Welcome to a Reformed Church

I have been picking my way through this new book by Danny Hyde.  It is a book that basically explores what a Reformed church is all about, and so it seeks to answer common questions folks have about Reformed churches.  Have you ever heard or asked these questions:  Where did Reformed churches come from?  What do they believe and why do they believe that?  Why do they worship that way?  Why does it all seem weird and foreign?  Don't they know their worship service is boring? etc.  If you have asked these questions at any point, this book is a helpful guide in answering these questions and many more.

Thus, the book serves as a great introduction for those who are either entirely unaware that there are churches that have their historical roots in the apostolic church and the reformation of that church (as I once was and as many still are), or who are visiting a Reformed church and want to know more about Reformed churches.  This book would make a great study in membership classes because the book is not too long, the chapters are readable and concise, and in general it is an accessible yet stimulating book that covers the ABC's of Reformed theology, piety, and practice.

We live in a day where there is a resurgence of people discovering Reformed theology afresh.  As the Lord leads more and more of his people into Reformed churches it is important that Reformed churches do their job in educating people about what is going on.  As I grow in my understanding of being Reformed I am constantly reminded that many of my assumptions are not shared and have to be explained.  This is a crucial task.  And we as Reformed people have nothing to be ashamed of.  We have a living tradition that is first and foremost biblical as well as historical, rich, wonderful, profound, and beautiful.  Praise God for this book that I hope, in a small way, will help churches communicate the riches and beauty of the Reformed witness to the faith to a new generation seeking answers.  Answers that they were not able to find in broad evangelicalism, or anywhere else for that matter.  I recommend this book.

Revenge is Sweet!

At least in this case.  I have waited a year for this.  My Celtics knocked off the Magic and are headed to the NBA finals.  We had a healthy KG and a much improved Rondo.  And as for game 6, cheers to Nate Robinson for earning his wage!  That is why we traded Eddie House for him.  House was great, but Robinson has the ability to take over a game, which House does not have.  Go Celts!!

Now Here's a Plan

This could be the most beautiful piece of PCA legislation I have ever read.  May the Lord grant his church guidance at this most important GA this summer.  I have a sense that this GA could prove to be a big turning point in the young denomination's history.  I think it will go a long way (one way or the other) in curing the PCA's long standing and self-confessed identity crisis.

*Go to the link and click on overture 24.

New Song

Check out Matt Haeck's new song here via video.  Click on the videos button and go to "the brite sessions" to watch and hear the new song.

And The Heart of Man was Made Glad

The heart was made glad with the recent visit from our good friends the Schulte's.  They recently relocated from Germany back to the ye ole USA and were able to swing through Nebraska before going to their new home in San Antonio.  We had an amazing time.  Lots of kids, lots of great brew (our 5th anniversary wine, chateauneuf-du-pape, and monk beer), porches, late talks under the summer moon, and the sweetest of fellowship.  Welcome back Schulte's, we hope to see you again sooner rather than later.  We love you.  Our hearts are warm.

After Death is the After-Party?

Six years later the cult phenomenon TV show LOST has signed off the air. I still remember when I first heard about the show. I thought it was some contemporary spin off from the Land of the Lost show I used to watch as a kid, where a family gets stuck on a prehistoric island full of dinosaurs and mystery. Well, LOST was sorta like that, yet mostly not like that. Come to find out, LOST was its own original beast. So after realizing its freshness, I had to make a decision as to whether or not I wanted to watch. As with other TV shows, I was dragged into watching this one by marital and peer pressure. My rib and my friends told me it was a necessity to watch this show. And given my proven areas of soft spined-ness, I of course agreed to watch.

The first three seasons were like a nicotine addiction. We just had to have the next episode. Watching the show on DVD was a must. Episode after episode we watched, entirely wrapped up with the mystery of the island and the compelling characters trying to find their way off. Our hats were tipped and our thumbs were up to a Television show that was doing something different, doing it well, and doing something character driven and plot sustained.

However, for me, the first three seasons were not like the last three. At the beginning of season 4 I thought I had some things nailed down. The first being that seasons 1-3 of the show were controlled by one overarching question: Do the survivors get off the island? At the end of season 3 that question was answered: some survivors get off the island. Good, I was satisfied with that. Then, I thought it genius that season 4 began with introducing the question: Should the survivors have gotten off the island? Well, I thought that the next three seasons would be controlled by this question. And I was wrong. No symmetry for me. The writers had something else in mind. Something about time warp, island demigods, a little pot of Irish lucky charms, temple people, alternate reality, the writing on the walls, a possessed Australian chic, and a smoke monster that can do anything but make a raft and get his royal smokeness off Hawaii.

Now of course, maybe its just me, but I got LOST somewhere (pun unfortunately intended). For me, the genius of the first three seasons was the character-driven-mystery plot. So consequently, the downer for me was the last three seasons being less-character driven and less-plot coherent. I could willfully suspend my disbelief with seasons 1-3, yet I could not do so with seasons 4-6. I could have just turned the show off. But for some reason I couldn’t. The hook was so far in my jaw at the end of the first three seasons that when I tried to wiggle out, it was more painful than just being reeled along. But now its all over. And that is a good thing.

And quite frankly I was not disappointed with the ending. I smelled a bad ending a long ways back. It was not surprising. The writers wrote themselves in a corner they could not easily escape from. Many things were not answered. But more disappointing was that the show seemingly goo’d up the ending by giving folks what they wanted all along. Jack and Kate together. Claire and Charlie. Sawyer and Juliette. Ben and Hurley (oh wait). It was an all too happy ending.

But I digress. As basketball players often say when asked about losing a game, “it is what it is.”

However, can there be a take away? Sure. First, the show was so popular because it scratches the aesthetic itch of our culture. Andrew Potter, the author of The Authenticity Hoax, writes that the dominant aesthetic of our culture right now is that of the “quirky.” No longer do people want cool (because that has been mass marketed), but people want quirk. Potter says, “the prevailing aesthetic [of our culture] is not cool but quirky, dominated by unpredictable and idiosyncratic mashups of cultural elements that bear no meaningful relationship to one another.” Sound familiar? Lost had a lot of elements that had trouble relating to one another. People like this. Mosaic’s not Mona Lisa’s are what’s new for fall.

What then does this say about culture? Well, I think we learn that incoherence is widely accepted today. The thought seems to be that truth is so mysterious that it cannot be understood. We are then left with incoherent experiences shared with other people. What we have is not reality but each other. The emphasis is on the many over-against the one.

From a Christian perspective there definitely seems to be room for affirmation here. We can affirm the mysterious nature of truth, yet without denying its objective existence. We can affirm community, yet without denying its situatedness (nobody really knew ‘when they were’ in Lost’). Indeed, as I have argued here before, the gospel creates a covenant community situated in redemptive history, rather than the convenient community situated outside of history (which seems to happen at the end of the Lost, Jack’s dad says ‘there is no here or now’).

Secondly, this show concluded with a bad variation on a monistic theme. All is one and one is all. Death is not the enemy, it’s a rock concert with an after party at a church where your favorite people will be dancing, smiling, and making out. Reincarnation is likely too. So make sure you remember what happened in your previous life. Maybe I am missing something, but this sentiment seemed to be some of what was communicated at the end of the show. And for me, it was an easy way out of what could have been a better show. Alas, it echoed a sentiment very popular in our culture that all roads lead to happy town, where Driveshaft leads the processional to the beat of ‘you are everybody’ while nobody sheds another tear. Really? Nah.

In conclusion, I think that Lost really Lost the plot, and the characters as well. I think it could have ended better. I think the writers are more creative than the last episode. I think they affirmed some of the beauty, mystery, and profundity of existence yet readily accepted current cultural assumptions without providing thoughtful challenges.  I mean come on, it is not just about the journey.  The destination matters.  It informs the journey.  In the end however, Lost made for some good Television. The writers knew what they were doing. Writing hour long episodes that hooked you into another hour. Yet in the end they left viewers with an incoherent TV experience that died alone, while we all wished that instead of watching the show, we had lived together.

5 Years!

Today marks our 5-year anniversary.  The years of marriage just keep getting better and better.  We are so thankful to be married to one another.  It has been such a sweet and marvelous gift.

in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, till death do us part.

A Covenant with a Caveat?

Jeremiah 33:20-22 says:  Thus says the LORD:  If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers.  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.

Then Jeremiah 33:25, 26 says:  Thus says the LORD:  If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then i will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.

Reading the prophet Jeremiah this morning I was struck by God's announcement of his covenant of grace with David and how it comes with a caveat.  But what a glorious caveat it is.  God promises in Jeremiah 33 that if there is a way to break his fixed order in the universe, that is the pattern of night and day, then his covenant with David and his offspring can be broken [i.e. the covenant of grace].  So there is a condition here.  But its a marvelous one.  God is saying basically, if you can do the impossible than he can do the impossible.  And what is impossible for God is to break his covenant of grace with his people in the same way that it is impossible for man to break the cycle and order of the universe.  Praise God for his faithfulness in that he did not fail to break his covenant with David, but provided the promised offspring, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the mediator of a better covenant, and in whom we are God's children now [1 John 3:1].   

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty; hold me with thy powerful hand;
Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more, feed me till I want no more

Open now the crystal fountain, whence the healing stream doth flow;
let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through;
strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer, be thou still my strength and shield, be thou still my strength and shield

When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell's Destruction, land me safe on Canaan's side;
songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever give to thee, I will ever give to thee

-Trinity Hymnal #598

Amen.  Grant fair voyage to your sheep, your elect exiles, through their journey here on Earth. Amen.

LeBron's gone fishin...likely in the Hudson River

The Celtics eliminated the Cavaliers in 6!  I was outloud cheering in the confines of my home.  It was exciting to watch.  The Celts have just come alive in the playoffs.  And the garden crowd is cheering like its 2008 all over again.  What an atmosphere, the crowd even began to chant "New York Knicks" when King James was at the line (due to the rumors he may be headed to New York this summer).  This is key, in the same way the Celtics must play playoff basketball, our home crowd needs to be playoff minded, no chant is really out-of-bounds in the playoffs.  Also something to watch, Rondo has entered into the core equation, "the big 4" is now all the talk, Rondo is a force to be dealt with.

Mike Brown is right, the Cavs never really found a rhythm in this series except for game 3.  But the catch is, I believe, that it is the Celtics defense that forced the Cavs into a funk.  When the Celtics won in this series, they held the Cavs in the 80's for points.  That is impressive.  And that is the only way the Celtics can win.  That is why we won in '08: man-up, feet moving, charge taking, double teaming, quick rotating, turnover creating defense.  I even saw Rasheed Wallace dive for a loose ball!  An incredible feat. 

So off to Orlando we go.  This is the rematch I have been waiting for since my son came into the world.  Last year we went up 3-2 against Orlando (remember "big baby's" game winning shot in Orlando, I fell out of the hospital chair in our recovery room, I think I scared a nurse:) only to fall two straight games and get knocked out.  But this year the Big Ticket is back.  This does mean something.  He has been incredible in the playoffs thus far.  And we have Perkins and a newly awakened Rasheed Wallace in the low post...I would hate to be Dwight Howard.  Superman's cape is liable to get ripped by those two!  At any rate, we are a different team, this is going to be a great rematch.

At the same time Orlando is playing great, and they can be brutal.  Their three-point shooting is demoralizing.  They have so many weapons and they have the confidence of not having lost a playoff game yet this year.  But have they been tested?  Not too much in my opinion, we'll see how they respond when the Celtics come to town.  As always, should be fun.

Win or Go Home

Regular readers of this blog know that I called the Cavs-Celtics series with Boston winning in 6.  Tonight they have the opportunity to do just that.

I really only see two scenarios.  Either we beat the Cavs tonight and close out the series, or LeBron makes an epic comeback to silence his critics and the Cavs run over Boston in two straight games.  Bottom line, I just don't see the Celtics winning in Cleveland in Game 7.

On the other hand, Boston is playing its best basketball of the season.  I don't think the Cavs have handed us the series, I think the Celtics have gone out and beat the Cavs.  And we have done so with our defense.  If we bring our "A" game tonight, I think the series is over.  Should be a fun game to watch.

This also happened recently...

How cool.

Happy Birthday Son!!

                                                                             May 9th was our son's first birthday!

                                                                              We celebrated with family and friends.

                                                                It was great. How time flies!!!

More on the Law and the Gospel

So, in my book review of John Colquhoun's treatise on the Law and the Gospel I state that I believe it is the most important book right now that both pastors and laypersons can put on their shelves (obviously, next to the Bible).  I believe this because of the mass confusion of the law and gospel that is prevalent in evangelical circles of all different stripes.  And to confuse these things is to miss the gospel.   

Well, don't just take my word for it.  Billy Graham's grandson and megachurch pastor Tullian Tchividjian is saying similar things about the importance of distinguishing between law and gospel over at his blog (ht:  The Heidelblog).  He says that when one confuses law and gospel it inevitably leads to a "toxic moralism."  Right on Tullian.

More reason to check out Colquhoun's book.  It is the best thing I have read on the law and the gospel.  Highly recommended.

A Cocoon of Self Banishment

All alone, traveling 30,000 feet in the air, sitting aloof and watching the world go by at a distance. That is how George Clooney’s character is first seen in Jason Reitman’s critically acclaimed film Up in The Air that my wife and I were finally able to watch the other night. Clooney’s character, Ryan Bingham, lives a life of constant motion in airports and out of suitcases. He works for a ‘transistion company’ who’s job it is to fire people for companies whose CEO’s are too chicken to do their own dirty work. Clooney’s character is really indifferent to this aspect of his work. He just travels and travels to reach his life goal of racking up 10 million miles on American Airlines. However, his goal changes when he runs into the romantic interest of the film Alex Goran, played by Vera Farmiga. You’ll have to watch to see how things turn out.

However, this movie at its core did not strike me as a romance. It was more a drama-comedy or some other sort of hybrid genre (which usually has good results). We laughed, we cried, and we thought a lot about contemporary life throughout the film. And we saw a few themes come to the surface throughout the film that were developed quite well.

For starters, the film seemed to touch on the isolation of this ‘connected’ culture and the irony therein. That is, we have all this technology that seeks to be connectional, yet it has the result of producing more alienation than community. One example of this found in the film is when Clooney’s character gets a travel partner (Anna Kendrick’s character Natalie) who’s boyfriend breaks up with her via text message. How’s that for connectionalism? Is not face to face still best? That sounds familiar (one of WSC’s promo motto’s right?).

This theme then comes to the fore when Clooney’s partner, Natalie, observes how Clooney lives, and then tells him off (which is a funny scene in the film) saying that he has created “a cocoon of self-banishment,” and that his life is an “isolated life” that is concerned with no one but himself. He uses his travel and technology to hide behind.

And in seeing this I couldn’t help recall the recent articles I have read about how this generation and its technology has created a ‘new narcissism’ (see this article). This ‘new narcissism’ is something the film seems to affirm and depict quite well. Community via virtual reality, is no reality at all. Now, of course, we don’t want to say that some of the new ‘connectional’ technology has no benefits. It absolutely does. But when it serves as an end in itself, and not as a means, then technology can be a problem, a false idol if you will (you don’t know how many folks I have met who tell me that “their whole life is on their i-phone,” which seems spooky to me). Even Clooney himself has a problem with his company wanting to fire people via a ‘webinar.’ After all, that’s just not classy.

One other theme that has been on mind, and the thing that hit me most deeply in the movie is the talk of life’s lack of meaning. At one point, Clooney’s sister is having a wedding and her fiancé gets cold feet. Clooney’s character then has the job of getting him down the aisle again. But the guy laments to Clooney that there is no point in life and thus no point to his marriage. In striking dialogue, Clooney agrees that there is no point, but that a life in community is better than one lived in isolation (which seems to be a ‘light bulb moment’ for Clooney’s character). Clooney’s words then convince the fiancé out of his cold feet.

The scene depicts well this generations concern and longing for community, albeit a community that is without commitment. You know, having friends you can delete with the click of a mouse on facebook. Relationships you can destroy over text-message. Firing employees over the internet. You get the point. Virtual community is a covenient community (rather than a covenant community) that has minimal commitment and thus fleeting benefits at best.

So as Christians, how can we think about this film and some of these themes? Well, just a few thoughts. Indeed, a lot could be said. First, I think we would want to affirm the value of community and the value of marriage but for different reasons than the movie put forward. You see, I thought the movie kind of implied a soft annihilationism. Meaning, nothing happens to us when we die, its just over. This view then renders no point to life. Thus, we might as well get married and settle down, so we can live a pointless life together. This was sad to watch. As Christians we want to affirm that there is a sacred meaning to marriage not just a pragmatic one. There is great significance to it. It is a covenant, not merely a companionship to soothe an existential crisis.

Secondly, we can affirm as Christians that community can be built on ultimate things. Indeed the gospel creates a community founded on ultimate things and not just pen-ultimate things. The movie seems to imply that community is mere therapy. Our Christian scriptures however seem to place a higher premium on community. It is like a body, with no part being insignificant, and all parts having gifts for one another. This is more than mere therapy.

In conclusion, this movie was definitely a ‘life under the sun’ type movie. It offers a very good depiction of the vanity found in our toil under the sun. And it does this with all the appropriate updates of modern life. Yet as with most ‘under the sun’ films, this one fails to offer the same conclusions that the epilogue to the great ‘under the sun’ book of all time, the book of Ecclesiastes, seems to offer. And that conclusion is of course that life has meaning when we fear God and keep his commandments. That is the point. True connectionalism then flows from the fact that God has connected with us. Even though we all want to create a cocoon of self-isolation, God graciously shatters that cocoon we build, and he does so in the person and work of Christ Jesus, who was banished and exiled to the cross on our behalf, in order to connect us back to the eternal God of creation. Freeing us by an everlasting marriage, and opening us up to a community founded on his commitment to us so that we can then commit to one another. The point of life then is not ‘up in the air’ as the movie depicts, but rather it is grounded in the relationship we have with our creator.

(I also don't want to fail to mention some of the great Omaha shots in the film.  Watch the deleted scenes on the DVD, they did a lot of shooting in the Old Market).

A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel

The good folks over at Modern Reformation magazine were kind enough to publish a book review I wrote for John Colquhoun's book A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel.  I really recommend this book.  It has recently been republished and is worth the money and the read.  Click on the link to purchase this book.  You won't regret it.

This Just In: Man Wakes From Year-Long Nap

And that man is Rasheed Wallace, who last night actually played the basketball he is capable of and racked up 17 points to help give the Celtics a big win in Cleveland last night.  Its about time big fella! Where has this game been all year?  Wholly smokes, he actually posted up and took it to the rack and made his threes.  Excellent.  He had a huge game, great to see him finally step up.  It seemed like he had been napping all year.

Now, should we expect this every game?  No.  But each game someone from the Celtics bench needs step up and play, it may be a different player every night.  But I sure hope Rasheed has some more games like this in the post-season. 

We can take the Cavs if we keep it up with our classic Celts defense (we held the Cavs to 86 points), keep moving the ball on offense, and we really need to cut down turnovers and make sure we rebound.  Let LeBron get his points, we need to stop Mo and Jamison.  Doc said in the post game that the Celts can only win as a team.  They cannot rely on an all-star to bail them out.  Everybody has to play to their potential.  And I would say that when this happens, the Celtics are really tough to beat.

This is old school

Well, in order to get pumped for the next playoff series with the Celtics, it is always good to watch this video.  I love it.  Kurt Rambis and Kevin McHale, epic.  Rambis, sporting the disgustache and the horn-rimmed glasses, epic as well. 

And just to celebrate 80's NBA basketball, here are a few more clips:

Check this out (there are not commentators like this anymore).

And I had to post the famous call.