08.20.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:52 am by Anthony
I want to make you all aware of a new blog, Smartrition: Nutrition Gems by Dr. Sheila, published by Albany church member Dr. Sheila Jones. Sheila, of course, teaches nutrition at ACU and did her Ph.D. research on an important nutritional element known as phytochemicals. Read her blog to find out why grandma was right about eating our fruits and vegetables!
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05.26.07
Posted in Reading, Theology, Lifestyle at 8:06 am by Anthony
I’m slowly reading Interwoven: A Pioneer Chronicle by Sallie Reynolds Matthews. This amazing book was originally published in 1936 and records Mrs. Matthew’s memories of growing up on a ranch near Ft. Griffin, Texas.
For the nation’s centennial celebrations in 1876, the family traveled to the new, nearby town of Albany to celebrate Independence Day. Writing almost sixty years after that event, Mrs. Matthews recalls how much the world had changed.
The next day we went to the Matthews ranch [remember, she was still a Reynolds at this point–abp] where Bennie and I spent the night and drove on home from there. We always seemed to have plenty of leisure time in those days; boys and girls would visit and spend several days at the two homes. There never was any great hurry to be going. Now we have every convenience to make housekeeping easy and light, running water, both hot and cold, gas and electricity, telephones with which to order everything delivered to our doors, automobiles with paved roads to run them over and if we are in a great hurry we can take an airplane, yet we have so little time for visiting. We rush, rush, rush here and rush there, and I do not see that we accomplish an extraordinary amount. Do not think for a minute that I am one who thinks the old times are best for I do not. I think we are living in the “Golden Age” but I do wonder where the time goes; it flies faster than a weaver’s shuttle. (p. 118, emphasis added)
Written between the two great wars, Matthew’s ideas of a “Golden Age” were common to her time. Few of us today have such a view of our own times. So we yearn even more deeply for the relationships of “the old times,” yet we adopt lifestyles that make time for long, casual visits almost impossible.
As believers, we know that the “Golden Age” is yet to come–an age when there will be no more “rush, rush, rush,” for time shall be no more. It will not be our accomplishments, but our relationships, that matter. Because we know our future, should that not help us set our priorities for the present? Let us allow that vision to shape our lives now!
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05.17.07
Posted in Church Life, Ministry at 2:30 pm by Anthony
I’ve never been very comfortable with the title “pastor.” The biggest reason is that we just didn’t use it in my Church of Christ upbringing. Another reason was that in Africa it tended to be a title that could only be worn by those who had a certain level of theological education, and was often worn with a certain amount of pride and arrogance. And then there’s the idea that the biblical usage is interchangable with elders and overseers, whereas today it’s usually reserved for a credentialed and salaried church employee. The idea of a “Senior Pastor” or “Associate (junior?) Pastor” just doesn’t seem to fit the biblical usage.
I spent some time yesterday and today looking more closely at the biblical use and it occured to me that, with the exception of Ephesians 4:11, the noun pastor does not appear in the New Testament as a title for anyone. In the Ephesians passage, it’s part of what would be better rendered a hyphenated “pastor-teacher,” or “shepherd-teacher.” As Lynn Anderson says in They Smell Like Sheep, “These leaders ’shepherd by teaching’ or, conversely, ‘teach by shepherding’” (p. 83).
With the exception of this occurence, however, the word pastor, as applied to church leadership in the New Testament, is a verb. In both Acts 20:28 and in 1 Peter 5:2, ”Be shepherds,” as in the NIV, or “(to) shepherd” as in the NASB, is one word in the original text. The KJV translates it as the verb “feed,” and that is certainly involved, but to shepherd or to pastor involves more t han dumping food out. It implies tending, nurturing, treating wounds, rescuing, caring for, and leading, as well as feeding.
Pastor is something to do, and not primarily a title to be worn. Those who do it best will probably never wear the title. And to them, titles are more scorned than sought after. Last night in our class on shepherding I asked those in the class to write down the names of three people that they could go to in a spiritual crisis. I didn’t ask anyone to reveal names, but Sister Tincy, our very sweet octogenarian, wanted to honor those who shepherd her by naming them, and they were all sisters in the church who she could always count on. There wasn’t an “office holder” among them.
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05.08.07
Posted in Reading, Scripture at 7:02 pm by Anthony
In The Spirituality of the Cross, Gene Edward Veith, Jr. describes his journey from atheism through mysticism and liberal theology to faith.* He found that the God of the Bible–specifically the Old Testament–revealed a sovereign God who will not conform to our image of what he should be or who we would like him to be.
I remember when I first began to read the Bible seriously. As I read the Old Testament, I was overcome with its sublimity, later horrified by passages such as God’s commands that the Canaanites be slaughtered. I began to realize that God was something “other,” someone far above my comprehension. I realized that I had been constructing God according to my preferences, positing qualities that I liked and ascribing them to the deity I believed in. In effect, I was making God in my image. But the God I was reading about in the Bible, whose energy blasted those who touched the Ark of the Covenant without the mediation of blood, was very different from myself, numinous, holy, and dangerous. And yet He rang true.
I probably never really believed in the vague, domesticated spirit of niceness that I had constructed for myself and found in my humane liberal theology. The real universe, with its danger and consequences and hard edges, such as cancer, shows no trace of having been created by such a sentimental deity. I probably knew, deep down inside, that I was making up a private little religion to make myself feel better, … . But this God I was reading about in the Bible had hard edges. He is absolute, utterly mysterious, and despite all appearances radically righteous. I began to see God in a completely different light, the light of holiness. And I saw myself in the rebellious children of Israel, ungrateful, inconsistent, and idolatrous. (pp. 39-40)
Veith, of course, doesn’t see God as all “hard edges.” He says that
“the reader comes to realize that this God of wrath is also the God of grace, that from the beginning He provided for sacrificial blood to cover His people’s sins, that He came in Jesus, that His wrath is swallowed up in the cross. As we read … we encounter the Law and the Gospel, through which the Spirit works to change our hearts and bind us to Christ.” (p. 39)
*This book is an explanation of Lutheran theology. I find much in common with my understanding of biblical Christianity, but also several important points of difference.
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05.05.07
Posted in Reading, Scripture, Theology at 8:07 pm by Anthony
Tomorrow I’ll be talking about doubt. I came across the following story which, though it didn’t end up in the sermon, I thought was worth sharing.
Missionary Gracia Burnham, who was held captive by terrorists in the Philippines for more than a year and whose husband was killed during the rescue, writes:
Sometimes I wonder, Why did Martin die when everyone was praying he wouldn’t? Why does Scripture lead you to believe that if you pray a certain way, you’ll get what you pray for? People all over the world were praying that we’d both get out alive, but we didn’t.
Her questions made her realize it isn’t always easy to comprehend God’s nature:
I used to have this concept of what God is like, and how life’s supposed to be because of that. But in the jungle, I learned I don’t know as much about God as I thought I did. I don’t have him in a theological box anymore. What I do know is that God is God—and I’m not. The world’s in a mess because of sin, not God. Some awful things may happen to me, but God does what is right. And he makes good out of bad situations.
Corrie Cutrer, “Soul Survivor,” Today’s Christian Woman (July/Aug 2003), p. 50
Incidentally, I’ve heard Gracia Burnham speak about how, during t heir capativity, they were greatly encouraged by the broadcasts of World Christian Broadcasting. This is a shortwave ministry sponsored primarily by Churches of Christ. I’ve been able to do some writing for them over the past few years.
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05.03.07
Posted in Blogging, Family at 11:06 pm by Anthony
The Parker family has a new family blog, The Journey Home, found at parkerfamily.wordpress.com. This will combine the previous version of Clay Pot Journal, as well as Maureen’s long-unused Maureen’s Musings, which have both been imported into the new site. (Hopefully she will post at our new site with a little encouragement from her friends!)
I’ll continue to post reflections here, and the new site will be more family related. So surf on over and follow our family’s journey!
By the way, if any of you in the church have personal sites that you’d like to have linked here, just let me know!
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04.29.07
Posted in Mission, News at 6:58 am by Anthony
My friend Marshall Coffey, minister at the Anson Church of Christ, sent me this link to Pearls Before Breakfast, a Washington Post article about a world-famous classical violinist who performed in a Washington, D.C. subway station. How do people respond to beauty and grace when it is unscheduled and free? The article is lengthy, but well-worth time to read. If you do, you’ll be reflecting on it for days to come. (If your internet connection permits, view the videos and listen to the audio.)
How does the church preach and embody a message of grace in a culture that may be too self-absorbed to receive it?
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04.27.07
Posted in Family at 6:55 am by Anthony
I’ve been enjoying Philip Kenneson’s book Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community. In the chapter on joy, he talks about how manufactured desire, desires that we didn’t know that we had until someone told us, get in the way of joy.
A paragraph I read this morning reminded me of a couple of experiences this week. We do not get the newspaper and so often miss out on all the sales. Of course, this means that we almost never go shopping and so we end up spending much less money. We are trying to do some home improvement and were told that Lowe’s sometimes runs some specials that we might be interested in. I decided to buy Wednesday’s newspaper since it is of often ad-thick, but by the time I got to the Prairie Star–our local convenience store where I could pick up a paper–they were all sold out. I thought it was quite telling that there is such a demand–including mine–to buy advertising.
Much advertising comes to us “free”, usually in the form of junk mail. It’s not really free–the costs are built into the things we buy. We prefer to shop for groceries close to home, although we do sometimes incorporate a stop at the Evil Empire with other trips to the big city 30+ miles away. Our local grocery store sends out a weekly circular so we can shop the specials, and if we do, we can pay even less than at the Stuff Mart. The problem is, to get the special prices, you have to have your “Thank You” card which allows their computer to keep up with who is buying what. And it doesn’t always work; more than once we’ve gotten home and realized that we were charged the regular price. We’re just tight enough that we usually go back to reclaim the few dollars difference.
Jeremy is looking over my shoulder as I type this and asked, “Why are you just writing about shopping?” Why indeed? It’s all to introduce this quote from Kenneson’s book, which I think deserves our attention:
We might also consider carefully the impact of leafing through the advertising circulars and mail-order catalogs that arrive daily in our mailboxes. How many times have we found ourselves “needing” something immediately after thumbing through these ads and finding out that this or that (previously unnecessary or even unknown) product was “on sale”? I suspect that the advertisers are more than happy for us to feel as if we are doing ourselves some favor by buying at a discount something that only minutes before we didn’t need at all. Perhaps it would be a small step in the right direction if we determined not to peruse these instruments of desire unless we had already determined what it was that we needed. (p. 80)
Kenneson’s suggestion is not so much about saving money as it is about keeping manufactured desire from robbing us from the contentment and joy that we should find in the abundance of blessings that we already possess, most of which are not for sale, not even at the Evil Empire.
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04.24.07
Posted in Scripture, News at 6:54 pm by Anthony
Today I read a news story that quoted one politician who pretended to take the moral high road by saying, “I’m not going to get into a name-calling match with someone who has a 9 percent approval rating,” and then went on to refer to the object of his disdain as an “attack dog.”
Ever done that? “I’m not going to call names,” and then proceed to do so. I’m sure I have. Or, “I’m only telling this because I’m concerned.” Or, “You might want to pray about this … .” Or any of the countless ways that I slide in a verbal dig to build myself up or put someone else down. (Aren’t they they the same thing?)
The Bible has a lot to say about our words. Among the most helpful is James 1:19, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry…” (TNIV).
“I don’t want to call names…,” then don’t.
“I don’t want to gossip…,” then don’t.
“I don’t want to hurt your feelings…,” then don’t.
Quick to listen. Slow to speak. No name calling.
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04.20.07
Posted in Reading, Mission at 7:25 am by Anthony
After being a Christian all of my life, I find it amazing that I’m still working on answering the very fundamental question “What is the gospel?” As a child I was taught that the gospel consisted of “facts to be believed and commands to be obeyed.” When I was in college students and teachers debated whether the gospel consisted of all biblical teachings or “the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.” For a long time I accepted the shorter version, but as I’ve gotten to know Jesus better, I’ve found a lot of gospel — the good news of the kingdom — operating long before Jesus made it to the cross. Yesterday, in a commentary on Matthew by Stanley Hauerwas, I came across this statement.
That he [Jesus] must go to those in neeed indicates that the gospel is not and cannot be a set of beliefs. The gospel is the man, and this man must encounter actual men and women in order to call them into the community of the new age. Evangelism is people meeting and coming to know people. … A church that is not a missionary church is not a church. The book of Acts witnesses to the necessity for disciples of Christ to, like Jesus himself, be on the move. (p. 103)
Is the gospel a set of beliefs or a person? Or a set of beliefs about a person? Or a relationship with a person? Hauerwas’s point, and I think it’s a good one, seems to be that people whose lives are shaped by the gospel will be in relationship with people who need good news, who need Jesus, and that the gospel/Jesus cannot be shared apart from relationships. If the gospel is information, answering the question “What must I do to be saved?,” then that information can be conveyed without relationship. But when the jailor asked that question, Paul and Silas went to his home and shared with his family — in the context of real-life relationships, how “believing on the Lord Jesus Christ” was to be lived out. If lives are to be transformed, then it must happen through life-on-life sharing.
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