How the Protestant Reformation Really Started

In honor of this Reformation Sunday

HT: John Byron

A Prayer for Reformation Sunday

What a heritage you have given to your church, sovereign Lord. We have the gospel in all its truth, and receive the Sacraments according to divine command. Teach us to appreciate that godly persons were willing to sacrifice their lives for these treasures. Keep us in this truth and make us instruments for its preservation for generations to come. Do not let Satan prevail in your church again so that another reformation would be needed. Let us this day rededicate our entire being to that which we have as a sacred trust. We ask this in your name, you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

The Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup 2010.28.239

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

If you discover that a link is not correct, please email me at the above address.

*Thanks to everyone for their email submissions.*

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Monday 10.25.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Tuesday 10.26.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Wednesday 10.27.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Thursday 10.28.10

This week's Best of the Methoblogosphere:

Shane Raynor: Do You Have to Be a Christian to Go to Heaven?

Andrew Thompson: Distributing Qu'rans - A Christian Act?

Truth Is Stranger than Fiction 2010.20: Clowns Are Angry that Politics is Ruining Their Good Name.

Angry Clowns: Don't Call Washington Politics 'a Circus'

Barry Weintraub
AOL News

(Oct. 29) -- You can call Washington a mess. You can call it a farce. But please don't call it a circus.

Clowns, jugglers, carnies and other performers making their living under the big top are frustrated by the state of American politics, but they say it's unfair to compare their business to what's going on inside the Beltway.

"If you look at the history of the American circus, you'll find that it's one of the most efficient and well-run industries in America," says Keith Nelson, also known as Kinko the Clown of the Bindlestiff Family Circus, a New York City-based group that has traveled the world.

"Before you call anyone in Washington a clown, consider how hard a clown works, and that clowns make people happy. And at the very least, do no harm."

Myron the Magnificent, another Bindlestiff performer, says a little tomfoolery is fine for the stage. "It's great for the big top. It's great for Las Vegas," he says. "In Washington, I think they need to use their brains and diplomacy, to make the world a better place."

But if Washington could learn something from the circus, it would be a very simple lesson. "Stop all the fighting," ringmistress Stephanie Monseau says. "Don't take yourself so seriously."

To be sure, the United States isn't the only place where politics is likened to a sideshow. Voters in Brazil recently cast more than 1.3 million votes for Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva, better known as Tiririca the Clown. He received more than twice as many votes as his closest rival in the race to represent the people of Sao Paulo in the Brazilian congress.

Tiririca's simple platform: "It can't get any worse!" And voters clearly agreed.

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Thursday 10.28.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link posted in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Today's reads from the Methoblogosphere:

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Andrew Conard asks, "Is Communion for Christians only?"

Keith McIlwain on why Christians should celebrate Halloween.

Michael Ledbetter is happily persecuted.

It is a time worth celebrating for Greg Milinovich.

Richard Heyduck cogitates on fight, flight, or engage.

Beth Quick posts her notes on the readings for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost.

A brief sermon for a memorial service from Dave Faulkner.

Ken Hagler writes on the end game in the quest for character.

Melissa Cooper is hesitant to say... but she does... when it comes to blogging.

Justice tastes good for Robb McCoy.

Dave Warnock is now an official Girls Brigade Chaplain.

Robert McDowell considers why commitment is important in the Christian faith.

Check Out the New Doctor of Ministry Degree in Wesleyan Practices

Here's a great educational opportunity for pastors and others in church ministry!

From their brochure:

ASHLAND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY (Ashland, Ohio) is pleased to announce the launch of a new track in the Doctor of Ministry degree program in Wesleyan practices, May 2011, under the direction of Dr. Paul Wesley Chilcote. The purpose of this track is to equip students to understand and utilize the Wesleyan heritage effectively in the ongoing ministry and mission of the church and to integrate Wesleyan practices with the dynamics of personal spiritual formation in community and Christian renewal. Courses will be taught by a variety of theologians and practitioners.

Specialization in Wesleyan practices involves a completion of six courses in addition to the proposal and writing seminars of the D.Min. program and a final project. All of the course focus on Wesleyan practices and the way in which they shape contemporary church life and work.

To learn more about the Ashland D.Min. in Wesleyan Practices, contact one of the following people:

Matthew Bevere, D.Min. Interim Director (that would be my brother): mbevere(at)ashland(dot)edu, 419.289.5815.

Wanda Coleman, D.Min. Director of Recruitment: dmin(at)ashland(dot)edu, 419.289.5174.

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Wednesday 10.27.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link posted in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Today's Methodist links of interest:

Kathy Randall is walking where?

Will Rice reviews Bishop Willimon's book This We Believe and The Wesley Study Bible.

Andy Bryan has an election season wish.

There exists a lingering question for Kathy James.

Mark Winter wishes for another hundred years of ministry in the Central Texas Conference of the UMC.

John Meunier has a question for us United Methodists. Why aren't we Catholic?

Nancy Johnson ponders pancakes and pastoral care.

Thoughts on the Wesleyan theology of renovation from Mark Conforti.

Lorna Koskela had a thankful Tuesday.

Drew Mack comments on that pesky infant baptism.

Josh Tinley reflects on the game of the week and God's new ways.

We are a sent people-- a reminder from Joseph Yoo.

Opinion Central Poll 2010.34: Final Results

Is it OK for Christians to observe Halloween?

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Tuesday 10.26.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link posted in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Posts to ponder from the Methoblogosphere:

Bishop William Willimon comments on Birmingham-Southern as a church college.

Bishop Robert Schnase is pleased to announce that fivepractices.org is being redesigned.

Matt Kelley posts a 30 till 30 challenge update.

It's a flu shot fail for Anne Sims.

Jeremy Smith writes on texting and the loss of confrontation skills.

Angela Shier-Jones sounds the call-- "Theology first!"

Some thoughts from Jim Parsons on large churches, small churches, and renewal in the UMC.

Becca Clark on Pastor Appreciation Month.

Universal mission, particular election-- Reflections on Abram's call from Brian Russell.

Steve Heyduck asks, "How do you feel about your boss?"

Guy Kent counsels, "Talk about your own preacher."

Sally Coleman on leading worship and preaching.

Why Four Gospels?

I love to read! Someone once asked me that in my old age if I had to choose between losing my hearing or my sight, which one would I pick? While the thought of going without either one is not a pleasant prospect, if I definitely had to choose, I would prefer to keep my sight because as Thomas Jefferson said, "I cannot live without books."

And the books I enjoy the most are the ones that challenge the conventional wisdom. I like having my mind pushed to think differently in reference to what I believe and the positions I hold. I admire those authors who are not willing to tow the line of scholarly consensus. They put their thoughts in print and make their case, and they force the rest of us who simply go with the conventional flow to ponder our position.

That is why I am extremely excited about a new book written by a friend of mine, Dave Black, Professor of New Testament and Greek and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Well, it's not really new; it's a second edition, which really means that it's new and improved. It's entitled, Why Four Gospels: The Historical Origins of the Gospels. In the preface to the second edition Dave writes,

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH culture in America, of which I am a part, often overlooks the immense contribution that the science of patristics makes to the way we understand the Scriptures. Now I certainly do not wish to replace a text-centered hermeneutic with an approach that is enslaved to the dogmata of councils and creeds. My claim in this book is not that the fathers of the church solve the synoptic problem. It is that any approach to a solution that rejects their testimony is, by definition, illegitimate.

It is fascinating to contrast the secular historian's approach to the early church fathers with the skepticism of biblical critics. I fear that the very contrast between "history" and "theology" only contributes to the atomization of an already fragmented discipline. To suggest that evangelical Christians should pay attention to the fathers will strike many as absurd. Is not the very hallmark of Protestant Christianity the commitment to a text-centered hermeneutic? Though I am very happy to be classified as a textbased exegete of the New Testament, it will be clear that I think we have abandoned a rich source of knowledge. For me, this means that although I delight in studying and reading the New Testament in its original language, I think it is an advantage – rather than a detriment – to learn Scripture through the works of Tertullian, Luther, Calvin, Barth, and Yoder. Indeed, I believe that the fragmented and atomistic approach to the New Testament documents today is often merely an excuse for intellectual laziness.

The last thing I want to be is intellectually lazy, but I must confess that at times I have probably relied on the conclusions of the guild of biblical scholarship too much without delving into the matter for myself. Dave has done that for us, and his conclusions challenge the conventional wisdom I have all too often simply accepted.

For more than a few scholars, integrating their Christian faith with their biblical scholarship is a chore; for Dave Black it comes naturally. He not only challenges me in reference to my obligation to be a missionary for Jesus, but just last week he advised me that I would find it more fruitful to read Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics in the original German!

I will be reviewing Dave's book on this blog, but you don't have to wait for me. You can order Why Four Gospels? from Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Energion Direct-- the last one provides free shipping. Like N.T. Wright, Dave has a gift to take the deep and profound thoughts of a scholar and put them in clear and accessible language.

I am looking forward to reviewing Dave's book. Any bloggers who would like to review his book as well, you may request a review copy from the publisher at pubs(at)energion(dot)com. Let me make an important point here-- if you request a review copy, please make sure it is reviewed in timely fashion. When I agree to post a review of a book and the publisher sends me a free copy, an agreement has been made. The publisher agrees to absorb the expense of giving a book to me at no charge. In return I offer the review. When I am asked to review a book that I believe I do not have the time for, I graciously refuse. It's a matter of integrity, plain and simple.

Why Four Gospels? Read Dave's book and find out for yourself.

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Monday 10.25.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Today's reads from the Methoblogosphere:

John Carney posts a statement of faith... such as it is.

Is distributing Qu'rans a Christian act? Read Andrew Thompson.

Kim Fabricius preaches a sermon on a sermon we don't like.

Sue Whitt writes on human desertion and divine loyalty.

Do you have to be a Christian to go to heaven? Read Shane Raynor.

David Hallam posts on "Bring Your Bible to Work Day."

"The Changing of Seasons"-- a sermon by Tony Mitchell.

Larry Oksten is walking a tight rope.

A timely moment in time from Kim Matthews.

For Dan Dick it's a case of mythtaken identity.

Emergency powers according to Cathy Turner.

Greg Hazelrig posts his thought for the day on Genesis 12:1.

Gratitude Multiplied

Today's audio sermon from Luke 7:36-50

The Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup 2010.27.238

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blogs will be listed more than once a week.

If you discover that a link is not correct, please email me at the above address.

*Thanks to everyone for their email submissions*

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Monday 10.18.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Tuesday 10.19.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Wednesday 10.20.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Thursday 10.21.10

This week's Best of the Methoblogosphere:

John Meunier: "Wedding Crashers"

Jay Voorhees: "Is a Denomination a Brand or a Something Very Different?"

I Just Got Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics!

All fourteen volumes were waiting for me when I arrived home. I start reading volume one tonight!

Do I know how to party on the weekends or what?

Was Ephesians a Circular Letter?

My friend, Dave Black, who teaches New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, questions the apparent scholarly consensus that the Pauline letter to the Ephesians was not originally addressed to the Ephesians at all, but was a circular letter with no one specific destination. He writes,

...the absence of "in Ephesus" in 1:1 in some early Greek witnesses, as well as the absence of personal greetings at the conclusion of the letter... are clear enough, but they can be variously interpreted. I hope we do not overlook the fact that Romans has more personal greetings than any other of Paul's writings yet Rome was a church Paul had never visited personally. The principle seems to be the following: The better Paul knew a church the fewer personal greetings he included, and the less Paul knew a church the more personal greetings he attached in the conclusion. As for why a scribe might want to omit the words "in Ephesus" if they were original, the answer is found in the "Problem of Particularity," as noted many years ago by several different scholars. By mechanically excising the place designation one transforms Paul's "particular" letter into an encyclical epistle intended to be read by all Christians everywhere. It is fascinating to note that the three most widely read Pauline epistles in the ancient church (Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians) all have had their place designations tampered with by copyists.

I would add just one more thing here. Looming unmistakably in the background of the problem is what I consider to be an over-allegiance to the so-called Critical Text (viz., the UBSGNT/NA editions) and what my friend Keith Elliott has referred to as "the hypnotic effect of Aleph and B." If you ask me, this is the nub of the matter and hardly extraneous to the discussion. Of course some hardly recognize that reasoned eclecticism allows for these venerated manuscripts to be wrong in places (see, e.g., the variant in John 10:18).

In an essay I wrote recently for a Festschrift, I made an argument that connected Colossians to Ephesians as Pauline precisely because of Ephesians' circular character. If Dave is right, I wonder what that does for my argument?

I am not completely convinced by Dave's position, but I find his argument to be worth serious consideration. I have written this post because I think there is an important point to be made here. Scholarly consensus does not always mean scholarly correctness, and arguments that many consider settled should be revisited, if for no other purpose than to challenge the kind of group think that can take hold in any organization or guild, including the guild of biblical scholarship. Too often scholarly consensus gets treated as scholarly dogma from which only the heretical deviate. This does not mean that the consensus will always be overturned, but why should anyone continue to hold to a view of the majority when it turns out that the minority have it right?

Dave's article on this subject, "The Peculiarities of Ephesians and the Ephesian Address," which was published some time ago, is worth a read.

Good scholarship is always willing to go where the truth leads.

Stanley Hauerwas Writes to Young Christians on Their Way to College

"The Christian religion," wrote Robert Louis Wilken, "is inescapably ritualistic (one is received into the Church by a solemn washing with water), uncompromisingly moral ('be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect,' said Jesus), and unapologetically intellectual (be ready to give a 'reason for the hope that is in you,' in the words of 1 Peter). Like all the major religions of the world, Christianity is more than a set of devotional practices and a moral code: it is also a way of thinking about God, about human beings, about the world and history."

Be uncompromisingly moral. Undergraduate life on college campuses tends in the direction of neopagan excess. Good kids from good families too often end up using their four years at college to get drunk and throw up on one another. Too often they do so on their way to the condom dispensers. What a waste! Not only because such behavior is self-destructive but also because living this way will prevent you from doing the intellectual work the Christian faith demands. Be deeply intellectual. We—that is, the Church—need you to do well in school. That may sound strange, because many who represent Christian values seem concerned primarily with how you conduct yourself while you are in college; they relegate the Christian part of being in college to what is done outside the classroom.

But you are a Christian. This means you cannot go to college just to get a better job. These days, people talk about college as an investment because they think of education as a bank account: You deposit the knowledge and expertise you've earned, and when it comes time to get a job, you make a withdrawal, putting all that stuff on a résumé and making money off the investment of your four years. Christians need jobs just like anybody else, but the years you spend as an undergraduate are like everything else in your life. They're not yours to do with as you please. They're Christ's.

You can read the entire letter, "Go With God," here.

Amazing Grace... Theologically Twisted

A Calvinist critique of Armininianism to the tune of Amazing Grace:

Arminian grace! How strange the sound
Salvation hinged on ME
I once was lost then turned around
Was blind then chose to see

Not to be outdone, here is the Arminian response:

Amazing thought! You call it "grace"
That saves and damns at whim?
That blinds the lost, condemns a host
And turns them into toast?

Tis "grace" like this that makes me fear
This "grace" my fear inspires:
Whatever I may think or do
I'm fuel for his fires.

The dangers, trials and snares I see
Are all illusory:
I’m either picked before I'm born
Or else, I'm history!

The Lord has promised naught to me
If I'm not on his list
If this is grace, how bad's the curse?
I’m going to get drunk.
.

Anyone interested in a little new perspective on Paul?
---
HT: Richard Hall

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Thursday 10.21.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Posts to ponder from the Methoblogosphere:

Bishop William Willimon says the sending of pastors is getting off to a good start.

Bri Desotell reminds us that words matter.

Robert McDowell asks if witness is the most difficult of the UM membership vows.

Brian Russell writes on the theme of childlessness in Genesis.

Standing with the vulnerable-- reflections from Richard Hall.

David Perry on faith facing cuts in government spending.

Tim Good is Forrest Gumping it.

Shane Raynor counsels that Methodists should get off the sidelines.

Remembering Ethel-- a post from Mark Conforti.

Greg Hazelrig posts his thought for the day on Isaiah 30:21.

Chad Holtz on Karl Barth on the church and war.

Who will teach the children?-- a question from Tony Mitchell.

I'm Now in the News Business!

Well... not really... but my Twitter Tweets from me and those I follow are now in newspaper form and can be accessed at the top left column of my blog. Since I follow a variety of people and organizations with different points of view, there are plenty of interesting articles to read each day with something for everyone to like and take issue with, plus some interesting reads from the world of sports, health, daily living, etc.

So click into The ARB Daily and read all the news that's fit to print-- updated twice a day.

Yeah... it's a little much... I know.

Opinion Central Poll 2010.33: Final Results

Should the Congress repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy?

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Wednesday 10.20.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Today's daily reads from the Methoblogosphere:

Bishop Robert Schnase has experienced being computerless.

Dale Tedder is getting his ducks in a row and will take a pause from blogging. Dale, we look forward to reading your thoughts again in God's good time.

John Meunier reminds us that we are all Kingdom wedding crashers.

Reflections on one hope from Greg Milinovich.

Anne Sims has mixed feelings over patting herself on the back.

Randy Willis wonders where to go from here in reference to his blog.

Melissa Yosua-Davis' grandmother passed away. Our condolences to you, Melissa-- and as always-- our prayers.

Jennifer Smith writes on Alaska Childrens Services.

Some thoughts from William Chaney on the heart breaking situation in Haiti.

Mike Lindstrom ponders the seeds of curiosity.

Cindy Watson says, "Enough already!" There are too many deaths.

Kathy Randall posts on having the courage to ask.

Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Civil Religion of the Religious Right and the Religious Left

In his book, To Change the World, James Hunter persuasively argues that the religious right and the religious left are nothing more than mirror images of each other. The civil religion of the religious right should be obvious to everyone paying even superficial attention to religion and politics in America, but as Hunter points out, the religious left has a civil religion that is basically the same in character as Christians on the other side of the political aisle, and both groups are centered on a faulty hermeneutic.

Hunter defines civil religion as a diffuse amalgamation of religious values that is synthesized with the civic creeds of the nation; in which the life and mission of the church is conflated with the life and mission of the country. American values are, in substance, biblical prophetic values; American identity is, thus, vaguely Christian identity (145).

The religious right has used Scripture for years to commend to the state what its positions on domestic and foreign policy should be. Romans 1 and the Old Testament Book of Leviticus are employed to oppose gay marriage. 2 Corinthians 9:7 is quoted to oppose government taxation for social programs, and 2 Chronicles 7:14 is used as the rallying cry for a national revival. If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray..., is interpreted as referring to the people of America. The problem, however, is that God is speaking to his people of Israel. No modern nation can rightfully claim to be the people of God. The Bible reserves the language of divine peoplehood for two "nations" alone-- Israel and the Church. Thus, when Christians interpret that verse in reference to the United States, they misinterpret it. If 2 Chronicles 7:14 is to be a rallying cry for revival, it should be directed at the people of God, the Ecclesia.

But the religious left is no different. It may be that Christians on the left in some places are more uncomfortable with patriotic worship services in church than the religious right, which seems to relish such moments, but as Hunter rightly observes, Jim Wallis, among other politically progressive Christians, has rightly complained that the Christian Right is engaged in promoting "civil religion" rather than in biblical Christianity.... Yet Wallis and others in the Evangelical Left engage in the identical practice for which they criticize the Christian Right (145).

And like the religious right, the religious left utilizes the biblical values of Scripture to commend to the state what its policies should be on various issues:

Government budgets and tax policies should show compassion for the poor and foreign policy should include such considerations as fair trade (Matthew 2:34-40, Isaiah 10:1-2)

Government officials should tell the truth in what is truly going on in foreign and domestic policies (John 8:32)

Policies on abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, HIV/AIDS, and genocide (to name a few) should follow the biblical injunction to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19)

Wallis even quotes Isaiah in defense of an increase in the minimum wage (147).

The issue here is not that truth telling is a bad idea nor that care for the poor is of no concern nor that the unborn should not be protected. The dilemma again is a hermeneutical one. Hunter's conclusion is spot on:

The problem, of course, is that Amos, Micah, Isaiah, and the other prophets were living in a Jewish theocratic setting. The only way that Wallis and others can make these strong statements is to confuse America with Israel and the political dynamics of modern American democracy with the divine laws mandated for ancient Israel. It isn't that the wisdom of scripture is irrelevant for the formation of political values, but one can only make the close associations and specific political judgments Wallis does by turning progressive religion into a civil religion of the Left.... Both Right and Left, then, aspire to a righteous empire. Thus, when he [Wallis] accuses Falwell and Robertson of being "theocrats who desire their religious agenda to be enforced through the power of the state" he has established the criteria by which he and other politically progressive Christians are judged the same (147).

If the religious right and the left want to get the target of their hermeneutic correct, they need to understand that the commands of Scripture are directed toward the people of God Israel and, from the Christian standpoint, the church. It is the church that is to embody the prophets' concern for justice and the Torah's concern for morality and purity. And it is by that biblically based way of life that the church engages in the politics of witness that it is God and not the nations who rules the world. The church by its example bears witness to the nations what God wants of them as well.

Once the nation becomes the primary hermeneutical target of Scripture, the primary community of faith becomes the state. The church is eclipsed in this world and so is the kingdom of God.

And once the state becomes the primary community of faith because the Scriptures are applied primarily to the state, civil religion is at hand. The church no longer plays the role of prophet to the nation; it becomes a puppet of the state.

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Tuesday 10.19.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Today's links:

Is the Central Texas Conference of the UMC in Exodus or Exile? Steve Heyduck asks the question.

Jim Parsons reflects on last week's Duke's Convocation and Pastors School.

Dan Dick writes on the problem of "not our issue."

Randy Olds posts on the untouchables of the Abrahamic religion.

A review by Melissa Cooper of the book, City on Our Knees.

Brian Russell on the disease of conceit.

Betty Newman wants to know what's in your waterbucket.

Dave Nichols posts some thoughts on being blessed to bless.

What does leadership take? Read Andrew Thompson.

Lorna Koskela ponders Sunday morning alternatives.

Guy Kent says, "I am who I am."

Is a denomination a brand or something very different? Jay Voorhees thinks through the matter.

Music, Art, and Experiencing God.

Today's post is by Dorothy Penny-Larter. Dorothy is a pastor in the East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church and a former student of mine at Ashland Theological Seminary.

I've often wondered what the "knowledge of God" is. What does it mean? As Christians we believe in an infinite God, but our knowledge of God is limited, confined and restricted by the limitations of our human means of expression. That's why ascribing feminine qualities and characteristics to God may not be as risible as it seems but actually serves to expand human knowledge of God and allow us access to different, new visions impressions of God, to fresh understandings of God.

One thing I love about Christianity is that grounded in Scripture it also recognizes the contribution of others as valid and important expressions of Christian belief and doctrine. Through the ages various scholars, artists, composers and writers have made manifest and helped us know God, infinite certainly, but God who is available to all humanity in all manner of revelations.

Human language, although a powerful means of communication and self-expression, is limited by our humanity. Ultimately the only one who can know God is God. But the wonderful thing is that God created humanity in God’s own image and I would argue with the ability to experience God in so many ways: through language, but also through music, art, the performing and visual arts, through science, indeed anything that is creative or inventive. Thus, God becomes more visible to us and we are able to know God more fully in and through time.

How important to our knowledge of God, therefore, is the experience and knowledge of the past. That is not to deny the work of contemporary hymn writers who are addressing ethical, social and spiritual issues facing Christians today. As Methodists, though, we trace our theology through the Wesley quadrilateral which includes the element of tradition and we remember that early Methodists were challenging serious social problems rampant in their culture. Therefore, as the Singing Denomination, we treasure our hymnody, for through it we re-connect with our beginnings, re-acquaint ourselves with our doctrine and theology, and most importantly meet God. Charles Wesley describes God as "my gracious Master", "Christ", "Saviour", and "Incarnate Deity", "Spirit of Holiness", "Eternal Triune God", "sacred energy" and "redeeming grace". How these descriptions stir our imaginations so that knowledge of God deepens. It is one of our purposes as Christians "To spread through all the earth abroad the honours of thy name". We ask for 1000 tongues each to sing the great Redeemer's praise for we would sing lustily and passionately. This way we make God known in this uniquely Wesleyan way.

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Monday 10.18.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Today's reads from the Methoblogosphere:

Keith McIlwain writes on broadening and focusing the "bullying" conversation.

John C. Montgomery posts on Tillich, Kierkegaard, and Jon Stewart.

Angela Shier-Jones reflects on un-natural selection.

In her job Kathy James gets to throw the sand.

Ken Carter on Andy Crouch on culture making.

Humbling-- a reflection on Luke 18:9-14 from Sue Whitt.

Mark Winter is preparing for a personal planning retreat and he needs your suggestions.

Joseph Yoo ponders the significance of time spent.

Can we let God be kinder than we are? Scott Endress asks the question.

Sally Coleman writes on ministry and illness.

Larry Oksten is tired of the word "sacred."

Focus on this one thing counsels Cathy Turner.

A Lord's Day Prayer

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Book of Common Prayer

Internet Wanderings

Some places I have roamed on the Internet Highway:

Some thoughts on the character of a gracious person.

Does American Suburban Evangelical Christianity look pagan?

Race, ethnicity, and religion are becoming more important than geopolitical borders.

Why business matters to God.

Godliness is always good.

This politically liberal woman wonders why so many politically liberal women (and men) are misogynists when it comes to politically conservative women.

Are political elites really so bad?

On the epidemic of intellectual dishonesty in politics.

I despise so-called "hate speech," but I'm glad I don't live in a place where people can be prosecuted for uttering it.

Unlocking the mysteries of Alzheimer's.

Was T. Rex a cannibal?

The Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup 2010.26.237

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blogs will be listed more than once a week.

If you discover that a link is not correct, please email me at the above address.

*Thanks to everyone for their email submissions*

The Week in Review at the Methoblogosphere:

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Monday 10.11.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Tuesday 10.12.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Wednesday 10.13.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Thursday 10.14.10

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Friday 10.15.10

This week's Best of the Methoblogosphere!

Chad Holtz: "Blogiolatry: My Golden Blog"

David Garvin: "When Worship Is the Idol We Worship"

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Friday 10.15.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blogs will be listed more than once a week.

The Methodist links for today:

Henry Neufeld writes on finding common ground on Genesis.

Shane Raynor reflects on God's DNA and the Common English Bible.

Daniel McLain Hixon posts on the Rule of Life of The Society of St. Francis.

On finding the time from Sally Coleman.

The church is failing... and not just youth... according to Steve Heyduck.

Dave Warnock celebrates a worship meeting.

Will Rice comments on re-alignment.

Mark Conforti is learning from United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.

"Row, Row, Row Your Boat-- a sermon by Jim Parsons.

Greg Hazelrig posts his thought for the day on James 2:1.

Dave Nichols reveals question #10 of the top ten questions God asks us.

Matt Kelley wonders whose house Jesus would watch burn.

Is there a heaven? Guy Kent cogitates on the question.

David Garvin writes on when worship is the idol we worship.

Quote of the Day-- Walking the Tolerance Talk

In last week's episode of the hit TV series Glee, the acerbic cheerleading instructor Sue Sylvester revealed to her Down Syndrome-afflicted sister that she stopped believing in God because of the way she, the sister, had been treated by people who saw her as "less than perfect."

"You were perfect in my eyes," Sylvester said.

"God doesn’t make mistakes. That’s what I believe," the sister replied.

That wasn't a bad answer, but a better one might have been, "I was perfect in God’s eyes, too."

We live in an era where very few people with Down Syndrome are being welcomed into the world. Some studies suggest that perhaps 90 percent of extra-chromosome babies are aborted by parents fearful of both the challenges and societal "discomforts" that they and their babies will face.

We also live in an era where gay teenage boys and straight teenage girls commit suicide in alarming numbers due to rampant bullying. Bullies, either because they are deficient in recognizing their own God-created uniqueness, or too frightened to own it, inflict sheer hell upon the "others" around them—those vulnerable people who, for one reason or another, cannot easily reside in the increasingly brittle "norms" established within generations, cultures, neighborhoods, or even classrooms, and who cannot, or simply will not, hide their "otherness."

The recent, tragic, suicides of eighteen-year-old Tyler Clementi and fifteen-year-old Phoebe Prince—both bullied beyond their endurance by contemporaries, both unable or unwilling to admit into their confidence an authoritative person who might have helped—have generated a great deal of ink about bullying and how to combat it. We hear that children must be more emphatically taught "tolerance and kindness," and that awareness must be raised.

That's all well and good, but it bears mentioning that this generation of teenagers has been raised on near-daily lessons in tolerance and "everyone is specialness" from their first Sesame Street episode to their Senior Proms; there is a disconnect, somewhere, between theory and practice, and that disconnect is a killer.

Part of the disconnect is a society-wide inability to walk that tolerance talk. Everyone pays lip-service to the Golden Rule, but it is easy to find an intolerant anti-Catholic bigot on Huffington Post, and MSNBC or an anti-secularist one on Free Republic.com or Fox News. Our decades-long grounding in Political Correctness allows anyone to proclaim their noble, "tolerant" instincts while huddled in insulated enclaves where the limits of their tolerance are made all too plain, extending only to the like-minded.

Children and young people are not stupid. If they encounter a teacher, or a preacher, talking love and acceptance in one breath and then bad-mouthing the impolitic "other" of their own prejudices (and they do) they will reject the talk, and find their own "other" to speak against, jeer at and hate.

You can read Elizabeth Scalia's entire post, "The Tolerance Disconnect," here.

HT: Scot McKnight

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Thursday 10.14.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email it to mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays, No blogs will be listed more than once a week.

Today's reads from the Methoblogosphere:

Robert McDowell posts on politics and Christianity.

Richard Hall's mother always taught him to mind the company he keeps.

Joseph Yoo declares, "Please don't use my faith as an excuse for your incompetence."

To know me is to love me?-- ponderments from Kathy James.

Betty Newman reflects on kitchen table prayers.

Chad Holtz confesses his blogiolatry.

Should ordained ministers wear clerical collars? Angela Shier-Jones asks the question.

Steve Manskar posts some thoughts on church without walls.

Lorna Koskela wonders if you are being nudged.

In the culture wars, Ken Carter is a conscientious objector.

The Gospel According to Forrest Gump #5: The God of the Second Chance

Don't you just love New Year's? You can start all over.

After Forrest Gump returns home from Vietnam, he travels to New York to visit his former commander, Lt. Dan. Dan is in a wheelchair from having lost both his legs in a firefight during the war. He is angry and bitter and drinking heavily. Forrest, the dutiful friend that he is, stays with Dan awhile just spending time with him and putting up with Dan's angry behavior that is sometimes directed toward Gump.

There's a scene in the movie in which Forrest is celebrating New Year's Eve with Lt. Dan in a bar. Two women friends (of questionable character) show up at the bar to celebrate with them. As Forrest is watching Dick Clark on the TV behind the bar, usher in the new year as the ball drops on Times Square, one of the women says to Forrest in her New York accent, Don't you just love New Year's? You can start all over.

Somewhere in the midst of all of Bishop William Willimon's writings (I don't remember where. I have read much of what the good bishop has written over the years) he suggests that the reason the Reverend Billy Graham has had such an appealing message over the years, and why he has been able to pack stadiums filled with people, is that in preaching the gospel he has proclaimed the God of the Second Chance. That is, Graham's core message in every crusade is that no matter what we have done, no matter how bad things are, no matter how much of a mess we have made in our lives and even in the lives of those around us, God is always willing, if we are willing, to give us a second chance, an opportunity to start over.

If there is one complaint I have about much Protestant worship today is that too many churches do not have a time for corporate confession on Sunday morning. Living in the "I'm OK, you're OK culture," insulating our bad behavior with a "no one has a right to judge me" mentality, and dealing with the kind of sickening shallow and sentimental self-esteem movement of much current pop psychology, too many churches have bought into the feel good gospel to the point where in our worship we cannot even take time to confess corporately, We have failed to be an obedient church, we have not done your will, we have broken your law, we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cries of the needy. Forgive us, we pray, and free us for joyful obedience. As H. Richard Niebuhr wrote in his assessment of mainline liberal theology-- A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross. But it's not just mainline liberalism which is so correctly judged. Much evangelical theology has now tripped over the same stumbling block.

Here's the point-- we cannot know that our God is the God of the Second Chance without realizing that we are sinners in need of one. My take on this as a pastor for twenty-six years is that most people know that they are indeed in need of a second chance and a third and a fourth.... Yes, there are some who are not so self-aware, but the church of Jesus Christ does it's worshipers a great disservice when we do not allow for some moments of confession and, therefore, the opportunity to embrace the second chance that God truly wants to give to us.

As the old revivalist adage goes-- we cannot now how wonderful the Good News is until we have heard the bad news. The bad news is that we need a second chance; the good news is that in Jesus Christ, God stands ready to give us one, if we reach out in faith and repentance, and accept it.

Don't you just love the gospel? You can start all over!

Opinion Central Poll 2010.32: Final Results

How do you keep your calendar?

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Wednesday 10.13.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link posted in the MBDL, email the link to your post at mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Today's links from the Methoblogosphere:

Craig L. Adams offers his personal and site update.

Darrell Spurlock writes on raising community voices against bullying.

Brian Russell is connecting Abram with Genesis 1-11.

Reflections from Melissa Cooper on being part of something big.

John Carney and his Sunday school class are studying Same Kind of Different as Me.

Dan Dick posts some very coherent random thoughts.

And suddenly, writes David Hallam, the congregation changed.

Greg Milinovich wonders why the church doesn't give people more than they bargained for.

Andy Stoddard reminds us that while the nations rage God is in control.

Beth Quick posts her lectionary notes for the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost.

Bishop James S. Thomas (1919-2010)

United Methodist Bishop, James S. Thomas has died. He was 91. Bishop Thomas was my first bishop when I entered into the membership of the East Ohio Annual Conference back in the 1980s. As a Conference we were blessed to have his leadership for twelve years, and I was honored to have been ordained a Deacon by Bishop Thomas before Deacons and Elders Orders became two separate tracks at the 1996 General Conference. He had retired when I was ordained an Elder.

For me personally, Bishop Thomas embodied everything that a bishop should be. He was a bold leader who modeled the servant ministry of Jesus. And while I knew he was my bishop and I was therefore under his authority, I also knew that he considered me and every other pastor in the Conference as a colleague in ministry.

I loved listening to Bishop Thomas preach-- his sermons were biblical, substantive, challenging, and sprinkled with his wonderful sense of humor. Many years ago a pastor friend of mine said to me that after some of his own sermons he wondered if his congregation silently thought to themselves, "So what?" That was never ever a silent thought after one of Bishop Thomas' sermons. When one of James Thomas' sermons was finished, the gospel had indeed been proclaimed.

As an African American bishop, Thomas blazed new trails and broke down racial barriers in the church and its ministry. One wonders if the UMC would have come as far as it has in this respect without the leadership of Bishop Thomas. He was able to be so effective because of his own attitude as bishop. He once said, "I didn't come to be a black bishop. I've always been black. I have come to be the best bishop I can be." And indeed he was.

As Bishop Thomas has now joined the saints in glory, we who remain stand on his shoulders and continue the work of ministry that the Church of Jesus Christ has been called to do. He wasn't the first great servant leader in the church and he won't be the last; but we would be more diminished as individual believers and as a church without his presence and witness.

O God of All the Saints, we give you thanks for the gift of Bishop James S. Thomas to the church of Jesus Christ and to those who had the high honor of knowing him.

---
UMNS reports here on Bishop Thomas' life and death.

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Tuesday 10.12.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email your post to me at mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Posts to ponder from the Methoblogosphere:

Bishop William Willimon writes on pastoral transitions.

Awe, wonder, mystery, exuberance, joy, surprise, delight-- a post from Bishop Robert Schnase.

Robb McCoy reflects on coming out.

Andy Bryan is making new idea-machines inside his head.

Becca Clark ponders being carefully taught.

Ford automobiles and other biblical truths-- a post from Rick Weber.

Mike Lindstrom counsels us to be careful with the lives of others.

John Meunier wonders if Methodists are giving up on perfection.

What do Waterloo, Gehenna, Hiroshima, and Armageddon have in common? Read Randy Olds.

Mark Winter on the right choice at Perry Elementary School.

I Believe in the Power of Prayer

This is a true story I experienced while on a teaching mission trip in Cuba several years ago:
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There was a pastor in Cuba who developed a friendship with a man who was a priest and practitioner of what the Cubans call Santeria, which is a kind of Cuban version of Haitian voodoo. The church started to minister to him and feed him because he was in dire straits. He was not a Christian and was clear to the pastor that while he appreciated the church’s help, that would not convince him to become a Christian. The pastor responded that while they would like for him to become a Christian, the reason they were assisting him was because he was in need and Jesus helped whomever was in need.

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One day this man in conversation with the pastor mentioned to her that he had a daughter in a town that was not nearby, but not too far distant either. He did not go into details, but several years before they had a terrible falling out and for several years she had since refused to speak with him or see him. In the meantime his daughter had a child and this man had never seen his granddaughter. The pastor said the she and the church would pray for a reunion so that he would see his daughter again and his granddaughter whom he had never seen. The man responded that he did not believe in her God, but that he appreciated the thought.

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The church began to pray. They prayed for two weeks, then for a month. They prayed for two months. They prayed for six months. One day, a young woman came to this man's door. He didn’t recognize her at first, but then he knew… it was his daughter. And standing next to her holding her mother's hand, was his granddaughter. For about six months the daughter had a heavy heart for the split in their relationship, and finally after six months, she could take it no more. She decided that it was time to renew her relationship with her father, and give her daughter a grandfather.

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After that first visit, the man was beside himself. The first thing he did was to rush over to that pastor's house and tell her what had happened. In the midst of the overjoyed conversation, the man said to her with tears in his eyes, "You know, I think your God did this."

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Indeed...

The Methodist Blogs Daily Links-- Monday 10.11.10

Any Methoblogger who would like a link in the MBDL, email your post to me at at mbdailylinks(at)yahoo(dot)com. Your link will be posted within two weekdays. No blog will be listed more than once a week.

Today's reads from the Methoblogosphere:

David Perry ponders the tears of exile.

John Fletcher posts on seniors who don't get discounts.

Dave Faulkner writes on the niche church.

"The Answer to the Question"-- a sermon by Tony Mitchell.

Sue Whitt reflects on why wrangling doesn't work.

Anne Sims reminds us that the Word of God is not chained.

Sacrifice and blessing-- a post from Kim Matthews.

Jeremy Smith sends a message to the bullied-- you are are beloved child of God.

Keith McIlwain cogitates on henotheism and Isaiah 6.

Scott Endress posts on the survivors of suicide.