Race Versus Ethnicity, And A Good Laugh

Never, never have I laughed out loud when reading anything that had to do with race issues...until I read Thabiti Anyabwile's Biblical perspective on race (or true lack thereof, actually) in Proclaiming A Cross-Centered Theology:

" 'Race as biology' entrenches identity in physical appearance. Ethnicity is something that people of various physical appearances can permeate...ethnic identity definable apart from biology....So let me stake a claim right now: one-half of the T4G speaking panel is black. We call Ligon Duncan. Ligon has more knowledge of Earth, Wind and Fire and Bootsy Collins than most 'bruthas' I know. At T4G 2006, Ligon received from me a lifetime ghetto pass. He can roll with me anywhere. I didn't give the pass to Mark [Dever]. We claim C.J. Mahaney; C.J. is just plain cool. He's a brutha. And we claim John Piper. Piper preaches like a black man. He's a brutha. We don't claim Vanilla Ice. Ethnicity is not that permeable. This is a humorous way of illustrating something of the fluidity of ethnicity."

About his transformation from a racially motivated unregenerate bigot to a redeemed man descended from our common father Adam, Thabiti relates this comical anecdote:

"One of the high points of my more recent past was the privilege of speaking at the Twin Lakes Fellowship in Jackson, Mississippi. Twin Lakes is an annual gathering of PCA pastors, which is a polite way of saying there weren't many bruthas there. In the middle of the talk, it occurred to me where I was--an African-American with two hundred white men--in Mississippi in the woods at night. Now, you know that Jesus did that! Getting me from my racist past down to the woods of Mississippi was a supernatural demonstration of the power of the risen Christ."

Yesterday's Worship Set

God is so merciful to us as we gather on Sunday mornings - some are blessed to play an instrument, but all of us are blessed to sing and lift praises as one body to our Savior and King. These are the songs we used in our corporate worship yesterday.

Let the Praises Ring (we don't do the solo at 2:49, but I think my son could pull it off (; )

Love the Lord Your God

All I Have Is Christ

Healer which transitions marvelously into the chorus of...

How Great Is Our God

The World Tilting Gospel - Diving In

A couple of weeks ago I finished reading The World Tilting Gospel by Dan Phillips on my Kindle (Android Kindle app, more precisely). I think I bookmarked and highlighted enough material to keep me busy blogging for months. It will probably serve as my go-to hopper of ideas when my thoughts on other things are running at low ebb. And don't let that comment fool you; this isn't second rate stuff to be used only in case of emergency.

And so I begin:

"People leap for an experience, fall short of truth, and wander off lost and aimless. A truncated 'half-spell' has been substituted for the biblical Gospel. The 'nice bits' have been snipped out, isolated, and dolled up as more marketable. Folks have signed on without any real grasp of the Gospel in all its fullness and power." ~ Dan Phillips, The World Tilting Gospel

Ask me, I'll tell you that there are sometimes too many circus antics going on in Sunday morning church (not ours, but they're out there). If you tease people with a bedazzled Jesus, they'll likely not find the real Jesus or even care to know Him. That's just not cool.

I am also of the opinion that those of us who are leaders in our churches must carefully guard against trying to lead people to heaven with hype and must reject the temptation to go beyond what is properly felt zeal (nothing wrong with zeal in preaching) in order to stir up a greater 'response' to make ourselves feel better. People should respond to Truth, not just over-the-top oratory.

Good Job Dad, We're Late

Two of my five sons I drive to school each morning. They go to a private school that meets in a church just four miles down the road. On a typical morning, the lunches are packed (thanks, hon), the dishes are done (this guy) and I'm ready to roll in plenty of time to leave, but inevitably one of the boys has either: lost one shoe, not brushed his nasty teeth, not found pants to wear, or is nowhere to be found. If we're late, it's never my fault. I mean, really, it isn't.

So, just a few days ago we had a morning where our youngest was more distracted than usual in his preparation to leave and there were many loose ends (including his shoelaces) when it came time to leave. We ended up pulling out of the driveway at 8 a.m., when school is supposed to start. Not too big of a deal, since, as I've already mentioned, we only live four miles away.

We pulled into the parking lot at 8:06, and my dear youngster spies the clock on the dashboard and declares, with much cheek, "Good job, Dad, we're late!"

(Fear not, dear reader, for I dealt with the arrogant eight year old in a manner befitting the situation. However, let us continue on to the point....)

I got to thinking, as I drove away, that my boy had perfectly illustrated for me the way so many of us children of God treat our heavenly Father.

There's no money at the end of the month: Way to go, God, why didn't You provide?

Our spouse's health goes down the tubes: Good job, God, where you have been?

The job opportunity slips through our hands: Great, why didn't you help me, God?

The list goes on and on. Why are so quick to get grumpy with God Almighty? How dare we get snarky with the Savior!

Everyday I successfully deliver my kids to school. Everyday I work to earn the money they live on. Everyday I cook a warm, healthy, satisfying dinner they gobble up and benefit from. Everyday I make sure every one of them is tucked in safely before I lock the front door. The accolades for all I do on their behalf are scarce. But it doesn't matter. The things I do for them aren't dependent on their praise.

God does far more for each one of us on any given day. And I must say, for the most part these graces have nothing to do with whether we acknowledge Him and give thanks for them. But I'll bet we could stand to be a little more thankful and a lot less grumpy.

Yesterday's Worship Set

Here's what we sang in church yesterday. It was a great song set of proclamation, declaring our dependence upon God, as well as our anticipation of our soon coming, all conquering King.

Hear My Cry, O Lord (Psalm 61)

You'll Come (fantastic)

A Love So Amazing (good one from Paul Oakley)

Days of Elijah (love the chorus)

All I Have Is Christ (see video below)

Revelation Song (powerful)

Meet My Sons, Forgetful and Fruitful

Who names their kids "Forgetful" and "Fruity"? Believe me, my kids can be forgetful and fruity, but I would never name them according to their behavior. (Hey Stinky! Tell Slob and Hyperactive it's time for dinner!) I suppose I might have considered that, if I'd known how they'd turn out, but then I'd have to name each one of my sons "Awesome"......

It's no secret that names in Scripture often bear great significance. Our Savior, for example, bore a common enough name (Yeshua/Joshua/Jesus) which marked His humanity, but it also carried a supernatural meaning: The Lord saves.

Well, when the Vizier of Ancient Egypt, Joseph, was blessed with two sons, he named them, quite cleverly, Ephraim and Manasseh, which roughly mean, "fruitful in suffering" and "forgotten trouble", respectively. If you are familiar with the story of Joseph, you'll understand exactly what those children and their names meant to their adoring father.

For us, it is a simple reminder that sometimes the Lord takes us places we never would have imagined, and in those places that begin as a captivity, God bestows His blessing and causes us to be fruitful in that foreign land and soon forgetful of our former tears.

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland."

Isaiah 43:18-19

Last Sunday's Set List

I think I'll give this a try: every Monday (hmm...let's try most Mondays) I'm going to share the songs that we used in our corporate worship in church the day before. Maybe others could share what they sang, and then perhaps occasionally we might discover a new tune to share with our congregations that will encourage the Body and glorify the Savior. Deal? OK.

So, yesterday's list was sparked when a friend made mention of the song The Love Of God on his blog. We sing in now and then in our church, but it had been a while, and I used it as a centerpiece for our worship set (even though we finished our set with it). Here are the songs we used this Sunday (styles represented in the linked videos may or may not be the styles used at our church):

All Bow Down
Everyday
Blessed Be Your Name
Blessed Be The Lord God Almighty
Bow Down (lyrics below)
Bow down before the Lord worship Him oh worship Him
Bow down before our God enter in oh enter in
Consuming fire and sweet perfume
His awesome presence fills this room
This is holy ground so come and bow down
The Love of God

And there it is; what did you sing yesterday?

Afraid

Here's something I will almost guarantee you weren't thinking about this morning when you woke up: the fact that you weren't killed in the night by an earthquake. Below are two poignant Facebook status updates posted this morning by a man I met while I was in Haiti. Following those is a link to a photo album at The Big Picture that gives a glimpse into the slow progress being made in Haiti two years after the earthquake that killed 300,000 people.

"I wanna thank God this morning cuz I am still alive."

"Good morning every one! I spent the nite out sleep cuz I was afraid and I remembered the january 12 earthquake when I was cooking food with my friends. Many of the haitian people woke up with tears and sadness! Please pray for haiti cuz its hard to not thinking of january 12 I am sad and I need a prayer for haiti please! Thank u God."

Haiti Slow To Recover

*sigh*

This clip of Joel Osteen and Oprah makes me shiver all over more than anywhere else! Especially around the 49 second mark. Brrrrr....

Name That Quote: "The National Razor Which Shaved Close"

OK who can nail down the origin of that quote?................That's right! It's from Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities", in which he devises one of the most clever descriptions of a guillotine ever heard. (You did guess correctly, didn't you?)

And why on earth would I reference a guillotine? Because of the following video. It's a bit disturbing, but I think it cunningly highlights something so true about corrupted humanity. I'm pretty certain it was not the video creator's intent to do this, but he has correctly observed a basic Biblical truth about how fallen men operate.

What I see illustrated in this moving comic strip is man's willingness - no - insistence - in going his own destructive way while encouraging others to do the same. Instinctively men resist God, although instinctively men know that He is real.

"These people are not ignorant about what can be known of God, because He has shown it to them with great clarity...Despite the fact that they are fully aware that God's law says this way of life deserves death, they fail to stop. And worse - they applaud others on this destructive path." Romans 1:19,32 paraphrased

Next from toll on Vimeo.

Noah, My Floor Drain, And Cataclysm

I saw an interesting thing in my basement last week. Two, actually: the kids had cleaned the living room and the concrete next to the floor drain in the laundry room is eroding.

Next to the floor drain is a length of PVC that drains condensation from my HVAC system. And when I say "drains", I really mean "drips", and it only does it in the summer when the A/C is running. Basically, the only water coming out of the pipe is a very non-forceful dribble, yet the effect of this dribble over the last 16 years (a mere 16 years) is easily discernible. Observe:

You know, I see something like a drop of water falling an easy one inch to the rock hard concrete below it and how it wears that concrete away and it's not difficult to imagine the damage done on a much grander scale to softer surfaces on planet earth during the time of Noah's Flood when the "fissures of the deep" broke open and the globe was deluged from above and below. It's easy to visualize a great inland sea over North America draining in cataclysmic fashion and carving out something like, say, the Grand Canyon.

The evidence for history as the Bible records it is out there. It's the same evidence everyone has, but what makes a difference is the lens you're using to look at it.