...observations and ramblings from a learner and traveler...

20 February 2012

from another: A Meditatitive Prayer of Thanks for Community


Mighty Head of the Church, and You, Father from whom the whole family in Heaven and on earth is named, and You, Spirit of Jesus, living in us and among us and empowering us and teaching us and leading us—Godhead, my Godhead—I praise You. I praise You with my whole heart. I am seeing You work: unfolding before my eyes Your magnificent plan for the spread of Your Kingdom and the ultimate exaltation of Jesus Christ the King. Breathtaking. Worship-evoking. Reverence-cultivating. Godly fear-inciting. Joy-nurturing. Hope-kindling. Faith-building. Praise-exploding. Suffering-compensating. Sacrifice-offsetting. Sorrow-counterweighting. Discipline-rewarding. Celebration-mandating. All praise to You! 

            I am coming to You to engage in a season of thanksgiving for what You have done and are doing both broadly throughout the American church and particularly in this gathering. We are Your church. You knew us. You’ve always known us. From Your eternity You set Your love on us. You ordained us to eternal life. You created us. You mourned over the sin-separation between us. You took action. You saved us, though the price for saving us was the death of the Son Himself. He did not lay down His life begrudgingly, though; He gave it up willingly—joyfully. And then, because it was not possible for death to hold Him, He reached out and took His life back. “Let all creation stand and sing, ‘Hallelujah!’” 

You called us to be His disciples. You called us to be one with You—the Triune God (how does this work? I wish I could understand, but it is enough to wonder and believe)—to be one with one another, and to call others to oneness. It’s a plan that none of us would have ever come up with. It is a plan that reflects who You are and the way You do things. We want to embrace what You have told us that You are doing and that You are determined to complete. We are all broken individually, and though being together is incredibly helpful, we are still broken together; so none of us has, as individuals or as groups, followed You perfectly. One way in which the greater church has jointly failed to follow your pattern is in the area of unity. We have fragmented and isolated ourselves. We have done deep, scarring damage to ourselves, our brothers and sisters, our communion with You, and our ability to call others to oneness with You and us. We confess this to You. We agree when You point out our sin. Having confessed, we want to forsake this sin, this divisiveness, this separation and distance from each other—this spirit that holds our brothers and sisters within our own assemblies at arm’s length. (O Jesus, draw us near to You, so that, all being near to You, we cannot help but be near to each other.)

You have been revealing our sin to us, though, and You have been changing us! To the praise of Your glorious grace! You have been changing us! The Spirit is doing a dramatic work. He is powerful. He is wise. He can unify. It’s amazing! He can actually unify! He can rip walls apart, leap over barriers, make crooked paths straight and rough ways smooth. He can abolish divisions and fuse shattered and scattered parts back into one whole. Thank You for sending Your Spirit, Father—the best of all the good gifts that come down from You. 

And so, You are growing community. We are seeing You do this. There are many, many ways in which You are making this happen, but You are definitely doing it. It is widespread and powerful. I thank You for what You are starting in one place and spreading to another. Thank You for the time of community You’ve been building for us here, drawing small groups together through mutual desire for and pursuit of You. You grow us jointly through time in the Word together, through praying and singing together, through fellowship around meals, and other ways of pursuing mutual oneness. Thank You. You’ve safeguarded us; You’ve kept us from much error and blindness that could have swallowed us. Thank You. Thank You for growing leaders and sending out emissaries. Thank You for the diversity You have given our group. Thank You for blazing the trail for us, even though we have felt like we were shooting in the dark most of the time—prayerfully, trustingly, shooting in the dark, but still shooting in the dark. You have led and helped, protected and superintended. You have done every good thing to us and for us and in us. Jesus has shepherded us. We are glad. Thank You. We are looking to You expectantly and gratefully for what You will continue to do.

I am asking You for continuing wisdom. O, please make Yourself and Your way obvious to us. Guide our conversations. Use us in each other’s lives. May we hear the Spirit speak to us and through us and through each other. Guide our counselors and authorities. Be pleased to use us powerfully for good in the unification of the larger body. May community be one of Your chief tools for increasing the health and vitality and power in the Gospel here. Grow us missionally. We are lopsided right now, but You’ll have to correct that in Your ways and Your time. We want to remain moldable and responsive to You. Protect us from hardening our hearts, from arrogance and thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. We are still own-glory seekers and self-kingdom builders at heart. We confess this. Please continue to transform us by Your Spirit as we gaze on our Lord Jesus. We love Him. We worship Him. We long for the time when all know Him perfectly, when the knowledge of His glory covers the whole earth like the waters cover the sea. You have promised that such a time will come. We bank on that promise, and so, setting our hope on You, Living God, we attach our joy to the not-seen and not-yet. We want nothing less than the full salvation that You complete. We anticipate the consummation You have promised, and we commit ourselves to being satisfied with nothing less that what You are pleased and satisfied with. We love You. And, once again, we thank You. You are our God. We are Your people. Thank You.

(For more of her thoughts, check here and here.)

15 February 2012

greats & ages

Yesterday, my daughter met her great-Grandma Robertson for the first time.  Today, I found out that Grandma had known her great-Grandma when she was little.  Her great-Grandma, Elizabeth Shickel Ritchie, was born in 1850.  ...imagine, one person connects my daughter to her great-great-great-great grandmother, and they were born 159 years apart (minus 5 days).

03 February 2012

a Native American theologian with a challenge


This video by Richard Twiss at CCDA is one of the most thought-provoking presentations I have seen.  There is much to muse upon, to discuss, and to rethink.  There are points of doctrine that I would disagree about, and yet his basic point is made and should slow any brash disagreement.

To what extent has 'Christian theology' ever represented non-European thinking?  More pointedly, to what extent has Protestant theology represented non-European thinking?  Consider carefully the implications of such an ethnocentric theology, particularly if you believe that men and women (and their culture), all over the world, have within them the (marred, and often, redeemed) image of God. 



The fearful consequence of a theology which is developed through the strength of only one part of the great Body of Christ is that it will not only lack the strengths of other portions of the Body but also that it will be greatly burdened by the weaknesses of that culture.  And while differences certainly exist among the German, English, French, American, Dutch, Scotch and Canadian streams which have filled Protestant theology, such theology must necessarily be poorer than a biblical and systematic theology which was as heavily influenced by Chinese, American Indian, Zambian, Brazilian, Cuban, Sudanese and Uzbek Christians.

May I hear and understand deep truths which I would not see for myself but which the truth of God in others may bring to my heart, and may you as well!

02 February 2012

Why write Ruth?

Bethany and I have been going through the book of Ruth for about a month together (reading a chapter once or twice a week).  Since the book is a simple, beautiful narrative about a family in Moab and Israel, what is God's purpose for it in the Scriptures? We tried thinking through this from a practical perspective rather than simply a theological one. Here are five significant and relatively unique contributions that we feel Ruth makes to our understanding of God, His character, and how that is to be displayed in us, His people.

1.  After the books of the Law, the conquest of Canaan, and the self-degrading of Israel during the times of the judges, it throws a spotlight on a 'pagan' outsider's humble faith.

2.  It honors righteous women. Few books of the Bible focus completely on a single life, and none are so intimate in their portrayal of a godly family. This is a book about simple, family righteousness, highlighted in a woman's beauty.

3.  In Boaz, it has a living presentation of a God-fearing, Law-honoring life even during the dark times of the judges.

4.  As well, it provides a picture of a redeemer whose actions often mirror The Redeemer's.

5.  It shows God's plan for David by starting David's line long before Saul was king, during the time of the judges.  (It seems to me from other passages that David would have been God's chosen king whether or not Israel had insisted on a king 40 years before.)