Monday, April 28, 2008

At last, a use for concordances


Like most pastors, I use a Bible program to help with Greek and Hebrew (in my case, Accordance for the Mac OS). Since it includes a dozen or so English translations, its quick and powerful search engine makes it much more useful than the print exhaustive concordance I bought back in college a couple decades ago, and hence never use. Nonetheless, today I found another use for my old concordance.

Commas

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/78087

Friday, April 25, 2008

There was a ravioli-shaped hole in my heart

Earlier this week my wife and I took a few days off to vacation in Grand Junction, on the other side of the Rockies. One evening we ate at Bin 707 (http://www.bin707.com/), and I had the meat ravioli with "italian salsa"/creme fraiche sauce (accompanied by a glass of the house tempranillo). I did not know I had been searching for the perfect ravioli, but I found it that night. By all means, if you're going through Grand Junction (and if you stay on I-70, you will), stop in for dinner at Bin 707. This is the ravioli of a lifetime.

At long last, the ravioli-shaped hole in my heart has been filled.

Lord's Day April 27, 2008

This Sunday at Park Hill Presbyterian Church, I'll be preaching on John 14:15-21 ("Not Orphans") at 11 a.m., and Luke 19:41-48 ("Hate Him or Adore Him") at 5 p.m.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Lord's Day April 20, 2008

This Sunday at Park Hill Presbyterian Church, I'll be preaching on John 14:1-14 ("That Where I Am, You May Be Also") at 11 a.m., and Luke 19:28-40 ("The King Comes") at 5 p.m.

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Presbyterian Curmudgeon in the news

The first time I appeared in the Denver newspapers was about six years ago when a traffic stop in front of the Church of Christ across the street turned into a shootout; a police officer was wounded and the gunman was killed. A Denver Post reporter interviewed me over the phone; I believe my published quote was something profound like, "I heard some banging, and then every cop in the world showed up."

My next appearance was in the Rocky Mountain News of Monday, April 7, 2008. Apparently, there are still lowly cub reporters assigned to flip through the police department's case reports in search of something newsworthy. This time out, said reporter discovered the misfortune which had befallen my truck.

Lord's Day April 13, 2008

This Sunday at Park Hill Presbyterian Church I'll be preaching on John 9:1-7 ("The Light of the World") at 11 a.m., and James 2:8-13 as a a catechetical sermon on Westminster Shorter Catechism #40 in the afternoon, after our monthly fellowship meal.

While we're on the subject, you'll notice from the links on the left of this page that Park Hill Presbyterian Church is now on SermonAudio.com. The selection is small at the moment, but our helpful sermon elves are busily at work editing and uploading more.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Gnostic preaching

  Throughout Against the Protestant Gnostics, Philip J. Lee moves back and forth between liberalism and evangelicalism as he explores manifestations of gnosticism.  Interestingly, he does not clarify which of these two Protestant traditions he has in view in this comment on preaching, which in my experience applies equally well to both.  "These various secular attempts at line-blurring, which have largely been prompted by a gnosticized Protestant thought, ironically are now indirectly exerting an effect on church life itself.  ...A typical Protestant sermon is a verbal essay on a contemporary theme, sometimes employing biblical illustrations in support of the essayist's point of view.  The preacher who is bound to the text, confined to what he or she perceives as the biblical point of view, is a curiosity."

Monday, April 7, 2008

My sad obsessions


  As all right-thinking people agree, Abraham Lincoln was the greatest rhetorician in American history, saving the Union with words alone.  (Okay, and the Union war machine.)  And as anyone who survived the 80s would agree, t-shirts are the finest vehicle available for communicating important philosophical concepts to one's community.  

  Now the fine folks at woot.com have pressed all my buttons with this portrait of Lincoln rendered in the text of the Gettysbury Address.  So tell me that you love me for only $15 by going to http://shirt.woot.com/Friends.aspx?k=5229.

Social Darwinism as Calvinist heresy

  Boy howdy, do I like Against the Protestant Gnostics.  From page 202:  "In the United States, this parallel movement of spiritual individualism and economic individualism was aided by the popular understanding of Darwinism and its 'survival of the fittest' philosophy.  'This anti-social teaching,' [Martin] Marty explains, 'individualized the old Puritan-evangelical ideas about "election," ideas which were previously seen in the context of a covenanted community, and used them to justify personal economic competition.'"

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Liberalism is gnosticism

More from Philip J. Lee: "The entire Bible was, for liberals, only a rich source of those truths that we, in our hearts, already know."

The Princess and the Bridegroom

or
Never Go Up Against a High Priest in the Order of Melchizedek When Sanctification Is on the Line


The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
-Matthew 25:5

In The Princess Bride, we encounter a provocative illustration of the relationship between the Lord and the believer. Like Princess Buttercup, we all have given up on waiting for the savior, our bridegroom. Fortunately, our salvation does not depend upon our patience, but rather upon a God who pursues us to bring us into relationship with him, just as Wesley, a figure for Christ, saves his bride from both living and literal death.

Buttercup had vowed to wait patiently for her bridegroom, Wesley, to return for her, but when she was told he had died, she gave up her vigil and all hope. (One could make much of the “God is dead” school of philosophy at this point, but one does not want to draw ridiculous analogies.) As with the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13, she gave up looking for her bridegroom when he appeared to be too long in returning. She preferred to trust in the reports of news carriers rather than in the promise of her one true love. She was like those who believe scoffers instead of remembering “(t)he Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (II Pet 5:9)

We too have forsaken the knowledge of God which we hold in our hearts (Rom 1:19-21). As Francis Shaeffer observed in The God Who Is There, we all (as unbelievers) recognize the true shape of the world as it is, but choose to deny that truth in order to be able to live according to our own lights. Unfortunately, the worldview we construct is woefully inadequate, especially in comparison to the joy and glory which is found in fellowship with God.

Buttercup certainly found herself in this situation. Having forsaken her true love (because it appeared he would not return), she chose the fleeting, worldly glory of marriage to the prince and future king of the land, Humperdinck. Like unfaithful Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16), she prepared to forsake her true love for another. Though she had all the outer trappings of greatness, her life afforded her no joy. Indeed, though in appearance a beautiful, vibrant princess, she felt as though she were dead.

All believers were once also dead in their sin, no matter how vital they may have appeared in their pursuit of fleshly gratification (Eph 2:1-3). How grateful we should then be that we have a savior who gave us life out of death! (Eph 2:4-5) Had Buttercup’s only chance of finding joy been to wait faithfully, then she was truly without hope. Fortunately, like us, she had a bridegroom who pursued her despite her faithlessness. (Is there a parallel between Wesley’s pirate persona and Peter’s assertion that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief” [II Pet 5:10]? But I digress.) Wesley rescued her from her kidnappers (as Christ frees believers from the bondage of sin, Rom 6:6 & Gal 4:7), then guided her through the deadly forest (as the Holy Spirit guides us through the travails of life, Jn 14:26, 16:13-15) at great cost to himself. (The journey through this forest can best be understood as a metaphor for the Christian’s struggle with sin. The R.O.U.S.es symbolize besetting temptations, and the fall into the pit the result of succumbing to those temptations. How fitting, then, that the “penalties” fell on Wesley, the Christ figure, for the penalty for our sins was paid by Jesus Christ. But I digress again.)

The clear parallels to the work of the Lord in our lives are staggering. Just as Buttercup rejoiced to find Wesley alive again after death, just as Mary Magdalene cried out to Jesus in the garden (Jn 20:14-17), so we burst forth in hymns of praise when we remember the good news of the resurrection. Like Wesley, we are given new life that we might truly live.

The Christological import of Wesley’s character is significant indeed. At the beginning of the film, we meet him as a servant who gives of himself unselfishly, whose service is quite literally a statement of love. Nor can we overlook his (nearly) death and (sort of) resurrection. This bridegroom sacrificially loves his bride so that she may be joined to him.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Eph 5:25-27)

Lord's Day April 6, 2008

This Lord's Day at Park Hill Presbyterian Church, I'll be preaching on Luke 24:13-35 ("How to be Happy") at 11 a.m., and Luke 19:11-27 ("Faith or Fear?") at 5 p.m.