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On September 19, 2019 By In Worship

A Brief Letter to Union Theological Seminary

Dear Union Theological Seminary,

I am a gigantic supporter of seminary education. I think our expectations of ministers who handle God’s Word should at the very least include formal training. Seminaries continue to be the place where a combination of scholarship and dialogue with world-class scholars in their field all come together. My training was fantastic! I thank God daily for it! I would walk into John Frame’s office to talk about Kuyper and then run into Simon Kistemaker and talk about Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, then pray with Mark Futato. Thank you, Reformed Theological Seminary!

You see, there is one thing that holds a good Christian institution together, and that is loyalty to their mission. If an institution is to remain faithful, she must submit to the God of all knowledge. God guides the mission of theological and biblical training. If you are to train future ministers and theologians, they must uphold the traditional and classic virtues of Christendom. However, if you choose the changing theological winds of the day, your legacy will perish.

In the early 1930s, Dietrich Bonhoeffer graced your facility. But even back then, almost 90 years ago, he was not impressed. He wrote concerning your institution:

“A seminary in which numerous students openly laugh during a public lecture because they find it amusing when a passage on sin and forgiveness from Luther’s de servo arbitrio is cited has obviously, despite its many advantages, forgotten what Christian theology in its very essence stands for.”

Congratulations! You have been a joke to many for almost a century. You have laughed at sin, and now sin openly laughs at you. It was only a few months ago that your president, Serene Jones, observed that heaven, miracles, and resurrection of Jesus as Greek mythology. Here is the truth: the idea that you still dare call your yourself a “seminary” institution is the real myth. You are no such thing. But here is where I think you are being consistent and applaud your efforts: I believe that confessing your hopes and dreams to plants is precisely what you need to do from now on. Let’s be honest: God does not hear the cries of the unrepentant wicked, so confessing anything to plants is your only refuge and strength. Once the Creator God is forsaken, the only thing for you to identify with is the created thing. May the plants guide your future!

Yours truly,
Rev. Uriesou Brito

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On August 13, 2019 By In Worship

Indwelt Reading: A Proposed Model for Reading the Bible

The great Michael Scott once said: “I am optimistic, but every day I get a little more desperate.” I don’t wish to play into the apocalyptic cheerleaders’ game, but I do want to say there is a crisis of biblical literacy in our culture. It’s not for lack of Bibles. “Almost nine out of 10 households (87 percent) own a Bible, according to the American Bible Society, and the average household has three.”a We have come a long way from Gutenberg. We have so many Bible translations that I am afraid to update my Bible Software for fear they will give me six more translations I won’t read. With the progress of linguistic studies, we are living in an age where a tribe without any written language can actually have a language developed and written for them by gifted missionaries. It’s the modern-day gift of tongues.

Yet, I get a little more desperate, especially when I consider the methodologies for Bible reading. As LifeWay Research concludes:

Americans also differ in how they approach reading the Bible. Twenty-two percent read a little bit each day, in a systematic approach. A third (35 percent) never pick it up at all, while 30 percent look up things in the Bible when they need to. Nineteen percent re-read their favorite parts, while 17 percent flip open the Bible and read a passage at random. A quarter (27 percent) read sections suggested by others, while 16 percent say they look things up to help others.


It’s not for lack of trying. Every major Bible site has some kind of Bible reading plan. Pastors encourage their people to read the Bible in one year and for the weak, there is even a three-year plan. There are Bibles designed so you can read through it at a certain length of time. I applaud such efforts and I know many who have conquered the limits and distractions of every day. But in my eleventh year of pastoral ministry, what I have found are frustrated Bible readers, defeated Christians who have tried so much and failed to achieve the prize of finally reading Revelation 22:21.b

A Proposed Model

I want to propose a Bible reading plan for you. It’s likely not new.c I am not going to ask you to read through the whole Bible in 30 or 365 days. If you wish to go that route, I encourage you. But for those who have tried and returned empty, I am not going to bind you to any sort of commitment that will likely leave you feeling guilty when you do not achieve the desired goal or find yourself 18 chapters behind the schedule. I have seen this too often.

I propose something I call “Indwelt Reading.”d Here’s the way it goes. Instead of seeking to read the Bible chronologically, you dwell in a particular book or section of the Bible for long periods of time. As a family, you may wish to read through James in a month. It’s highly practical and short. Another example is Ruth with 85 verses. You can read this book in 7-8 minutes. If you decide to dwell in Ruth for a whole month and succeed at reading through it 20-30 times, you will have a remarkable knowledge of its details and themes.

If every book of the Bible is truly a miniature Gospel, then you can sit and ponder anew passages that you often overlooked. Instead of viewing Bible reading as a 5K run, you should view it as a long marathon where you stop every few minutes to enjoy for a considerable time the lovely vistas of nature around you. The Bible is not a competition, it’s an experience of learning and growing in the very words of our Lord; it’s the composition of heaven’s music given to men.

What about longer books? I have taken the task of reading through Genesis in 2019. My goal is to read it at least four times. It’s doable and provides an incredible framework for studying any future book since the basis of everything else in the Bible is formed in that first book. With the Psalms, one can take the Psalms of Lament for a whole month or something similar.

Further, this model will help you to see words and ideas you never stopped to ponder in your hurry to finish the 5K in the past. You allow the Word of God to dwell in you richly instead of dwelling in it for a quick hotel stop or water break at a run. One of the benefits of this is that you will become highly comfortable with the furniture and layout of a particular book. In this process, I would urge you to read from one Bible. I like the idea of knowing where verses and ideas are found on a particular page.

Let me know your thoughts after you try it for a few weeks and please let me know what book or section you chose. I hope it’s as beneficial to you as it has been to me.

  1. https://lifewayresearch.com/2017/04/25/lifeway-research-americans-are-fond-of-the-bible-dont-actually-read-it/   (back)
  2. In a liturgical congregation one will have the opportunity to hear three lessons; a vastly more sober model than most evangelical churches that barely read any Bible except the sermon text.  (back)
  3. One reader said that John MacArthur proposed something like this  (back)
  4. The idea simply stems from Colossians 3:16 where Paul says that the word of God should dwell in you richly  (back)

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On July 21, 2019 By In Family and Children, Theology, Worship

A Baptism Exhortation

But why do you call Me `Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say? “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. “But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6.43-49)

Prayer: Almighty God, who formed the earth out of water and through water by your word, who saved Noah and his family through water while destroying the wicked, who delivered your people Israel through the Sea while defeating Pharaoh and his armies, all of which are types of baptism into Christ Jesus, we pray that you will look mercifully upon Diana, saving her with your people while destroying sin and death. May she, throughout her life, relying upon the grace you give to her this day, continue to mortify sin so that at the last day she may participate in the resurrection of the just and reign with Christ Jesus eternally. Amen

At the end of what is commonly called “the Sermon on the Plain,” Jesus speaks a parable to the great crowd of disciples. This parable is a contrast between two different people. These people aren’t different in what they hear or in the fact that they will face floods in their lives. Both hear, and both will be assaulted by floods. The only difference between these two people is what they do with the words of Jesus. One person lives according to Jesus’ words, and the other one doesn’t.

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On June 23, 2019 By In Worship

Re-Creative Praying

The night before Jesus chooses twelve men from his disciples to be apostles, he ascends a mountain and spends all night in prayer (Luke 6.12). The scene has echoes of the story of Jacob and his all-night wrestling match with the angel of Yahweh at the ford of the brook Jabbok (Gen 32.22-32). When the day dawns upon Jacob, he is a new man: Israel, the one who wrestles with God and prevails. When Jesus emerges from this night of prayer, a new Israel will be formed around him.

When Jacob wrestled with God that night, it was the culmination of all of his wrestling from the time he was in the womb. He wrestled with Esau in the womb and through their lives. He wrestled with Isaac. He wrestled with Laban for twenty years. What he discovered at the Jabbok that night was that God was the one with whom he had been wrestling the entire time.

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On June 17, 2019 By In Family and Children, Worship

Summer Vacation and the Necessity of Worship

As summer heats upon us, many of us will be vacationing all over the country. As a pastor, I have noticed that church members generally don’t think much about the role the summer season has on us as Christians. I am particularly troubled by Christians who treat vacation as not only a break from work but also a break from Church. To some, if vacation happens to involve a Sunday then so be it. It becomes the ideal day to travel to your favorite summer destination. After all, you are not missing work; you are only missing Church.

Hebrews does not treat this subject lightly. a  The author forbids the non-assembling of ourselves. He treats it as a kind of schism; division. Hebrews calls us not to forsake the gathering. The angels and archangels engage in heavenly worship day and night, and we are invited to join in this duty of worship each time we are gathered together on the Lord’s Day. After all, God has made us one.

Vacation is no substitute for worship. Missing the Lord’s Day gathering on vacation for any trivial reason is to mock the tearing of the veil, which gave us access to the heavenly throne of grace. It belittles the work of Christ who conquered our divisions and united us to Himself.

With that in view, here are a few things I recommend for those going on vacation this summer:

First, avoid falling into the trap that a few good Christians gathered at a camp or a resort constitute the Church on Sunday. You may enjoy Christian fellowship, be challenged by an exhortation, but this does not constitute heavenly worship. It may be simply a Bible study, but worship is not a Bible study; it is the very entrance of God’s people into the heavenly places through the work of the Spirit.

Second, before going on vacation google churches near the area. If you are not able to find a church that resembles yours, look to explore a bit outside your tradition. Learn to love the universal church. Find an evangelical congregation that loves the Bible.

Third, avoid making Sunday morning plans. Let your family–especially those who are not Christians traveling with you–know that Sunday worship is non-negotiable. If they are nominal Christians or unbelievers, let them know beforehand that their Sunday morning plans will not include your family. b There is no need to theologize about these issues with other family members or feel you have to offer a treatise on the matter (since it may lead to unnecessary arguing). Let them know if they insist, that this is a commitment you made as a family long ago.

Finally, when visiting other churches, teach your children (and yourself) to avoid criticizing the Church’s practices that differ from your own. Use this time to explain to the little ones about the beauty of the universal church.

The Lord’s Day is a day of rest. It is the feast God has prepared for you. Under normal circumstances,c there is no other place for you to be.

  1. Calvin reviews the nature of coming together that naturally ensued when the walls of partition were broken down: “It is an evil which prevails everywhere among mankind, that every one sets himself above others, and especially that those who seem in anything to excel cannot well endure their inferiors to be on an equality with themselves. And then there is so much morosity almost in all, that individuals would gladly make churches for themselves if they could; for they find it so difficult to accommodate themselves to the ways and habits of others.  (back)
  2. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord  (back)
  3. Of course, there are too many obvious reasons to not be in church like sickness, childbirth, and emergencies of every kind, though I argue that these are rarely the reason people do not come to church during vacation  (back)

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On June 5, 2019 By In Worship

What is Pentecost?

Many Christians know little about the Church Calendar, which means that many evangelicals will treat this Sunday like any other day. This Sunday marks the beginning of the Ordinary Season (not in the mundane or common sense, but the term comes from the word “ordinal,” which probably means “counted time”). This season is composed of 23-28 Sundays, and it fleshes out the mission of the Church. To put it simply, Pentecost is the out-working of the mission of Jesus through his people.

Some pastors–myself included–usually take these few months to focus on passages and topics pertaining to the specific life of the Church, and how the Church can be more faithful and active in the affairs of the world. The Pentecost Season emphasizes the unleashing of the Spirit’s work and power through the Bride of Jesus Christ, the Church.

Liturgically, many congregations wear red as a symbol of the fiery-Spirit that befell the Church. The Season brings with it a renewed emphasis on the Church as the central institution to the fulfillment of God’s plans in history. As such, it brings out the practical nature of Christian theology. Joan Chittister defines Pentecost as “the period of unmitigated joy, of total immersion in the implications of what it means to be a Christian, to live a Christian life” (The Liturgical Year, 171).

Pentecost as Spirit-Work

There is a Spiritlessness in Reformed teaching and worship today. Pentecost exhorts us to be spiritual (Spirit-led) while emphasizing the titanic role of the Third Person of the Trinity in beautifying the world to reflect the glory of the Father and the Son.

Calvin was known as the “Theologian of the Spirit.” This is hardly manifested in many of his followers who tend to flee from the implications of  Spirit-led applications, choosing a mental overdose of theological categories. However, the Spirit is crucial to the forming and re-forming of any environment. It communicates our thoughts, emotions, and prayers to our Meditator. The Third Person of the Trinity intercedes on our behalf in the midst of our ignorance (Rom. 8:26-30).

Further, the Spirit draws individuals (John 6:44) to enter into one baptized community of faith. The Spirit, in the words of James Jordan, is the “divine match-maker.” He brings isolated individuals into a Pentecostalized body, a body that has many parts, but one Head.

So, let us embrace this Season! Let us join this cosmic Pentecostal movement and embrace the mission of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

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On May 30, 2019 By In Worship

What Does the Ascension of Jesus Mean for Us?

The Church celebrates the Ascension of our Lord today. Since most churches are not able to have Thursday services, traditionally many of them celebrate Ascension on Sunday. The Ascension of Jesus is barely mentioned in the evangelical vocabulary. We make room for his birth, death, and resurrection, but we tend to put a period where God puts a comma.

If the resurrection was the beginning of Jesus’ enthronement, then the ascension is the establishment of his enthronement. The Ascension activates Christ’s victory in history. The Great Commission is only relevant because of the Ascension. Without the Ascension, the call to baptize and disciple the nations would be meaningless. It is on the basis of Jesus’ enthronement at the right hand of the Father that we image-bearers can de-throne rulers through the power and authority of our Great Ruler, Jesus Christ.

The Ascension then is a joyful event, because it is the genesis of the Church’s triumph over the world. Further, it defines us as a people of glory and power, not of weakness and shame. As Jesus is ascended, we too enter into his ascension glory (Col. 3:1) This glory exhorts us to embrace full joy. As Alexander Schmemann once wrote:

“The Church was victorious over the world through joy…and she will lose the world when she loses its joy… Of all accusations against Christians, the most terrible one was uttered by Nietzsche when he said that Christians had no joy.”

A joy-less Christian faith is a faith that has not ascended. Where Christ is we are.

And we know that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father. He is ruling and reigning from his heavenly throne. The Father has given him the kingdom (Psalm 2), and now he is preserving, progressing, and perfecting his kingdom. He is bringing all things under subjection (I Cor. 15:24-26).

We know that when he was raised from the dead, Jesus was raised bodily. But Gnostic thinking would have us assume that since Jesus is in heaven he no longer needs a physical body. But the same Father who raised Jesus physically, also has his Son sitting beside him in a physical body.  As one author observed:

Jesus has gone before us in a way we may follow through the Holy Spirit whom he has sent, because the way is in his flesh, in his humanity. a

Our Lord is in his incarnation body at the right hand of the Father. This has all sorts of implications for us in worship. We are worshipping a God/Man; one who descended in human flesh and who ascended in human flesh. He is not a disembodied spirit. He is truly God and truly man.

As we consider and celebrate the Ascension of our blessed Lord, remember that you are worshiping the One who understands your needs because he has a body just like you and he rejoices with you because he has a body just like you.skypebreaker.comстатистика ключевых слов гугл

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  1. Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World. Paraphrased  (back)

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On May 26, 2019 By In Theology, Worship

Something Old, Something New

With an accusatory tone, the people surrounding Jesus at Levi’s house queried, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink” (Lk 5.33). They demand an explanation for all of this feasting when it is obvious to them that it is supposed to be a time for fasting.

Jesus doesn’t give the inquisitors a nine-point explanation concerning the necessity of feasting in messianic eschatology. Instead, he talks about a wedding, garments, and wine. Their questions are being answered, but they are answered with rich biblical imagery, which leads the listeners to conclusions about who Jesus is and what he came to do.

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On April 23, 2019 By In Worship

10 Ways to Keep Easter Enthusiastically

Is Easter over?

Theologically, we know that the earthquake of Easter will reverberate until the Second Coming of Messiah. And liturgically, Easter is in no way over. In fact, Easter has just begun. The joy of Easter carries on until June 3rd, which means we still have 49 days of Eastertide. Easter is far from over and there is much more rejoicing to do in the next seven weeks.

The difficulty for many of us is keeping this Easter enthusiasm for such a lengthy period. The reason many evangelicals are ready to get to the next thing is because they lack a sense of liturgical rhythm. Lent took us through a 40-day journey, but the Easter joy takes us through a 50-day journey. Easter is superior to Lent not only in length of days but also in the quality of its mood. Lent prepares us to a journey towards Calvary, while Easter takes us through a victory march. Through Easter, we are reminded to put away our sadness and embrace the heavenly trumpet sound to all the corners of the earth. “He is risen!, He is risen!, He is risen!” The devil trembles, the enemies fear, the forces of evil shake, the sound of sin is silenced when death was defeated.

What does this mean? It means we must be busy in the business of celebrating. For dads and moms, young and old, we have much to do to preserve and pervade this season with jubilance. I want to offer ten ways we can do that in the remaining 49 days of Easter. a

10 Ways to Keep Easter this Easter Season!

First, we can invest time in our dinner table by reading the Resurrection narratives before each meal (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20-21.) These narratives will remind us and our children of the details of that monumental occasion in history. After reading these passages for a couple of weeks, you may wish to read the I Corinthians 15 text focusing on the centrality of the resurrection in the Gospel proclamation.

Second, begin each morning with the Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!” Response: “He is risen indeed!” Keep the rhythm of Easter fresh and vibrant in the home by opening the day with the liturgical responses of a resurrection people.

Third, keep fresh flowers in the home. Fresh flowers remind us of the re-birth of Jesus as he was birthed glorified from the tomb.

Fourth, add Easter hymns to the daily repertoire of family songs. Here is an easy to sing Easter hymn to the familiar tune of Ode to Joy.

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On April 21, 2019 By In Scribblings, Worship

Seeing is Becoming

A Meditation for this Easter Lord’s Day:

The old saying goes, “Seeing is believing.” And in many cases that is certainly true. However, in the Christian life seeing holds a far greater purpose than simply believing.  Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” a

The Triune God gathers His church this and every Lord’s Day around the Word and the Table that we might see our risen Lord.  We see Him in the songs we sing; we see Him in the love and grace we extend to one another; we see Him as we gather as one people where “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for [we] are all one in Christ Jesus” b; we see Him in all the Scriptures as they are read and preached; and we see Him in the bread and wine.

For us today, seeing is not just believing. Seeing is becoming! John the Beloved writes in 1 John 3:1-3:

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.”

The more clearly and affectionately we are able to see Jesus today and in the week ahead, the more we will be conformed into His likeness. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus encountered the risen Lord; their eyes were opened as they broke bread with Him, and their hearts burned within them as they listened to His Word. c

Therefore, “let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” d

On this Easter Sunday, taste and see that the Lord is good. And in the process we also will be transformed, sent out to flavor the world around us with His life and truth. AMEN!

  1. John 20:29  (back)
  2. Galatians 3:28  (back)
  3. Luke 24:30-32  (back)
  4. Hebrews 12:2-3  (back)

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