The Unforgivable Sin of Presbyterianism

Tonight I preached at The Open Door. All went well - the sermon was fine, the rest of the service worked out alright, no major technical problems. But I made one major mistake: I forgot to read the scripture passage!!

Here's the explanation: Reformed theology says that a prayer of illumination should always come before the scripture reading in a worship service. We do this because we acknowledge that without the Holy Spirit's help, we cannot understand scripture. I, however, in past preaching experiences had fallen into the bad habit last year of always reading the scripture passage, then praying, then moving into the sermon. So tonight I decided to make a conscious attempt to place a prayer for illumination in the correct place. So I prayed before the scripture reading, and then because I'm in the habit of moving straight from the prayer to the sermon, I completely skipped over the scripture reading! I was completely oblivious to this until Eileen tried to explain it to me when we got home tonight. She even tried to interrupt the sermon to tell me to "read the passage". I thought she just meant the verse I was referring to at that particular portion of the sermon, so I re-read verse 25 and moved on. Only now, an hour and a half too late, am I realizing that I actually omitted the core portion of the worship service. John Calvin would role over in his grave. I talked about the Word in my sermon, but failed to read the Word of the Bible. Praise God for grace - now let's hope no hardcore Presbyterian pastoral nominating committees find this out.

For those of you who were there tonight, the full passage was Ephesians 4:17-32 -

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Those who have been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who
listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (TNIV)

Thoughts on Amos Yong's "The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh"

For the past two weeks I've been working my way through Amos Yong's book The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh for my "Readings in the Theology of the Holy Spirit" class. It's my first experience reading Pentecostal theology, and I have to say that I've been quite impressed. It's been a joy to read, and has in many ways been an exercise in learning from the theology of the "other". Last weekend at the Presbymergent event we helped organize at PTS, John Franke gave an incredible lecture about our need to become more multicultural in our theology. In order to be true to the Gospel as it is manifest in various cultures and contexts, we have to decenter traditional Euro-American theology and start learning from other ethnic and cultural and denominational theologies. So, I'm considering this reading a chance to learn from a different part of the Christian tradition - one that makes up the bulk of Christians in the global South today.

Points I appreciate:

• Yong's theology is in dialogue with post-modernity. Rather than taking a modernist or foundationalist approach to theology, Yong privileges scripture, tradition, the community of the church (over individual interpretation), and (obviously) the leading of the Holy Spirit over reason. As a result, truth is contextual to the worshipping community in what he calls a "shifting foundationalism that recognizes all truth claims as historically embedded without having to locate their ground on any one undeniable foundation" (p. 156). Yong's theology is also post-colonial. As an attempt at global theology which embraces the pentecostal traditions in Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia, Yong is working with theology that has grown in the wake of receding imperial power.
• Yong's theology includes a holistic view of salvation, including social justice within the Gospel. On pages 91-98, he lists and discusses the "multidemensionality of salvation" in Christ: personal salvation, family salvation, ecclesial salvation, material salvation, social salvation (subcategorized as racial, class, and gender reconciliation) and cosmic salvation. The cosmic aspect of salvation values Creation, seeing God's redeeming work in Christ as extending to the entire earth. Through examples like that of the Association of African Earthkeeping Churches (see previous post), Yong shows how Pentecostals are recognizing the responsibility we have to shamar the earth, to care for it as we were commanded by God to do. Lastly, this holistic view of salvation shows that Yong (and other Pentecostals like him) are not separating evangelism from social justice. He is careful to show how the Azusa St. Revival in 1906 brought together people of various races in a way which became a distinguishing characteristic of early classical Pentecostalism.
  

Places where I have reservations:

• The hermeneutical privilege of Luke-Acts. Yong treats the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts as the lenses through which all the rest of scripture is read. . . . To what extent can or should we have a canon within the canon? It's safe to say that many Protestants already do practice this to some extent: The principle that scripture is authoritative as it bears witness to Jesus Christ gives privilege to the Gospels in general, placing the teachings of Jesus as the control over all other parts of the Bible. Thus we read the Pentateuch through the lens of the Sermon on the Mount - Jesus' authoritative interpretation of the Law. But can we safely isolate just the Gospel of Luke and its sequel as more authoritative than other Gospels because of the emphasis Luke gives to the Holy Spirit?
• The expectation of charismatic gifts. While this is thought by most outside of Pentecostalism to be the hallmark of the movement, Yong actually does not place too strong an emphasis on charismatic gifts such as speaking in tongues. They are not required for salvation, but at points he does say they are to be expected. If charismatic gifts such as tongues are to be expected, doesn't this place Christians without such gifts in a second-tier? This expectation is also in tension with Yong's own emphasis on ecumenical dialogue and theology; the goal of the book is one sense to provide foundations for a "global theology". Altogether, I would say that this expectation should be read in the light of 1 Corinthians 14, both for the sake of recognizing the function of spiritual gifts and for the sake of ecumenism.

I look forward to finishing the book in the next couple weeks, and may try to post more reflections. (I can already tell that his chapter on other religions is going to inspire some creative thoughts.) More to come . . .

Environmentalist African Pentecostals

Going along with Blog Action Day, I wanted to put up a quick post about an interesting eco-theology phenomenon I just learned about. In my reading for my Theology of the Holy Spirit class, I came across a denomination called the Association of African Earthkeeping Churches. They're a Pentecostal group in South Africa and Zimbabwe that sees the work of Holy Spirit as extending healing to all of Creation. They have a complete eco-theology and even have a liturgy for tree planting ceremonies which is similar to the eucharistic liturgy. Their bishop was quoted as saying, "Deliverance, Mwari [God] says, lies in the trees. Jesus said: 'I leave you, my followers, to complete my work.' And that task is the one of healing! We the followers of Jesus have to continue with this healing ministry. So let us all fight, clothing, healing the earth with trees!" [quoted in Amos Yong; The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh [Baker 2005] p. 62.)

How cool is that?! It may sound strange to some folks, but it at least highlights the importance of caring for Creation. It's encouraging to see evangelical books like this coming out now as well. Perhaps we should take a lesson from our African Pentecostal brothers are serve God by planting a few trees?

Why I'm Excited for the Next Two Weekends . . .

This fall is already turning out to be incredibly busy for me, so much that I'm wondering if I need to drop things to have more free time. The problem is, these are all things that I'm passionate about, especially the things that are happening over the next two weekends:

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Louisville, KY, for a retreat with the Company of New Pastors, a PC(USA) program designed to help seminarians transition into ministry. I'm excited about the trip for two reasons: (1) there are going to be amazing people there from seminaries across the country, and (2) there is built-in "free time" to rest and relax during the weekend.

Next weekend (the 12th and 13th) is also the Presbymergent: Always Reforming conference here at Pittsburgh Seminary. It's going to be a great event, featuring some wonderful people from the Presbymergent community. Plus, I'm going to be leading a fun "unconference" (see here) seminar on Friday night. Here's the description:

"Presbymergent Poetry Party: This is a chance for Presbymergents with proclivities for producing poetry and prose to share our work and ponder the use of creative literary arts in worship. Bring something for a casual open-mic reading, or just come and chat about how we can more creatively use our words to convey the Word."

Registration's still open, just go here!

Songs for Peace

Today is the International Day of Peace, which is supposed to be an day when soldiers observe cease-fires, people of faith pray for peace, and the ideal of peace is held up for the world to see. As a seminarian, this holiday has me thinking a lot about themes of peace in relation to worship, and the difficulty we have integrating the two.

I help lead music for a student-led worship gathering at PTS every Monday morning. Next Monday, the president of the seminary’s Peace and Justice Fellowship is going to be speaking, and she asked specifically to have songs about peace incorporated in the worship service. At our practice yesterday, though, we had quite a difficult time finding songs until we settled on Charlie Hall's “Micah 6:8”. I’ve been a Charlie Hall for a long time, partially because his songs include themes of justice. I also love Derek Webb , whose songs such as “My Enemies Are Men Like Me” and “Love Stronger Than Our Fear” are beautiful expressions of Christ’s call to peace.

The problem is that most of these songs are not written for corporate worship singing. It’s easy to write praise songs about emotional connection to God; it’s much harder to write worship songs about authentic discipleship. Where else can we find genuine worship songs that lift up justice and peace as part of God’s will for the Kingdom? Perhaps we just need to start writing more praise songs that express Jesus’ call for us to be peacemakers and love our enemies. I know there are a few attempts at expressing themes of hope and justice coming up in new music, such as this . Is anyone out there aware of others?

Always Reforming: Emergence in the Presbyterian Church

Last April, in a string of comments on Presbymergent, some other people and I brainstormed the possibility of a special gathering for "Presbymergents" here at Pittsburgh Seminary. Thanks to PSF, Continuing Ed, and a lot of hard work by Brian and BJ that gathering will be . . .

Always Reforming: Emergence in the Presbyterian Church

. . . on October 12th & 13th, 2007, featuring John Franke, Nanette Sawyer, Adam Walker Cleaveland, Brian Wallace, BJ Woodworth, Andrew Purves, Scott Sunquist and a whole host of other amazing pastors, leaders, teachers, and students.

I'm extremely excited about this event - if you're interested in registering, just follow the big link above!

Slowing Down with Poetry Before Ordination Exams . . .

For three weeks, I've been searching for time between traveling and visiting my family to study for my ordination exams. Tomorrow, a few dozen seminarians and candidates for ordination will meet in the Knox room at PTS to take the Theology and Worship ordination exams - six hours of testing, some of which is open book. The next day, we'll take the church polity exam, and then be given a passage to exegete in a paper to be turned in next week. All of this to determine whether or not we are sufficiently educated to become Ministers of Word and Sacrament. I think it's fair to say that it's an intimidating process.

I spent most of today sitting in coffee shops and bookstores reading. Seeking refreshment during a study break, I wandered over to the poetry section of the bookstore I was in. One of my professors at CU used to talk about how we need poetry because it "slows us down." When we are frantically running about, chasing after a hundred tasks at once, the blank space on a page or inverted syntax or clever turn of a poem somehow can calm, slow, and make peaceful our minds. It's one reason why the biblical writers and prophets so often used poetry - it's the natural vehicle of epiphanies. So I decided to slow down. First with a few poems from Wendell Berry's Given and then with a few more from Czeslaw Milosz's Second Space.

Both books struck me with the calm quiet faith that stands behind the writers. Berry's book wrestles with tension between the mourning of death and the hope of resurrection. Milosz examines the process of growing old, naturally turning toward faith. And in the face of death, both writers words are filled with peace. Their lessons reminded me of the need to slow down, reflect, and savor life as a gift - a challenge when studying for the tests that impact the rest of my life. This week I've felt a need to be prepared spiritually as well as intellectually for these tests. I don't know how possible this is, but I want to go into these tests with a worshipful and prayerful attitude. So, while I will study a bit more, prayer and now some poetry will also accompany my preparations, and I pray that God will settle the nervous hearts of everyone else who will be taking these tests tomorrow.

"May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us -
yes, establish the work of our hands."
-Psalm 90:17 TNIV -

Travels in August . . . Family, Wine, Guitars, and Music for the Emerging Church

The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of traveling all across the country as I'm trying to enjoy one month of freedom between the end of CPE and the beginning of my last year of seminary. First I went back to Colorado, where I preached twice - once in the Eckert Presbyterian Church, which was founded by my great grandfather nearly a century ago, and once in Delta Presbyterian Church, the church I grew up attending. I also spent a lot of time visiting family. Every time I go back to Colorado, I come back with something new that I've learned about members of my family. This time I found out that one of my great-aunts grew up in Pittsburgh, and that one of my dad's cousins had been the first female moderator of her Presbytery. While I knew she was very active in the Presbyterian church, I had no idea how much work she had done at the presbytery level until this most recent visit. Anoher highlight from Colorado was visiting some of the wineries in my home county with my dad and uncle John. Western Colorado has been gaining a reputation as a wine-growing region for the past few years, and I have to say that the wines we tried there were definitely higher quality than some of the ones that Eileen and I tried in Erie on our anniversary trip. My personal favorites were from Alfred Eames Cellars (which is owned and operated almost single-handedly by an amazing guitarist who used to play in a band with the woman who taught me to play guitar), and Jack Rabbit Hill, which produces some incredible organic red wine.

After that trip, Eileen and I came back to Pittsburgh for three days, then drove to Bethlehem, PA, to visit my mom and her side of the family. Our time there was packed as well, as we took trips to the beach in New Jersey, watched my newest baby cousin be baptized, and toured the Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth. At Martin, I was amazed to see how much expert work goes into building a guitar. It struck me as an incredible metaphor for how fragile yet beautiful life is in general (perhaps a topic for a later blog post . . .). At the end of the tour Eileen and my mom and I went into a special room where they let you try out some of Martin's finest guitars. Out of the five or six I tried, there was one in particular which I just fell in love with. The D-45 Koa has officially become my dream guitar . . . at the startling price of $9599!! I will never be able to afford that, nor could I in good conscience justify spending that much on a guitar for myself, but it just sounded so good.

Last of all - I have to put in a quick ad for two new cds that are coming out. First is the new Caedmons Call cd, which will feature again their former band-member and one of my all-time favorite musicians Derek Webb. The second cd that I'm excited about is Songs for a Revolution of Hope vol. 1: Everything Must Change. As the Brian McLaren's preface on the website explains, the cd is designed to present worship songs that reflect themes of justice and hope, rather than individualistic me-centered Christianity. I've often wondered why there wasn't a more explicit connection between the emerging church movement and musicians such as Enter the Worship Circle who so obviously share common values. Part of the reason this cd excites me so much is that connection is being made. Plus, it features some of our favorite artists from Boulder - Aaron Strumpel and The Blackthorn Project. I started listening to Aaron Strumpel last year when he did a cd in the Enter the Worship Circle "Chair and Microphone" series - it's filled with raw, beautiful, simple, emotional, and intense songs of lament. As for the Blackthorn Project, Tim and Laurie used to be members of our favorite local band in college: "Newcomers Home". We were sad when Newcomers disbanded, but Blackthorn's music is amazing as well, and much more bluegrass than Newcomers were. I hope someday to use their hymn arrangements in church . . . . Anyway - thank you for reading so far in this long post, buy these cds and support these amazing musicians. Amen!

CPE & The Problem With Clinical Distance

A few years ago, a spot appeared on my right foot. It would bleed, just a little bit, leaving spots on my socks. Over time, it got worse. No amount of bandaids and neosporin led it to heal, and after a few weeks, it actually seemed to be growing. It bled more, but it also turned into a little mound, a lump. Thinking it was either cancer or stigmata, I decided to go to the doctor. I made an appointment at the student health center of my college and showed up expecting a full diagnosis and prescription for treatment. Instead, the intern who examined my foot sat six feet away from me, on the other side of the room, squinting at my foot through her thick glasses. After a moment, I asked if she wanted to see it closer-up. She ignored my question and simply said, "Well, it looks like a wart, but warts don't bleed."

That was it. No ideas on what it was, where it came from , or how to care for it. All that medical training sure went a long way.

What went wrong? She wouldn't get close enough to see my wound. As I've gone through CPE this summer, I've realized how important it is to get close to people emotionally and spiritually to effectively minister to their wounds. The professors at my seminary who taught my pastoral care class talked about how empathy and compassion are impossible for anyone but Christ. I do believe this is true, but I've discovered that I honestly use it as a cop-out to avoid truly getting close to people in my life. I've long savored the depiction of God given in Psalm 139 as the only One who knows everything about me, but I'm learning that this image of God was never meant to prevent us from experiencing intimacy with other people as well. My biggest struggle with CPE this summer, and in turn where I am growing the most through the program, is that it's making me less afraid to get close to other people's pain, and in turn I'm growing less afraid to show other people my pain. It's interesting that what I've talked about here more in terms of ministry and mission is really teaching me about authenticity and how genuine ministry and mission can't be done without authenticity.

In the end my foot ended up being ok. I went to a podiatrist who, after a much more careful analysis, said "Well, I don't know what that is, but I can cut it out of there for you, if you'd like." Trusting her expertise this time, I agreed. The mini-surgery took place that day, in a couple weeks my foot was healed, and I've never had a similar problem since then. I never found out what the source of the bleeding spot was and I never knew what to make of it until now. Surely ministry is both more effective and more rewarding when you're next to someone instead of squinting at them from across the room.

Help Kensington & The Simple Way

Two days ago, a seven-alarm fire destoryed a large warehouse in the Kensington nieghborhood of Philadelphia, home to The Simple Way. The fire and its aftermath left eight families homeless, did other damage to the neighborhood, consumed all the belongings of two of The Simple Way's members, and destroyed the facilities of the after-school program run by The Simple Way. More information and details, including pictures, are available on their website. Please consider donating to help provide relief for the members of the community and for the The Simple Way - this is an incredible chance to take tragedy and turn it into something that shows Christ's love for the world!!

CPE as a Missional Experience

A lot of people I talk to see CPE as a hoop to jump through on the the way to ordination - some sort of extra hurdle that ministry preparation committees place in front of seminarians as a nightmarish hazing ritual.

For me, that is (now) not the case.

While my committee on preparation for ministry "strongly recommended" that I complete CPE, and while I wasn't exactly looking forward to an emotionally stressful summer, I'm now learning to love my CPE experience. Part of that love has come from seeing CPE as a chance to be missional in my ministry.

This works two ways. The first is that in visiting the sick we are following Christ's example in mission. Applied to pastoral care in a hospital, Thomas Oden wrote "As God himself came to visit and redeem his people (Luke 1:68), so we go on behalf of God's Son to visit and share that redemption in our own arena of service" (Pastoral Theology p. 171). For a Christian to walk into a sick patient's room, unexpected and likely unwelcomed, is to literally follow Christ in the incarnational way in which he visited us. Nevertheless, we are called to do this. In John 20:21, Jesus says to his disciples, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." We are sent into the world with a mission to participate in God's redeeming work, and every part of a Christian's vocation has potential to be a part of that mission. This summer, I am learning to participate in God's mission through the emotionally trying but incredibly rewarding practice of CPE.

Second, we are promised not just that we follow Christ in visiting the sick, but that we meet Christ in the experience. In Matthew 25:34ff., Jesus is speaking about the final judgment and he says:

34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (ESV, italics added)

There Jesus is, hidden in the skin of the oppressed, the sick, the hungry, and the imprisoned. Do we grasp the incredible power of this idea as a practical spirituality? I didn't until this summer, and after three weeks of CPE, I'm still just beginning to. So now I go to CPE each day expecting to see Christ in the patients whom I visit. Often, I find that I leave patients' rooms having been ministered to by them as much I sought to minister to them.

One last thought: Four years ago, I spent a summer in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where I taught English and did relational evangelism with Thai, Buddhist, college students. Though I did not then and still do not feel called to a career as an overseas mission worker, that summer transformed my life. In the same way, though I do not feel called to chaplaincy as my specific ministry in life, I know this summer will change me as well. There's something about living in a different culture, being immersed in community, and engaging in service for Christ, all for a short period of time, that opens the doors for the Holy Spirit to transform lives. I look forward to seeing what sort of mischief God will be up to this summer and in months to come as I process the whole experience!

Father's Day Prostate Cancer 5K

On Father's Day, Eileen and I will be running in a 5K race here in Pittsburgh to raise money for Prostate Cancer research. Most people are familiar with the Race for the Cure for breast cancer, which functions in a similar way. This particular race is especially important to us, though, because I have an uncle who is a prostate cancer survivor and we want to support efforts to help more men like him fight against this cancer. If you're at all able to donate, please click here. Thanks!!

Outlook Article

For anyone who's interested, an article I wrote for the Presbyterian Outlook is available at The Miracle of Preaching. (Thanks for the compliment, Reformed Catholic!)

Five Days in Colorado . . .

As I typed this, I was sitting in the Denver airport, on my way back to Pittsburgh after spending five days back in Colorado. In addition to visiting with my family, admiring the mountains, and sipping 1554 (one of my favorite New Belgium brews), I spent time with my Presbytery’s Committee on Preparation for Ministry and was approved as a candidate for ordination in the PC(USA) . The whole time was refreshing and encouraging – a true retreat which I desperately needed at this time.

First, this trip really gave me the confirmation that I needed to know I’m headed on the right path to be ordained in the Presbyterian Church. During the three and a half hour flight from Pittsburgh to Denver on Wednesday night I read Tim Conder’s chapter in Emergent Manifesto of Hope. This essay on “The Existing Church / Emerging Church Matrix” gave me a framework in which I could better understand my identity as a Presbyterian with interest in conversation of the emerging church. Conder suggests three practices for building mutual credibility between emerging and existing church structures. The second of these three is a “less selective appropriation of history” (p. 105), where Conder suggests that the emerging church dialogue should feel free to draw upon the theologians of the Reformation. Up until reading this, I had felt as though there was little way to bridge the elements of the Presbyterian tradition which I do affirm and the new context of the emerging church. Of course I recognize the limits of modernist theology and would critique much of Calvin, but now I see space for me to discuss the elements of Presbyterian theology which I think do lend themselves to the emerging church. Those will be discussed in later blog posts.

Second, and this actually has to do with my time in Colorado, I love my Committee on Preparation for Ministry. Mary, our moderator, puts in hours upon hours to make the experience both enjoyable and fruitful for the inquirers and candidates and this weekend was both. My care team was very encouraging and affirmed the calling I felt to work with young adults or college students, possibly even in the context of a church-plant. To my delight they suggested that Eileen and I would be a good fit for a church in a college-town. They also made it clear that I need to learn how to rest – a project which I’ll start working on as soon as finals are over. I especially appreciated time with Tom Hansen, the pastor of First Pres. Grand Junction , whom I look forward to getting to know better. Another new friend is Russel, the youth minister at First Pres Durango. It was refreshing to interact with pastors and seminarians from places other than Pittsburgh – from outside of the traditional Presbyterian bubble that seems to cover so many churches in the city, as well as the seminary.

Third, I learned that I actually have Mennonite ancestors. This was a surprise to me, given that neither I nor my dad knew this before my uncle told us on Saturday, but I’m excited by it. Since coming to Pittsburgh, we’ve meet many Mennonites whom I admire and whose tradition I’ve wanted to learn more about. Now I also have a family connection! My great-grandfather J. A. Hunsicker, who founded the Eckert Presbyterian Church near my hometown, grew up in a Mennonite family. In seminary he was attracted to the Reformed tradition, and the church he pastored in Kansas before moving to Colorado was simply a “Reformed” church. It wasn’t until his arrival in Eckert that the new congregation he pastored there decided it wanted to be affiliated with a Presbyterian denomination. So now that I’ve learned to embrace my Presbyterian heritage, perhaps its time for me to learn more about the Mennonite tradition as well.

That’s all for now – more to follow when I have time, as I process through the events of the past few days. . . .

Earth Day, Hebrew, and Creation-Care

As I've learned Hebrew this year, I've had fun picking up on the various meanings of words that get lost when we translate the scriptures into our own language. One of my favorite words has been shamar. It means to keep, protect, preserve, watch, and guard. Often, the word is used to talk about how God takes care of humanity. Psalm 121 has the most beautiful expression of this idea in verses 5-8: "The LORD watches [shamar] over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep [shamar] you from all harm—he will watch [shamar] over your life; the LORD will watch [shamar] over your coming and going, both now and forevermore." (TNIV).

Another place this word shows up, which is appropriate for the events of this weekend, is in Genesis 2:15: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care [shamar] of it." (TNIV). In this part of the creation story, The Lord tells humanity to shamar the land - to watch over it, protect it, guard it, and keep it. How often we've gone wrong thinking our purpose was to dominate the earth God gave us, when instead we're supposed to be good stewards of it!

Tomorrow is "Earth Day" - a day when environmentally conscious people across our country will join in recognition of the fact that we need to take care of the planet that's been given to us. How many Christian churches, however, will actually celebrate it as a day to care for God's beautiful creation? I just finished watching Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth, and I can say that it is certainly worth your time to see. My friend John has some great reflections on eco-theology posted on his blog, which I would certainly recommend (most were published last August, in a five part series.) For some other reference sites, check out Allegheny Front, a local environmental radio show, and Ideal Bite, which has quick tips on practical things ordinary people can do. May God help us be faithful to shamar this beautiful world!!

(This picture was taken by my wife Eileen on our honeymoon. It's of Peyto Lake, from the Icefields Parkway near Banff. Lakes like this are created by the melting of glaciers on the mountains seen here. When we were in Banff two summers ago, we saw ominous pictures comparing the size of the glaciers decades ago to their current sizes.)

How (Not) To Speak of God

A review which I wrote of Peter Rollins' book How (Not) To Speak of God has been posted at The PTS Logos. Check it out.

Shameless Commercial Plug . . .

Derek Webb has a new CD out and it's fantastic. Check it out at www.theringingbell.com .

Tim Keel, Henri Nouwen, Immagination, and Solitude

The past weekend was an amazingly busy mix of activities where I saw God at work in my life and the world around me. The first was the event hosted by Emergent Pittsburgh on Saturday which was led by Tim Keel, pastor of Jacob's Well, talking about leadership in the emerging church. Sarah Louise talked a little bit about the day on her blog and included a link to an article by Henri Nouwen that Keel recommended. Nouwen's article, titled "Solitude to Community to Ministry articulated much of what I've been feeling this year as I've been so busy with seminary, church work, and the stresses (and joys) of living in community. As Nouwen's article articulates so well, we need time alone with God, to hear God's voice telling us that we are the Beloved, before we can function appropriately in community and ministry. As an introvert, I have discovered this year just how much time I need to spend alone with God in order to maintain my sanity. What I am discovering now, though, is that frustrations with church, with housemates, with school, and so on, are all tied to the fact that I so often fail to listen intentionally to God in silence and in solitude. Silence and solitude. Over spring break I also finished reading 12 Marks of the New Monasticism, the final chapters of which convicted me strongly that I am not disciplined enough in my own "devotional" life. My morning readings of scripture often devolve from times of prayer into times of study, turning my quiet time into just another seminary exercise. My prayer life has grown dry. Altogether, I need to return to a more disciplined time of spiritual formation. I need to create a place where in silence and in solitude I can learn to listen to God's voice. Incidentally, this makes me think I need to read more Nouwen and Merton, but I'm honestly too wary of buying one more book to clutter my nightstand or interrupt the readings I have to complete for school.

And there's the rub: I am being convicted of the fact that I have neglected spirituality and imagination for the sake of the academy, but I won't let go of the academy. Either way, I need silence and solitude, places where I can hear God's voice so that I can stay nourished in lives of community and ministry.

The other point that Tim Keel made which struck me the most was the need for imaginative leadership. I used to be a creative writing major in college, but my love of poetry and fiction has been sapped by dense theology books (which I honestly do also love). I need to seek new ways of opening my imagination up to be creative again. I need to learn how to think in terms of narrative and use narrative in my preaching. I need to reawaken my right-brain.

And again, there's the rub: too many first person singular pronouns.

This need for creativity and a reawakened imagination is obviously tied to the need for more intentional spirituality. I can do none of these things by my own effort, but only by the work of God in me and through me. And that is best realized (at least for me now) in practicing silence and solitude. This doesn't mean that I'm going to ignore my wife or housemates or go join a monastery - it means that I need to change the wake I approach spirituality, the way I pray, read scripture, think and live, both in community and alone.

Tim Keel of course had many other valuable points on Saturday, many about church organization, the story of Jacob's Well and his own time at Denver Seminary. Another point which struck me was the idea of stability - but that will be covered in another post. I thank God for this weekend and for the Holy Spirit's work in all of it.

Remodel

Tired of and bored with the appearance of my blog, I decided to do some remodeling today. It looks a little cooler (at least to me). Also, I finally fixed the misspelling in the title: For the past year, I've lived with the knowledge that I had omitted an iota in poiesis, the Greek word for the process of doing, making, or building, but it took until now for me to fix it. An iota may not seem like much, but it was significant to Jesus (see Matt 5:18 ESV), so it deserves its rightful place in my blog title.

Outsourcing evangelism.

While using my handy Logos software to do a little background study for a paper at school, I came across something disturbing in Nave's Topical Bible. As if I needed a reminder of the negative effects of Christendom models of churches, I was shocked to discover that Nave's has no entry for "Evangelism" in its catalog of Biblical subjects. Instead, the evangelism entry reads, "EVANGELISM. See Minister, Duties of."

Evangelism is part of the pastor's job description because it is a part of every Christian's job description. Instead, most Presbyterian churches I've been a part of operate in a model of church where we still expect unchurched people to magically show up on Sunday morning if God wants to save them. Forget going out to spread the good news of the Kingdom in the world - that's the pastor's job. It seems that many church members outsource their duties as ordinary Christians to the staff of the church. We outsource children to youth pastors. We outsource responsibilities to ensure social justice to mission committees. And as this example blatantly shows, we outsource the work of evangelism to the pastor. All the while, we forget that the job of the pastor is to "equip the saints for ministry" (Eph. 4:12), so that all of the Church, pastors and lay-people, ordained and non-ordained, engage in ministries like evangelism, witnessing to social concerns, and nurturing their own children in faith. I pray that more and more church-members will start to realize their own responsibilities and that God will grant me the grace to lead congregations this way.