Against Nothingness

December on my blog... fail.  Back at the end of November  I pretty much gave myself permission to not blog.  This was a singularly bad idea as that permission became my banner for the month.  I raised my head from the black depths of self-fulfilling prophecies briefly on the 9th with my only post of the month.   Shockingly, if I were to make a top 3 lists of post views in December, you would find it at the top.   What did I learn? That with no intention to write, it just doesn't happen.  That I find it very easy to fill my time with other things.  That I miss blogging and writing when I leave it for so long.  That blogging and writing are not  the same thing.  That preaching really does suck up a lot of energy.  So, nothing new.  When the last Advent Sunday passed I thought to myself, 'Hmm, maybe I will blog a bit before Christmas.'  I even started a post.  But let me tell you, nothing kills the creativ...

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year.  Not so much because of all the stuff, like decorations and presents and parties (though I like these too), but because of the story.  The advent story is so full of goodness.  I hear it every year, and each year I learn more.  This year I have been thinking about how messy it all was.  Mute old man, pregnant teenager, displaced families, murdered infants, and on and on.  I know, we like to make it all clean.  Silent nights, pretty cradles, and clean animals.  But Jesus was born in a cave surrounded by stinky animals and I am pretty sure he cried.  For songs about Jesus birth I much prefer this song , from Behold the Lamb of God .  Things were not just messy on earth as a consequence of Jesus coming down to us.  They got messy in heaven too.  Take a look at Revelation 12 if you want to know what I mean.  We dare not forget this side of Christmas. You might wonder wh...

How can time move so fast?  Yet another month come and gone. Top 3 Most Visited Posts of November: 1. Mawwiage  - The number one post didn't 'win' by quite as much of a margin as last month, but still nearly double the #2 spot.  I guess my readers really like personal stories. 2. Antidisencouragementarianism  - The last of a three part series on encouragement; the other ones did well too. 3. Light in a Dark Tunnel  - At this point several posts were very close, but I am encouraged that one of my more theological posts is in the top three. Over the month of November I put up 20 posts (including this one).  Pretty much double my October posts.  And guess what? I didn't preach a single time this month, so my observation about preaching requiring a lot of my creative energy is holding true.  Which also means you probably shouldn't expect too much in December as I am preaching several times and in charge of the overall sermon series and adv...

I strongly dislike advertising.  I really do. We all dislike ads disrupting our shows, but that is not what I mean. Advertising is blatantly manipulative and deceptive.  It approaches us all as consumers and actively promotes a consumer mindset in the viewer.  Some ads are funny, some are sexy, some are seductive, some are in your face, and on and on it goes, but they all share the same goal: to directly affect your behavior.   Sadly, it seems the best way to do this is through directly linking material products with either (or both) highly emotional content (while at the same time pushing the idea that it is our emotions which are our masters) or some form of transcendence. My own awakening to these things began in university, but really took hold when Kristina and I went to S.Korea.  While there we were bombarded with as much advertising as ever. Only one thing changed: it was all in Korean.  Suddenly robbed of context and content the...

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." --A. Einstein How many miracles can you spot in these pictures?  "Have you ever said some simple word over and over till it became umeaning, a scrap of unknown tongue, till you seem to be opening and shutting your mouth with a cry like an animal's? So it is with the great world in which we live: it begins familiar: it ends unfamiliar.  When first men began to think and talk and theorize and work the world over and over with phrases and associations, then it was inevitable and fated, as a psychological necessity, that some day a creature should be produced, corresponding to the twentieth pronunciation of the word, a new animal with eyes to see and ears to hear; with an intellect capable of performing a new funciton never before conceived truly; thanking God for his creation.  I tell you religion is in its infancy; dervish and anchor...

This year, the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theology Society focused on the issue of justification.  Naturally, N.T. Wright was one of the speakers.  Sadly, I couldn't go to this particular event.  Instead, I have been devouring blog posts, clips, and whatever I can find about the conference.  Mostly, I had been very disappointed.  It seemed like no progress was made as I read again and again the same tired complaints based on misunderstandings.  Then I read THIS POST .  I don't know who Andrew Cowan is, but in my opinion he has a very clear grasp of what has been going on.  So, let me share some of my thoughts.  For those of you who aren't into this debate I will try to make this somewhat readable.  Me and N.T. Wright I read N.T. Wright for the first time ten years ago.  A friend in university read What St. Paul Really Said   and passed it on to me to read. Despite the book being a garbled mess which I would never re...

Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters . Penguin Books, 2009. 240 pages.  In this book Keller explores our societies common idols: money, sex, power, and success.  That fourth one didn't make it into the title, but thankfully it is in the book. The human heart, says Keller (as many have said before him), is an idol factories.  We continually enshrine things other than God.  But, because of recent events, Keller believes we are in a moment of cultural disillusionment which will allow us to see our idols for the dead things they are.  Thus, he goes on in chapter one to talk about how getting everything we want is actually terrible, if what we want is determined by our idols.  The next four chapters expose the seductive and destructive power of each of the idols mentioned above and how easy it is to fall for them in our society.  He concludes with one chapter on rooting out the...

I have now owned the kindle for just over one month and I am going to share a few more thoughts about it. First of all, it is still an amazing little device.  No question there.  I have not become disappointed nor disillusioned in this last month at all.  If anything I have become more impressed, which is a little bit frightening . With that said, let me share 4 sets of observations/reflections. 1. Ease of Use - "I can't believe it's not butter"  and I can't believe this isn't paper.  Everything about the kindle makes reading easier (I didn't even think that was possible).  For a while after e-readers became a reality I insisted that there was something about paper, about holding a book, which I would never give up.  Maybe there still is... but, if so, there is much less to it than I told myself before I actually owned the Kindle.  The Kindle is lighter than all but the smallest of books, making it easier to hold.  Turning pages becomes ...

I know two things (and hopefully more, but two that are pertinent here). We all have limited time, and that time is not always best spent reading what I have to say.  So, in the spirit of encouraging you to have interesting thoughts and interact with a broader assortment of writers, and because I found these articles to be thought provoking in the extreme, may I recommend, strongly and, if necessary, in an incessantly whiny tone of voice, that you read these: (read them, read them, READ THEM!) "Generation Why" by Zadie Smith : An insightful commentary on facebook, the internet, and identity.  Quote:    It feels important to remind ourselves, at this point, that Facebook, our new beloved interface with reality, was designed by a Harvard sophomore with a Harvard sophomore’s preoccupations. What is your relationship status? (Choose one. There can be only one answer. People need to know.) Do you have a “life”? (Prove it. Post pictures.) Do you like the right sort o...

Question: What's it like being married? "Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us togethew today. Mawwage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam... And wove, twue wove, wiww fowwow you fowevah...So tweasuwe youw wove..." - Clergymen The Princess Bride (Clip here) When I put together this whole question game thing, I got two really weird questions. I thought about them and decided to replace them with my own two questions.  This is the first. I don't really think I can talk about mawwi... marriage in general.  Instead I will talk about my marriage. As I do say, I want to begin by saying this.  I am going to be honest here; this isn't a puff piece.  So, when I tell you multiple times that being married to Kristina is amazing, I am not doing that (only) because she will read this; I am also doing it because it is true! The Story (shorter version) Pre-Marriage I met Kristina during the summer after my first year of university, on "The Toront...

I met a friend for coffee the other day, and we got talking about Catholicism (among other things).  One of his chief complaints against Roman Catholics was that they condone idol worship in the form of both worshiping Mary and in how they use statues.   (Note: Official Roman Catholic Doctrine, as confirmed on the Vatican's own site in several articles , teaches the veneration of Mary, not worship.  They also teach that all such veneration is ultimately worship of and glory to God.  It's complicated.  But, I understand why so many people get confused, both Protestants and Catholics, without even getting into things like "the assumption of Mary.") Official Roman Catholic doctrine, while perhaps vulnerable to idolatry, is not teaching it.  Yet, here was a man, my friend, who grew up with this very real problem.  Then the words of yet another friend came to mind: Idolatry is at the center of  most of the problems in the church.  S...

Chris Seay, The Gospel According to Jesus: A Faith That Restores All Things . Thomas Nelson, 2010. 211 pgs.  Thanks again to Thomas Nelson for providing this book for review.   So, I requested this book months ago but, because of some kind of warehouse glitch, I got this book first...  Anyway, I was very happy to recieve Chris Seay's book this week.  Not only that, but here is another book on what the gospel is really all about.  Before opening this book I wondered if I was a sucker for punishment. If you have read my other reviews, I think this is about my sixth book on the subject and the vast majority of them have been terrible.  The Gospel According to Jesus was a blessed exception.  In this book Seay takes the reader through his definition of the gospel and the various consequences of it, as well as some of the foundations of Christian life and belief.  The gospel is the full-orbed story of Jesus Christ, from creation to final judgeme...

This is kind of new for my blog, but read this article:   http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/march/26.42.html Seriously.  Get off of my blog and read it.  I'm not joking.  What's that?  You want to know what your getting in to?  ... Well, if your still here, and you must know, it is a brilliant article by Eugene Peterson entitle "Spirituality for all the Wrong Reasons."  It is a short read, but necessary.   So read it.  

Kristina and I sometimes talk about whether or not an occasion is 'blog-worthy.'  More often than not the event is funny, or cute, but doesn't fit with what I blog about. Today's event was different; it fits perfectly.  Not only do I get to blog about my kids, but I also get to blog about encouragement.  Couldn't ask for more! Every night Hannah has a bedtime routine.  In the middle of it is bath time.  Lately, bath time has become much more fun with the addition of Ethan.   ---------------> Hannah thinks that sharing a bath with her brother is the best thing in the world.  On top of that, Hannah has always loved the water.  Ethan, however, flip-flops like a bad politician on the whole bathing issue.  Some days he is ecstatic; kicking and laughing and giggling so hard that he floats around.  Other days he is enraged; screaming so loud that Hannah backs away from him in distress.       ? ...

Question: How would the world look if more people focused on truth rather than rejoicing at what's wrong? I like this question in theory, but actually typing out an answer feels a little bit like writing a Sunday School lesson. So, let me tell you what I think about with this question. First of all, it reminds of 1 Cor. 13; all of it.  I know, it's just one line "... It does not rejoice in wrongdoing..." but when I read that question I get this overlay of  1 Corinthians love  with  "All you need is Love" .   The next place my mind goes is to focus on that last phrase in it's own right.  "Rejoicing at what's wrong." Roll that around in your mind for a moment.  What images and thoughts come to you?  Mine run the spectrum; jumping from guys whose first impulse upon seeing a frog is stomp on it, to WWII (not that I am in any way comparing boys urges to destruction with Nazi's).  More commonly, we see it everyday on TV and Movies; peop...

Tim Chester, Captured by a Better Vision: Living Porn Free. Intervarsity Press, 2010. 192 pgs.  As most of my readers probably know, porn addiction was a struggle for me.  I wish this book had been written ten years ago.  As you can guess from the title, this is a book about being set free from pornography.  In it, Chester takes the reader through 5 steps, beginning with abhorring porn and moving towards embracing the glory and vision of God.  His idea is that in order for us to be free we need to not just leave the sin behind, but to grasp, and be grasped by, God's greater vision.   He begins with 12 reasons to avoid porn, which is a necessary, if sad, starting point.  However, he moves on from there to discuss the deep spiritual needs around which porn addictions revolve, how these needs are never met through porn, but how they are truly and fully met through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Along the way, he discusses the nature of beauty and d...

John was on his way home after a very long day. Work had been hard lately, and John was leaving most days feeling discouraged and thinking about quitting.  It just didn't seem like he did any good anymore.  As he rounded the corner the most dreaded sight of his commute rose up to meet him: the bridge.  He wondered when they were ever going to fix the stupid thing?  As he got closer, he realized that traffic was especially bad today.  He flipped on the radio to find out what was going on, but there was no word of any accidents. He quickly realized that he would have to phone Steph and tell her that he would be late for dinner.   He was reaching the middle point of the bridge when he saw something unusual.  There was a man standing on the railing.  At first John just thought about how much of a hassle this was.  But then he realized that he had a chance to do some good here.  He quickly jumped out of his car and ran towards the ma...