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On March 13, 2019 By In Scribblings, Theology, Wisdom, Worship

Herbertian Lessons for Lent

Guest post from Brian G Daigle, Headmaster of Sequitur Classical Academy

I live in an area where Mardi Gras is in full swing, and I can remember from my upbringing that Fat Tuesday was a last-ditch effort at debauchery before the pseudo-spiritual practice of “giving something up for Lent” really began. In my youth, I would give up some kind of chocolate or candy, something that appeared to be a fast, and I would join others around me in sharing with friends and family what I’ve given up and why. Around day thirty it would turn into some kind of joke about how long I’ve been able to go without this first-world luxury. My aristocratic sacrifice was hardly creating in me a clean heart. Those imaginings still haunt me and each year I must consider anew why this kind of extended fast ought to be recognized. (more…)

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On March 5, 2019 By In Politics, Theology, Worship

What is Shrove Tuesday?

Shrove Tuesday is a day of feasting. It marks the conclusion of the Epiphany Season. On this day, the Church feasts before she enters into a more solemn and penitential season called Lent, which is referred to as a Season of Confession.

Shrove Tuesday is celebrated with a pancake dinner, which is accompanied by eggs and syrup (bacon can be added–and it should).

This day provides the Church an opportunity to celebrate once again the abundance of the Gospel in our lives and in the world. The glory of the Epiphany season is that Jesus has given us life and life more abundantly (Jn.10:10). Following the rich feasting tradition of our Hebrew forefathers, the English speaking Church has broadly practiced Shrove Tuesday for over 800 years.

What’s the Importance of this day?

As a tradition of the Church and not an explicit teaching in the Bible, the individual or churches are not bound by such traditions. However, if churches do practice this, it is important for members to join in this festive occasion. It provides the Church with another healthy excuse to fellowship and forms greater bonds through a delightful and bountiful meal.

On the day before we enter into the Lenten Story where Jesus commences his journey to the cross, Christians everywhere in the English speaking world will prepare rightly by celebrating God’s gifts to us, so that we can rightly meditate, fast, pray, confess and repent by remembering the sufferings of Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2).

What if my Church does not do Shrove Tuesday?

Assuming the congregation is silent on the issue and has not taken any strong constitutional or theological position on the matter, then as a family, you are also free to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. You may also want to invite friends over to enjoy a pancake dinner.

To Shrive

Traditionally, Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40 days of Lent (Sundays excluded from this number). Whether your Church has an Ash Wednesday service or not, Shrove Tuesday is still valid as a way of celebrating the Christ who has given us all things, including His own body for our sakes (I Pet. 2:24).

Shrove comes from the word shrive meaning to confess. As we celebrate this evening, let us not forget that the Christian life is, as Luther stated, a “life of daily repentance.” Confession is not just reserved for Lent, but it is for all seasons. But on this Lenten Season, we receive a particular reminder (through our liturgical readings and singing) that a repentant heart is a clean heart before God (Ps. 51:2).

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On February 3, 2019 By In Worship

Seeing Christ

No one understands. Though everything has been plainly revealed, no one can get his mind wrapped around just what it means for Jesus to be the Christ. Throughout the Gospel of Luke, it is clear that those we might think would understand don’t.

Joseph and Mary, though given specific and dramatic revelation from angels, don’t understand. When finding Jesus in the Temple after having lost him for three days, they don’t understand that it is necessary for Jesus to be about “the things of his Father.” (Lk 2.49-50) This lack of understanding plagues Jesus’ disciples throughout. Even though Peter confesses that Jesus is “the Christ of God,” he doesn’t know what being “the Christ” entails. When Jesus tells his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, be killed, and on the third day be raised, they don’t understand. (Lk 9.21-22) Even when he tells them, “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men,” they did not understand what he was saying. (Lk 9.44-45) Even toward the end of his ministry, when he told them again that he was about to die, they didn’t understand. (Lk 18.31-34) After his death, his disciples still don’t understand. Two disciples on the Road to Emmaus speak to the Christ who is hidden from their eyes, telling him all about “Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,” and how the chief priests and rulers “delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.” They had “hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (Lk 24.19-21)

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On January 31, 2019 By In Theology, Worship

The Sacramental God

Saint Augustine famously wrote that the sacraments are visible signs of invisible graces. a This definition helps us understand the two sacraments of the Protestant church, surely, but with a little bit of imagination, one can read through the whole of the Scriptures and see sacraments, or at least sacramental imagery, on every page.

For example, in Genesis 1, God set the sun to govern the day and the moon to govern the night. Every day when the sun rises, men rise with it and when the sun sets, men sleep. Throughout Scripture, sleep is representative of death ( Job 14:10-12, Ps. 13:3, Mark 5:39, etc.), so it seems that the cycle of night and day which governs our lives points to the greater reality of death and resurrection. When we go to sleep, we die. When the sun rises, we are born again. In this way, when Christ rose, He signified the rising of a new creation as Colossians 1:15 teaches us, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” As the rising sun governs our day, the risen Son governs all of our lives.

Genesis 2 tell the creation story of what I believe to be perhaps the most meaningful, though that’s not to say the most important, sacramental image of all: mankind. Like water, bread, and wine, the elements that make up Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, Adam was created out of a basic element. Dust. God did not choose the most radiant of his newly formed creation, the sun, to be His image bearer on earth. Nor did He choose animals that will later be used to symbolically describe the Lord, such as the lion or lamb. Instead, God chose to transform the most basic element of His creation into His own representative, fashioning the dust into a being made in His own likeness. It was into the dust of the ground that God breathed His Spirit into. God presented man as His visible representative on earth, just as later Christ presented bread and wine as representations of His body and blood.

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  1. Augustine, On The Catechising of the Uninstructed, 26.50.  (back)

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On January 28, 2019 By In Theology, Worship

Epiphany as the paradigm for discipleship

Epiphany is a season of growth represented by the color green which is a fitting way to train the Christian to see this season as a paradigm for discipleship. There is—I believe—a case to be made that different phases of Church life offer us different ways of growing in the faith. But Epiphany clearly establishes a pattern for discipleship. When we consider the gifts of the magi in light of the overwhelming biblical data, we can develop a model of discipleship that is both biblical and practical.

Training our Bodies

Our evangelical churches stress the importance of discipleship. It is good and necessary. But discipleship in broader evangelicalism is often discussed in the context of intellectual learning; a fact-finding mission. I propose there is more to discipleship than facts. Discipleship in the Bible is also the cultivation of bodily postures and biblical manners. The Bible trains us to move and live and to have our being in God. Any model of discipleship that does not include learning to kneel, raise hands, eat, sing, bless, receive, give, sit, stand is dishonoring biblical discipleship. When we formulate discipleship curriculum without incorporating common biblical rituals, we are secularizing biblical formation and turning it into an encyclopedic course fit for the Bible trivia team.

But discipleship is for the little babies and every person whom Jesus claims as his own. If we see discipleship as training in worship, then bodily actions make sense. This is the common thread of the Psalter and other prophetic writings.

Epiphany is training in bodily postures because worship demands our bodies as well as our souls. We have too often looked at worship as only an exercise in listening and gathering data. We want to listen; we want our children to listen and to learn facts about God, but more than that our goal in discipling our children and one another is to worship through bodily habits that form them into God-honoring saints.

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On January 25, 2019 By In Worship

The Gospel Invitation

Is there a Gospel invitation? To many evangelical Christians, the answer to that question is an unqualified “yes.” Some calvinists, reacting against the misleading character of the “altar call,” seem less interested in inviting men to anything than they are in sending men away to think about the message they have heard. The answer to this conflict is to understand that the Gospel invitation is an invitation to come into Jesus’ house and have supper with Him. The psychological instinct in the “altar call” is correct: Men should do something and come somewhere in response to the call of the Gospel. Physical response, holistic response by the whole person, is the proper response to the Gospel. It is a perversion to hide the Lord’s Supper from view and to ask men to make some hidden, inward motion of the “soul” in coming to Christ. The Biblical gospel addresses the whole man, and the whole person is expected to respond.

To come into Jesus’ house to eat His Supper, a person has to cross the threshold of the house. That threshold crossing is the sacrament of Baptism. We do not invite men to be baptized; we invite them to come in and eat, but they must cross the threshold and be baptized before they can sit down. In the parable of the wedding supper (Matt. 22:1-13), one man shows up without the proper garment. Obviously, he did not come in through the door, or he would have been washed and given one (cf. also John 10:1-9).

It is interesting to note how the Greek philosophical influence has gutted Scripture of its clear meaning for so much of Christendom. In Revelation 3:20, for example, Christ asks to be admitted to the church so that He can participate in His own Supper! This, however, is instinctively read by the modern mind as “asking Jesus into your heart,” which the passage really has next to nothing to do with. Revelation 3:20 is speaking of the covenant meal.

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On December 29, 2018 By In Culture, Family and Children, Men, Politics, Theology, Worship

Extending the Christmas Season

Guest post by Steve Wilkins written on  December 23, 2016 & published by permission

Stretching Christmas
For many people Christmas comes on December 25 and is over December 26. The tree is taken down along with the lights and the other decorations, and everyone begins setting the house in order for the new year. No more Christmas hymns. No more celebrations (well, until New Year’s Eve). Christmas comes but once a year – and thanks be to God, because we’re exhausted!

So, if I were to ask, “How’s your Christmas going?” most people would give me the blank stare. But according to our calendar (and I mean the Church calendar), Christmas is just getting started on December 25. Christmas day is just the beginning of a “season” numbering twelve days (the “twelve days of Christmas”).

During this season of celebration we remember not only our Savior’s birth (the feast of the Nativity on December 25) but our first martyrs (St. Stephen, December 26), St. John the evangelist, and the murder of the boy babies in Bethlehem by Herod (“The Feast of Holy Innocents”). Then on January 1, we commemorate the circumcision of Jesus (circumcised on the 8th day). All that before closing out our celebration of Christmas with the Feast of Epiphany on January 6!

Christmas is intended to be a “season,” not just a day.

You say, “But who can stand this? By Christmas day I’m already worn down to my last frazzle!”

Well, granted, given the way things are presently, changing our practice and getting into the new rhythm of the Church calendar is going to take some time — and realistically, it may now be impossible to turn the culture away from the present “tradition.” I’m not quite sure how to go about it or what it would look like. But somehow, I think it would be good to try to get back to the old rhythm of the Christmas season.

The fact that we have lost the rhythm of the various “seasons” has contributed, at least in part, to the fleeting joy (and often extended depression and disappointment) we have during these times — and here, I’m speaking especially about Christmas — the celebration is simply too brief to be appreciated fully. The traditional Christian calendar gives us a different rhythm for life and time — especially Christmas time.

And following the Christian calendar is not just another way to thumb our noses at secular ideas of the “Christmas season.” The twelve days are important because they give us time to reflect on what the incarnation and birth of Jesus means. We need the twelve days to celebrate the wonder of God becoming man and all that was accomplished by our Savior.

Why twelve days? No one knows for sure. Perhaps this was to be an analogy to the twelve tribes of the old Israel that have now been transformed into the new Israel. Or maybe the 12 days signify the twelve months of the year pointing to the fact that Christ is with us not just one day but year-round.

Whatever the intention, the twelve days give us an opportunity truly to rejoice and reflect on the great mercy and grace of God in giving us His Son.

We have been baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection and have now entered the “new heavens and new earth” (though not yet perfected). Whether we are called to martyrdom, or to prophetic witness, or simply to faithful living in the joys and sorrows of our daily lives, we must live all of our days in the knowledge of our blessedness: redeemed by Jesus and in Him made acceptable and beloved in God’s sight. We are part of the society of people whose world has been turned upside down, and we are to live out this truth that overturned the old world and made all things new.

Observing Christmas as a season helps us to move beyond the sentimentalism that has become so much a part of “Christmas” and commemorate the true significance of Jesus’ birth. It enables us to see that Jesus’ coming truly transforms all things. It marked the end of the old world (under the dominion of sin and death) and the beginning of the new. And it reminds us of our new identity and purpose. We are now children of the King and are called to rejoice and give thanks and show the world the new destiny that now has come in Him. To celebrate for twelve days (as opposed to one) enables us to realize afresh the significance of what happened in Bethlehem and it declares to the world the remarkable reality that Jesus has destroyed the works of the devil and established a kingdom that shall have no end.

So, I don’t know exactly how to begin to do this, but it sure seems like a good idea to me. Stretching Christmas out over a number of days — making it a more full (and perhaps a more relaxing and refreshing) celebration — might bring far more benefits than frustrations; it just might bring us more joy than worry; more peace and less hustle and fuss. Whaddaya say? I think we should give it a shot.

Steve Wilkins is Pastor of Church of the Redeemer in West Monroe, Louisiana.

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On December 16, 2018 By In Theology, Worship

Singing In The New Creation

In the beginning there was God and nothing else. Then Word carried by Spirit begins to pulse in harmonious tones into the nothingness. A world outside of God himself begins to appear. The song sung by the Triune God creates and begins to shape the world. As each element in the cosmos comes into being through this song, the song continues to reverberate in each created thing’s existence. The morning stars created by the song echo back and enhance the song as they become millions of voices (cf. Job 38.7). Mountains and hills, raised from their watery darkness, break forth into singing as they emerge. The trees that spring from the earth clap their hands (cf. Isa 55.12). Sea creatures, birds, and land animals all take up the song and sing the song of their Creator. Then the song shapes the dust of the earth into the form of a man and breathes the song into him. And when the woman is created from the man, the song is then sung in praise to God for the woman.

God is musical. God is a singer. His speech is glorified, and his glory cloud is made up of angelic hosts who surround him with music. The prophet Zephaniah says that he exults over us with loud singing (Zeph 3.17). Is it any wonder why, then, from the beginning of our existence, music and singing have been so prevalent? We are images of the Great Musician. His song, his image, vibrates through every fiber of our being. We are intended to continue this song, continuing to shape and create the world in harmony with God. (more…)

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On November 27, 2018 By In Worship

Pastoral Blues on Monday Morning.

Early in my pastoral work I often wondered why I was on such spiritual high on Sunday and somewhat depressed on Monday morning. I still ponder that question today. I would and still wake up without much enthusiasm. It was a fairly distinct feeling than the previous Sunday morning. Sunday gives me a rush. Perhaps it is due to the spiritual component that comes with a high liturgical service where kneeling and standing and singing and confessing do not allow the body to remain passive, motionless. Preaching is also a unique sensation. To this day, when I walk up to the pulpit, my heart still races. I am ready to address my congregation as if it were my first time. In my case, it’s almost the 500th time and still, every Sunday feels fresh and that same insecurity coupled with boyish eagerness still strikes at about 9:50 AM each Lord’s Day.

Sundays are full days for ministers. After the service is over there are the enlivening conversations consisting of life updates, sermon-follow ups, general back and forth about casual day-to-day issues, setting appointments to meet during the week, eating, and sometimes serious counseling issues and more. Every pastor knows that after the service, there is much more energy to be poured. As I say, it’s enlivening, but emotionally draining. The afternoons continue to feed off morning worship. Hospitality and friendships continue. The joy of following up with visitors, the remaining melodies of hymns and psalms are hummed throughout, family responsibilities and the entire Sunday is consumed. And there was evening and there was morning, day one.

When Monday arrives, most pastors I talk to find themselves unhappy, bewildered by the newness of the week as if they’ve never been at this stage of the week before. Some take the day off. I refuse to do so. There is something powerful about beginning things early in the week. At least two pastors I spoke with said they had a hard time getting out of bed on Monday mornings. They are not lazy people. In fact, these guys get up quite early during the week, but Mondays they generally cannot. So what’s the cause? It can’t be a rare phenomenon because it’s too common among people in my field. In fact, it’s not common in other professions.

One obvious explanation is that Mondays are days where exhaustion appears most frequently. This makes sense. On Sunday, pastors uphold a high degree of alertness and awareness, emotional stability, and outward energy before, during and after church and when Monday comes as surely as the sun, all that is spent. Jared Wilson observes:

On Monday mornings I enter my office and find that, like Sisyphus, the stone I spent the week previous pushing up the hill lay at the bottom again, ready for another go. Monday morning I must pastor. But what kind of must?

Sometimes it’s a half-hearted must; a weak and overwhelmed must. But shepherding must go on.

Sundays are the culmination of lots of things: the delivery of a sermon worked, meditated and prayed over all week, the administration of the sacraments which is anticipated throughout the week, the face to face interaction with all your people at once. It’s completion embodied and enjoyed. In sum, Sundays are Sabbath rests; days of pastoral repose; for the pastor, Sunday is the “very good” of creation. It is easier to see God’s hands at work. Mondays are the beginning of a new construction project. New beginnings are daunting, overwhelming and mentally challenging. As Jared Wilson so appropriately summarizes the pastoral vision for Monday:

My first thoughts on Monday mornings are to my fatigue and all I must do, but I must push them into thoughts of Christ, all he is and all he has done. There lies the vision that compels my will.

Let Christ shepherd us when we are weak. Let him compel us to work for the kingdom as he takes our burdens and gives us rest.

 

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On September 24, 2018 By In Theology, Worship

The Environs of the Spirit

In Luke’s two-volumes, The Gospel of Luke and Acts, the Holy Spirit has a prominent place in the life of Jesus and his church. Whenever the Spirit shows up, our minds should race back to the first place we see him in Scripture: brooding in the darkness over the newly created, unformed and unfilled world. He is the Breath of God that carries the Word to tear apart and put everything back together in a new unified, fruitful relationship: light and darkness, waters above and waters below, seas and dry land, vegetation and ground, and man and woman. All of this is done with an eye on creating an environment for God and man to dwell together (Rev 21.3). (more…)

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