A new era of computing

You have got to watch this video and tell me what you think.

Ministry Commercialism

There are many movies that lend themselves to creating commercial opportunities beyond the movie itself. One obvious movie is Shrek the Third. A certain fast food company is hawking the dolls and other paraphernalia associated with the movie. The kids just have to have this stuff. And while the family is eating a quick meal it's no big deal to add a couple of dolls to the tab. So movies often bring in more than just ticket sales. Not a bad day for capitalism. From a business standpoint it's actually a pretty good move.

I don't know if this is a trend but it appears that some movies may be doing the same thing for church ministries. A new movie, Evan the Almighty, is due out June 22. It's about a guy who is chosen by God to build an ark because a flood is coming (Wait a minute, didn't God promise that He wouldn't destroy the world again by a flood? So why is He reneging His promise?). The trailers for the movie appear quite funny. I'm actually thinking of going to see it just to see what happens. Morgan Freeman plays God (he also played God in Bruce Almighty - interesting!). Anyway, here is a link about obtaining paraphernalia from the movie for your ministry. What do you think? Is this a trend?

Memorial Day at Epcot

This Memorial Day we met our friends (Doug and Leslie Thatcher) from the Tabernacle congregation at Epcot. They come down to Disney a couple of times a year. They have friends in the Kissimmee - Judy and Ed. Eventually Doug and Leslie hope to move here (maybe two years). Anyway, we had a great time. The highlight of the day was the Gary Puckett concert. He had three half hour concerts. We got to the first two. Epcot's Test Track was waiting for us during his third concert. After the second concert we got to meet him, get an autograph, and take a picture. What a great guy he is! He still has a set of pipes on him (even at 65). I brought the liner notes from his greatest hits CD that I have for him to autograph. During his first concert he did a tribute to the vets in the audience. He had them stand in order for everyone to acknowledge them. Then he sang a song called "Home" which I had never heard. It was about a soldier wanting to go home and praying for the folks back home. It was a moving tribute and a great song. His music is still groovy!

Hey, I got a promotion!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: The Right Reverend Robert the Subservient of Puddleston St Droop Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Lisa had a quirky thing at her blog. So I tried it. And now I'm a "Right Reverend!" I hope by next year I can take this test and become "The Holy Right Reverend." Then after that become "The Most Holy Right Reverend." I hope a pay raise comes with this promotion. But my biggest question is where is Puddleston St Droop?

Helping the Helper

I received an email from Tim Westbrook (Associate Director for Institute for Church & Family) telling me about an upcoming event called "Helping the Helper" on June 5-8 at Harding University. Tim claims the following:

The Institute for Church & Family would like to invite you to attend our
Helping the Helper seminar in June 5-8. We will cover your lodging and food
here on Harding's campus.

He also gives the following as a description of the seminar:

"In conjunction with Marriage and Family Therapy, we will host a seminar
designed to teach ministers and youth ministers how to reach out to those in
their communities who are hurting emotionally and mentally. All instructors
are licensed counselors with years of experience.

"The seminar is fluid dealing with sexual abuses, divorce, death, marriage,
mental abuse, mediation, etc."

He says that if anyone is interested they should contact Penny Light at 501-279-4660. Tim's email is twestbrook@harding.edu and the web site is http://www.churchandfamily.net/

I have been to their web site but couldn't find further information. This seems to be an interesting offering in light of the revelations of sexual abuse in the church by ministers in recent times. Does anyone know about this?

Trey's a College Graduate!

Simply Christian

How many of us have taught "first principles" classes in our churches? N. T. Wright's latest offering Simply Christian is an attempt to be sort of a first principles kind of book. It is following in the footsteps of C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I've been reading NT Wright for several years now and I've never thought to associate the words "simple" or "simply" with his writings. He is one of the deepest thinkers I've known even though he rarely uses big words. I never need a dictionary in reading him. This latest book continues that trend for me at least.

The book is divided into three sections. He follows a pattern similar to Lewis. The first section discusses four longings that Wright believes are universal to all humanity. He weaves these longings into the rest of the book to show that Christianity does make sense because it answers those longings. The second section of the book is about the Godhead and how God fulfills those longings. The third and last section concerns living out the image we find in the second section.

I had trouble reading the first section. Perhaps because it is Wright's reflection on how he sees the world. I knew what he was doing but still found it hard to follow. The second section was easier reading but the third was where I found myself slowing down and trying to take in every word. Maybe that's just me.

Wright states in his forward that he is writing for those inside and outside Christianity. Indeed the subtitle of his book is "Why Christianity Makes Sense." On the back of the dust cover is the recommendation of several well-known authors. Yet I don't think that these recommendations will tell others whether or not Wright's book has really accomplished his purpose. It seems to me that the publisher should have set up some kind of focus group that included a wide range of people inside and outside of Christianity. Then select recommendations from those groups for the dust cover. That would tell us if he really accomplished his purpose.

An interesting development is that Touchstone Magazine is featuring an article by Wright about C. S. Lewis's book Mere Christianity. You can read it online here. It is entitled aptly Simply Lewis. Then if you like you can join in a discussion about Wright's comments on their blog (here).
Wright brings up some interesting points about Lewis and Mere Christianity that I didn't know (of course I am not a Lewis scholar or avid fan, just a causal fan). I think it is well worth reading and will perhaps add to your understanding of Wright's book as well as Lewis's book.

I really believe that Wright's book is a valuable addition to a preacher's library. For me the highlight of the book was his brief section on baptism (p.212-215), . I started emphasizing some years ago that baptism was a participation (and identification with) by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in my invitations. I think that is the intent of baptism. Wright's discussion of baptism has really added to my understanding of baptism and its place in the proclamation of the gospel.

The interesting part of the book was his chapter on the New Creation. I was intrigued by his view that we are going to live on a redeemed earth when all is said and done. At this point I'm not sure about the whole discussion (you can go to Bobby Valentine's blog for a discussion from his perspective on the new creation - Bobby like Wright has some interesting points to make). However, Wright didn't really deal with the tension in the NT between the idea of a redeemed and liberated creation (Romans 8:18-25) and the idea that our citizenship is in heaven (Php.3:20-21). I have no doubt that part of God's redemption is restoring creation back to its original state. I'm just not sure whether that means we are going to inhabit it. What I do know is that we will be in eternal fellowship with God in a spiritual bodily state (1Cor.15:42-49) when all is said and done. I'm not sure this is an appropriate topic for new Christians. It will definitely be tough to teach it as Wright does in some of our congregations or even present it as a possibility. I think that is a pretty heady topic but I do understand why he included it.

All in all a good book. It will be valuable as resource material for those teaching first principle classes. It also serves as a reminder to the rest of us as to the general flow and content of the Bible. He seeks to take all the additional stuff religious people have added over the years and boil it down to what is simple and important.

Florida is for Lovers

We were introduced to a recurring phenomena last September here in Florida, love bugs. These crazy bugs emerge twice a year (late April,early May, and then September) to mate. Some of the locals call this "Fly United" season. I thought about calling this post "Love is in the air" in order to get a musical theme in.

These pests apparently migrated from parts west (Louisiana) to Florida. They are seen from South Carolina to Florida. If you want to read a little more about them click here. Last Thursday I got out my lawn mower but the bugs were so thick that I decided to wait until later. It is at times like this when I think God has a great sense of humor.

Public reading of Scripture Part II

While doing my senior thesis at Rochester College I came across this fascinating article in Interpretation Magazine by Donald Juel (Interpretation: Essays on Bible and Theology, January 1997, "The Strange Silence of the Bible," Donald Juel, p.5-19). The strange silence to which the article title refers is the lack of public reading in the assembly. Juel isn't talking about following a lectionary schedule, but rather practicing reading the Scriptures out loud for effect. Words are powerful and can be very powerful when spoken in the right way.

Juel actually makes two points in his article. First, the Bible was created to be read aloud (p.7). He maintains that part of this reason is that the Bible was created in a culture that was oral in nature. So even though we have a written text it is still meant to be read aloud. He mentions a time when the Gospel of Mark was "performed" in public. He noticed that the audience laughed on occasion. The reader knew how to dramatically portray the situation so that the audience not only heard what the text said, but heard the way in which Jesus might have spoken. The audience actually heard the exasperation in Jesus' voice from the text.

His second point is that we preachers (or teachers) haven't done our exegesis properly unless we read the text out loud (p.6). He gives three examples of texts where the reading might be done differently so that the audience will see something different in the text than what they normally see (Luke 15:11-32; Mark 15:39; Mark 4:1-20). In particular is the passage in Mark 15:39 where the centurion looks at the cross and claims that Jesus must have been God's son. A student in one of Juel's class suggested the text be read sarcastically. Of course that reading affected the way the class looked at the text and it's meaning. I haven't read out loud of late, but for a time I practiced this and found it to be helpful in my study each week. I would read the text aloud several times and from several translations. I tried to alter the way in which I read it each time.

I experienced this idea of reading the text out loud in public while we were in Tabernacle, NJ. One year we wanted to emphasize reading our Bibles daily in one year. So we kicked off the year on New Year's Eve by gathering at the building (in the old auditorium) and for two hours we read out loud from Genesis 1 to 25. As each man read a chapter I noticed that the text seemed to come more alive for me. It was better when a little inflection was added but still the over all effect was grand. Then on the fifth Wednesday during the rest of the year we read for services instead of our usual class. I would choose our section (Psalms, Gospels, and other sections) and assign the readings. I really loved that time. I would hear new things in the text I hadn't heard before. What a powerful experience.

One of the down sides to this is that we live in a society that is tied to the clock. One of my teachers at Sunset (can't remember which one - maybe Richard Rogers) used to say we were "clock-eyed." To really be effective we need more time in our assemblies to hear the word read out loud. If a congregation will take the time to listen, they will be hooked.

Interesting!

Anthony Esolen, editor of Touchstone Magazine and a Catholic, was invited to speak at Faulkner University. You can read about his impressions of the university and his reception here. It is fascinating to read about the contact that other individuals and groups have with us. Perhaps our reputation is not as bad here in the South as some claim it to be. Esolen was invited by the Great Books program to speak about Dante's Purgatory. Only the first paragraph of his post is about Faulkner, the rest is about some other experiences he had recently with other groups.

Public reading of Scripture

Paul wrote to Timothy (1Timothy 4:13):

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. (NIV & TNIV)

Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. (NASB)

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. (ESV)

Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (NKJV & KJV)

It is interesting to me first that the word "Scripture" doesn't appear in this text yet several translations put it in assuming that is what Paul means when he tells Timothy to devote himself to reading. Only the KJV and the NKJV leave it out. I don't have any doubt that we should assume in interpreting this text that Paul is telling Timothy to pay attention to reading the Scriptures publicly to the gathered church.

What I would like to know is why in our fellowship (Churches of Christ for those of you who may not know my background) we did not include this as one of the acts of the assembly? It seems pretty obvious to me that reading of Scripture was approved in Scripture and practiced by the early church (and even in the Old Testament). This is why lectionaries developed. I have the church where I serve now (and churches in the past) read my text for preaching just before the sermon. But I have not talked them into reading a text or text's as part of a pattern.

I have several questions for all of you who may come by.

1. Does your congregation have Scripture reading as part of your worship service apart from reading the text for preaching?
2. What pattern do you use for reading Scripture? Do you use a lectionary or some other way of choosing the text or texts to be read?
3. Was this a part of the congregation's worship service before you came? If not was it difficult for you to have them start doing it? How did you convince them they should have reading of Scripture as a regular part of the assembly?
4. How is the reading working out? Have you noticed a difference in the congregation?
5. Are you working on developing this as a part of your assembly?

I think I like this!

You Are Mexican Food

Spicy yet dependable. You pull punches, but people still love you.

What Kind of Food Are You?

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You're friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

I took this quiz over at Lisa's blog and these are my results. I'm pleased. Considering my post yesterday the first result is understandable. I like what kind of cookie I am since that is my absolute favorite cookie. Loni and I bake really good chocolate chip cookies. In fact we have doug in the refrigerator right now and will probably make some tonight (we ate up the home made ice cream last night). Still how can you tell what kind of food or cookie you are from just five questions? I guess this is a part of blogging, silly stuff on occasion. So take the quiz and have some fun.