantic, waving the Koran all over A's head and body, as if it might magically ward off the inevitable. So sad! Without hope in Christ, H. turned fatalist while Momma D. turned superstitious.

3:00 am. H. and I tried to soothe A. and tell her it was okay to rest, to let go; but Momma D. glared at us and would throw more sobbing fits. After months and months of fighting, I think A's body was not tuned to "giving in," so she continued to fight, fight, fight. H.'s daughter wasn't doing a great job of keeping her little stepbrother quiet, and he would NOT go to sleep. Candy thought that hearing him might be subconsciously affecting A., so I stepped out and took him into the garage to play. We had ony been playing catch a few minutes when suddenly M.'s stepsister threw open the door and yelled for me to come.

When I entered the room, there was H, draped over his wife, sobbing, and Momma D., flat on her back on the floor, having a fit, kicking and keening. It was difficult to know whether this was a cultural practice, or if it was just Momma D's nature to be emotive and dramatic. H. was clearly upset by the display. The more I tried to console her the more physical she became. At last I just backed off.

So while I was not there at A's bedside when she took her last breath, I was there for her last hours, and there afterward to help Candy undress, clean, and re-dress her, and to help H. and Momma D. cope with their loss. H. couldn't believe what had happened. "I've never even been to a funeral," he confessed. "I don't know anything about death. This is the first time anyone I've ever known and loved has died." I silently thanked God that Steve had started the ball rolling the week before he left, going with H. to visit acouple of mortuaries and beginning the conversations about a memorial service.

Monday afternoon I went with H. and Momma D. to the cemetery, to secure a plot, and then Joanna and I took them to dinner. A. had asked to be buried in blue jeans, because she wanted to be able to run and enjoy the new body Jesus would be giving her. To the very end, she wore the golden cross necklace that she received from her husband when she was baptized. I hoped it would not be taken from her.

A's last wish was not to be shrouded, as is the Islamic custom, but rather to be covered with a small carpet her mother brought for her from Iran, showing the resurrected Jesus holding the cross. Momma D. had commissioned it and got it out of the country with no small amount of anxiety, and A. treasured it. The carpet functioned as a sort of icon for her, pinned up against the wall so she could focus on it as she laid in her hospital bed.

Ironically, on the opposite wall, behind her head, there was another wall hanging, a large blanket printed with a life-size image of Marilyn Monroe. The bedroom had been Momma D's before A. needed it for her hospital bed. A. knew how much her mother adored Marilyn Monroe, so she had decorated the room accordingly. These two images--Marilyn Monroe and the triumphant Christ--marked the beginning and the end of A's life. She moved from what this world counts as desirable to what God desires, from what is perishable to what is imperishable, from human love to the love of Christ.

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Abiding is the secret of Fruitfulness

A wonderful meditation on John 15:1-8 is offered here by Dr. Eddie Gibbs. He is Director for the Institute for the Study of Emerging Churches at the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts, and is a senior professor in the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary.
"The two questions that all servants of Christ need to ask themselves are: “What do I want to be known for at the end of my life?” The second is, “How can I finish well?” The secret of finishing well is to abide in Christ, and to submit to his pruning, no matter how painful. Fruitfulness is not the result of what we do, but is the outcome of who we are.'

Rediscovering Liturgy

VCC has already been touched by this wind of the Spirit; will we continue to let His breeze blow, or will we shut the window? Here are some recent CT articles that might help us out.

A Deeper Relevance
Why many evangelicals are attracted to that strange thing called liturgy.

"...Worshiping in the liturgical tradition is no panacea. When not approached wisely, it can be misused and abused; it can tempt participants to substitute mere religious ritual for a vital, personal faith in Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, this tradition does have much to offer contemporary evangelicalism. Take our fascination with relevance: the first thing this liturgy asks us to rethink is what we mean by "relevant" worship.

It is not an accident that when we think about making church more relevant, we usually mean meaningful for one particular group. In North America, that usually means 20-somethings and young families. For one, 20-somethings are some of the hardest people to attract to church—we evangelicals love the challenge of reaching them. Two, when they start raising families, they begin to return to church—we also love a field ripe for harvest. It's a perfect "target audience" for a new church to aim at.

Unfortunately, churches that perceive themselves as relevant often by their nature limit a full-bodied expression of the church—that is, they "target" 20- and maybe 30-somethings, and usually those of that group who are middle- and upper-middle-class white-collar types rising in income and influence. Few churches that consciously seek relevance want to clear the way to church for the poor, the homeless, welfare moms, drug-addicted men, or those trapped in nursing homes and convalescent hospitals. These "target audiences" are not very relevant to many "casual, contemporary" churches.

Liturgical churches know that as profound a reality as is the surrounding culture, there is an even more profound reality waiting to be discovered. This is one reason I thank God for the liturgy. The liturgy does not target any age or cultural subgroup. It does not even target this century. (It does not imagine, as we moderns and postmoderns are tempted to do, that this is the best of all possible ages, the most significant era of history.) Instead, the liturgy draws us into worship that transcends our time and place. Its earliest forms took shape in ancient Israel, and its subsequent development occurred in a variety of cultures and subcultures—Greco-Roman, North African, German, Frankish, Anglo-Saxon, and so on. It has been prayed meaningfully by bakers, housewives, tailors, teachers, philosophers, priests, monks, kings, and slaves. As such, it has not been shaped to meet a particular group's needs. It seeks only to enable people—people in general—to see God....

We are in the habit of thinking that our culture—the reality we strive to be relevant to—is the measure of meaning. That's why we're tempted to shape our churches to look like that culture, because that is what people in this culture will find meaningful. It is logical on one level, and there is no question that we have to be culturally sensitive in our outreach. But the liturgy wants to show us a deeper logic and relevance.

The liturgy begins by saying that our culture needs not so much to have its "presenting needs" met as to be gently and calmly invited into a wiser culture—the culture of a Trinitarian God and his kingdom. This is what is blessed, now and forever. Our culture is the transitory thing, an apparition that will someday have to pass away, just as childhood has to pass away. The liturgy says to us as we enter, "You're in the culture of God and his kingdom now. Things will be different from now on."

See also:

Relevant Liturgy

"There’s an article on liturgy in a surprising place. RelevantMagazine.com is a for-twenty-something very significant Christian site. The magazine, more known for its emergent, missional approach, typically slates “religion” as often seen to be “irrelevant”. Yet in this article (link off this site) LisaMarie Goetz, a Christian Education major at Wheaton College with a minor in Christian Spirituality, declares: “Young adults all over the nation and the world are beginning to feel this way [that they want church – not a concert or a comedy club], and many are crowding liturgical churches each Sunday. It truly looks as if the liturgy is being revived in this generation....”

The Future Lies in the Past
Why evangelicals are connecting with the early church as they move into the 21st century.

"We confess that we have often lost the fullness of our Christian heritage, too readily assuming that the Scripture and the Spirit make us independent of the past. In so doing, we have become theologically shallow, spiritually weak, blind to the work of God in others and married to our cultures. … We dare not move beyond the biblical limits of the gospel; but we cannot be fully evangelical without recognizing our need to learn from other times and movements concerning the whole meaning of that gospel...."

"Like Webber, journalist Colleen Carroll Campbell has surveyed this youth movement that's dissatisfied with culturally co-opted Christianity and wants a more historically rooted form of the faith. Her results, featured in her 2004 book, The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy, show that these young people recognize the anti-Christian nature of the culture in which they grew up. They have been "reared in a media culture that relentlessly lobbies for their attention and panders to their whims," and thus "find it refreshing when religious leaders demand sacrifice, service, and renunciation of consumerism." They feel not restricted but "strangely liberated" by the focus on objective morality and obedience in these churches. To them, this is finally a form of religion that stands over and against individualism and relativism. And they are "captivated by groups that stress stability, commitment, and integration—the very values they found wanting in their splintered, mobile families and fragmented, impersonal communities...."

"...Campbell found that the informal, spontaneous style of many free-church Protestant groups does not give these young adults enough of an anchor. In Massachusetts, Campbell spoke with Sharon Carlson, a young woman raised in the Plymouth Brethren movement, a free-church tradition that eschews liturgy, tradition, and hierarchy. Carlson described the Communion experience as "tearing up bread and passing around cups of grape juice after men in the assembly spontaneously stood and repeated the words that they felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to say," and she felt that was no longer enough. As Campbell reports, " 'I want to be more connected to history, the history of the Christian church,' said Carlson, who relishes the knowledge that she is worshiping the way Christians have for centuries. 'There have been generations of people before me saying the same prayers.' "

Our Good Shepherd Carries His Lamb Home

A. went to be with Jesus about 3 am this morning. At last, she is free of chemo, of ports and lines, of nausea and pain. I have been blessed to be with her in life, and death, and look forward to the day when we are reunited in Christ.

Oh let the Son of God enfold You
With His Spirit and His love
Let Him fill your heart
And satisfy your soul
Oh let Him have those things that hold you
And His Spirit like a dove
Will descend upon your life
And make you whole

Jesus, oh Jesus
Come and fill Your lambs
Jesus, oh Jesus
Come and fill Your lambs

Oh come and sing this song with gladness
As your hearts are filled with joy
Lift your hands in sweet surrender to His name
Oh give Him all your tears of sadness
Give Him all your years of pain
And you’ll enter into life in Jesus’ name

Ways God Shows Up

Our brother in Christ, Ultra Rev has a report of amazing things happening in Lakeland.

Steve Hickey justifiably wonders: "Before you judge what is unfolding in Florida, ask yourself this question… what will it look like when God shows up?"

Well, God is certainly able to show up however He wants. A couple of His preferred ways is through Word and Sacrament. Peter Kreeft lists 11 more ways here. It seems to me that Hickey is ignoring all these ways God is already showing up, and that troubles me. Am I being too judgemental? Am I wrong to be bothered?

I teach at a Pentecostal Bible college, so it's not like I'm new to any of this. I'm told that when people fall down in chapel and speaking "in tongues" that that is also a way that God is showing up. Nothing would please me more than to have the Lord "show up" and heal our friend A. from the cancer that has riddled every part of her body!

The problem is, though, that if He does, her husband will become a follower of Magic Jesus. They come from another culture that is heavy into "bargaining" with God, rather than receiving from Him. The husband wants a god that he can manipulate; a faith that he can wear as an amulet. His hope is centered on this life, this world, on material things.

There is nothing--not even Jesus--that is more important to him than his wife. He will believe anything, do anything, sacrifice anything to anyone or for any object that will heal A. Aslan or Tash, Jesus or Allah or Buddha or Donald Trump--it's all the same to him, if they'll give him what he most desires.

Doesn't this make a difference?

It's this very attitude that makes Hank Hannagraff's concern mine as well:

He says participants leave believing they are truly healed, but back in the real world, they find nothing has changed. "That's when they start thinking God has abandoned them or doesn't love them," Hanegraaff said.

I'm doing a lot of wondering these days.

What will happen if A. is not healed? Will X be going with Momma D. and me to wash A's body, so that she will not have to be touched by strangers? (That was the thing that bothered her most about dying, next to not being there for her little son, M.) Where will X be for M, after his mother is gone?

And furthermore: has God not been showing up for the past year as Steve and I (and others) have been visiting, praying, reading, and singing with A.? Have we just been spinning our wheels? Did we pray the "wrong" way, so that our prayers for healing weren't heard? Did we not have enough faith? Was God unable to heal A. as long as she was under the care of doctors? Is what a charismatic evangelist (who blew through town) said to A. months ago true, that her first baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit wasn't enough; that she needed to be "completed" and receive a second baptism in the Spirit?

Steve Hickey wants the power.

A. and I want Jesus. And His Father. And His Spirit.

Please continue to pray with me that H. will, too.

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
All its joys are but a name;
But His love abideth ever,
Through eternal years the same.

Refrain

Oh, the height and depth of mercy!
Oh, the length and breadth of love!
Oh, the fullness of redemption,
Pledge of endless life above!

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
Sweetest comfort of my soul;
With my Savior watching o’er me,
I can sing though billows roll.

Refrain

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
Let me view His constant smile;
Then throughout my pilgrim journey
Light will cheer me all the while.

Refrain

Take the world, but give me Jesus.
In His cross my trust shall be,
Till, with clearer, brighter vision,
Face to face my Lord I see.

Refrain

THY will be done...?

“Human love has little regard for the truth. It makes the truth relative, since nothing, not even the truth, must come between it and the beloved person." --Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together.


H. concluded his fast last night. He says that Momma D. was sleeping with A. when A. got up our of bed in the middle of the night. Then next time he told me the story, he said she got up twice. He says he's got a connection to God and that he believes God has done a miracle. "I had a feeling this morning."

Today H. dismissed hospice. He told the hospice doctor he wasn't going to watch his wife starve to death, so has been feeding her meat broth and papaya. He ended her morphine. A. had a bowel movement which he takes to have been a sign of her healing.

X, a woman from a charismatic church has been with them all afternoon. She has told H. that he should believe God is doing a miracle. "God created A. and knows how her intestines should work. They were meant to digest food! If she vomits up what you give her, rebuke Satan in the name of Jesus! And don't believe those doctors. They don't believe in miracles, so what do you expect them to do?"

I stepped into this just as X was getting ready to leave. She sized me up as One of Those Who Aren't Spiritual, or at least Spiritual Enough. Sigh. Relationships and long obediences can't compete with prophetic preaching and dramatic experiences.

"I'm not going to allow anyone who doesn't believe in miracles in this house," H. announced. (This is just a variation on his default position, Postive Thinking. I wondered if it was meant as a warning for Steve and me.) "I've had enough of mortuaries and talk of death." (Steve has spent the last week helping H. make funeral preparations.)

While I certainly believe God is able to do miracles, I must confess my unbelief: it doesn't seem like He intends to take away A's cancer and give her 40 more years on this planet. I am certain her healing will occur, but I'm not cure it will happen the way H. is currently demanding it.

I am also disturbed for A's sake. She sat up in bed, and took several puffs of a cigarette, but she seemed out of it. She complained she was in pain, so I massaged her back. H. reset the morphine machine, which had been turned off, exclaiming proudly, "She hasn't had any morphine for four hours!"

He and Mamma D. carried on a lively conversation in Farsi, never once including me, which has never before been their practice. A, still sitting up, softly whispered some things in Farsi to them. It was clear they didn't want any singing; so I blessed A. with Aaron's blessing (which caused H. to stop and frown as I said, "the Lord give you peace"), prayed briefly and kissed her goodbye.

I am perplexed and frustrated. Am I missing something wonderful here? Or have H. and Mamma D. gone off the deep end? At what point does one pray for a miracle, and at what point do we pray, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?"

Any advice?