Kneading Bread

The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale posted the following video.

I think the gist is more along the lines of “why shouldn’t it be preached today.”

He it was who changed the setting into a rising, and crucified death into life; who having snatched man out of the jaws of destruction raised him to the sky, transplanting corruption to the soil of incorruption, and transforming earth to heaven. [...] Let us obey God when He exhorts us; let us learn about Him, that He may be gracious; let us render Him (though he is in need of nothing) a recompense of gratitude for His blessings, as a kind of rent paid to God for our dwelling here below.

Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeks (LCL vol. 92, p. 245.)

A video montage to get you thinking about what it really is to cherish Jesus:

From Videos About Money via Desiring God Blog

The Japanese culture has an inner group and outer group. “Many Japanese Christians are finding ways through the Alpha Course and through cell groups and through other ministries to expand their inner group — to make room in their lives for meaningful relationships with non-Christians. And in those relationships, the Lord is doing a great work.”

There are other issues preventing massive church growth, however. Clark says, “People are very committed to their traditions. Even though many Japanese people are not actively spiritual, they are not willing to step outside of their family’s commitment to Buddhist and Shinto traditions.”

Well worth the read, I hope someday to contribute to the work of the Gospel there.

Oh, the sweet exchange! Oh, the inexpressible creation! Oh, the unexpected acts of beneficence! That the lawless deeds of many should be hidden by the one who was upright, and the righteousness of one should make upright the many who were lawless! Since he clearly demonstrated in the former time that we could not possibly, by our very nature, obtain life, and since he now revealed the savior who has the power to save even what is powerless-for both reasons he wanted us to believe in his kindness, to consider him our nurse, father, teacher, counselor, physician, mind, light, honor, glory, strength, and life, and to have no concern over what to wear or eat.

Epistle to Diognetus, 9:5-6

“What Have We Done?” as performed by The Northern Conspiracy on Good Friday (April 6th, 2007) at MHC | Shoreline.

This was performed at Mars Hill Church (Seattle) on Good Friday, although a little repetitive it does a good job of looking deep within and admitting honestly the reality of our Christ-following.

Oh my soul, Oh my Jesus. Judas sold you for thirty, I’d have done it for less.

Oh my soul, Oh my Savior. Peter denied you three times, I have denied you more.

As the nails went in, I was standing right there.

As you breathed your last, I shook my head and I cried.

Oh my God, what have we done. We have destroyed your son (x2)

Oh my soul, Oh my Jesus. Judas sold you for thirty, I’d have done it for less.

Oh my soul, Oh my Savior. Peter denied you three times, I have denied you more.

And the blood ran down, and I was standing right there

And the water poured, I shook my head and I cried.

Oh my God, what have we done. We have destroyed your son (x4)

(repeat v. 1)

Today’s Taste and See article from John Piper addresses the recent Supreme Court ruling on partial birth abortions, it has this (hopefully prophetic, that we are indeed “waking up”) quote:

This use of catch phrases is surely tired. “Right to choose.” “Equal rights for women.” The grandchildren of the sixties are waking up to the vagueness and danger of those phrases. Right to choose what? Anything? All laws that protect children limit the rights of moms (and dads) to choose. You can’t choose to starve them. You can’t choose to lock them in closets for three weeks. You can’t choose to abandon them. You can’t choose to strangle them five minutes after they are born.

Read more (includes an emotionally rough quote from Justice Kennedy)

The single most impacting individual on my (young) theological mind passed away last night, I had hoped to meet him in person, but I will have to wait.

From Lee Irons (via ref21):

Today I learned that my favorite seminary professor passed away peacefully last night after a long illness. He taught me much about the covenantal and typological structure of the Scriptures. Most of all I will miss his sweet joy and his childlike trust in the inheritance-earning merit of Christ. It is wonderful to know that his longing to imbibe the glory of God in the New Jerusalem is already beginning to be satisfied. Though now asleep in Jesus, he will rise in the parousia-day of Christ, changed into his indoxated likeness.

The National Council of Churches has released their Yearbook for 2007, listing the membership and change in membership of the largest churches in the US. It is an interesting read and has some notable takeaways:

1. Most of the Churches you’ll see in my region are decreasing (Methodist, ELCA, PCUSA, Episcopal Church, UCC)
2. The largest year-to-year increase was by the Orthodox Church in America, with a whopping 6.4% increase
3. Most churches don’t report their membership yearly, and their numbers are estimated (and therefore suspect, in my opinion.)

Enjoy the press-release here

Like some sick and twisted death-match on late night Spike TV, both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church are struggling to define the role of homosexuals within both the congregational life and in pastoral life - with liberals and conservatives occupying trenches equally deep and well planned. I’m not here to comment on that sad affair that is literally killing the churches mission (can you imagine how much these denominations could accomplish if they would talk
about something else at their annual meetings?), but rather I want to point out something obvious that vexes me about these institutions. These are both national churches, attempting to define the agendas for a whole country’s worth of believers – something I believe is antithetical to the entire purpose of the church from creation.

The church, at the most basic level is the group of people within which God has chosen to send his Spirit. This church is a highly personal group of interrelated individuals who seek to become more as God would have them be, and less like the world (and their own sinful ways) would have them be. They are a community at odds with the structure of power and authority, a quiet, but revolutionary counter-culture (in the purest sense.) These national churches, distracted (like the character Hyacinth
Bucket in the BBC’s Keeping Up Appearances) with presenting a facade to the press and the hypothetical alienated non-attender (insert likely, white, upper-middle class, college-educated) have missed the whole point in being the church and in the process done nothing to staunch the loss of their present members.

While this mess certainly sells newspapers it certainly is also illuminating the fundamental problem with large bureaucratic denominations: Christ-imitation doesn’t work when the faces you deal with are no longer people and God’s word is no longer the defining measure of this world. Power, consolidated in these national bodies, has done a similar corollary to the Church under Constantine… corrupted the mission of Christ. Luther tried to break the choke-hold of an authoritarian central church nearly
five hundred years ago because he saw the mission of Christ go undone, today I see petty centralized power missing the mission of Christ. I believe the collapse of these national churches will occur in my lifetime, and that gives me great hope. These denominations have a rich theological tradition that doesn’t need a national body to acknowledge or continue them, but rather need a people engaged in creating a community of God-lovers and Christ-seekers to continue what Christ and the martyrs have already
done.

Bucket and Jefferts-Schori – Same wardrobe department?

More reading: On Anglican Struggles, On ELCA Struggles 

Full disclosure: Baptized Episcopalian, and a member of an ELCA congregation