Back home, and a long way from home

Just as we were about to walk into the chapel, I felt the vibration in my pocket signaling a text message - "Gabrielle Giffords was just shot at Safeway."  It was from Dove Mountaineer Steve Johnson, director of family discipleship and the co-teacher, with me, of the WorldMovers Sunday School class. 

As I read the message, I let out an involuntary groan, which my brother immediately picked up on.  I was in my home town of Marietta, Georgia, for his wedding.  I immediately assured him it wasn't about anyone in our family, and delayed thinking any more about it until after the ceremony.  I even remembered to take out the bride's wedding band and put it on my finger to pass to the minister at the appropriate moment.

Sometimes I like to say that I was using the word "surreal" before it became cliche.   I can't think of a better word to describe the feelings I had throughout that long afternoon.  As best man, I was proud to stand next to my only brother, who had done the same for me thirty-five years earlier.  We stood in the front of the "chapel," as it was called after the large "new" sanctuary was dedicated when I was fifteen years old.   Built in 1897, it felt nostalgically soothing to be back within its classic, gothic beauty - marble exterior, high ceiling, stained glass windows, heavy oak doors and trim.  At the reception, I visited with a varety of relatives from both sides of our family, one old friend from kindergarten days, a number of friends from the neighborhood, and a host of friends from the church we grew up in.  It was so pleasant to share in their joy at this important occasion for my family.  Throughout it all, hovering in the back of my mind were questions about what was going on back in Tucson.

That night I sat down in the motel room and devoured the news.  Atlanta newscasters spoke of the tragedy in Tucson with appropriate sympathy, but betraying an inevitable detachment from a place so far away in geography and temperament from their familiar Southern culture.  I called home, and learned much more from my wife and son.  Over the next few days, multiple news sources I tuned in on as I made my way back to Arizona filled in the remaining details.

First Baptist Church of Marietta is so large that when I entered the "new" sanctuary the morning after the wedding, the friendly current senior pastor of about five years did not recognize my name when he introduced himself (my brother is still a member there).    He was probably not even aware of the wedding the previous day, so busy is this suburban Atlanta church.  I did see a few people I recognized, from a distance, and settled in to worship God in this place so meaningful to my memories.

The one change to the sanctuary was the enlargement to the stage to accommodate a whole orchestra.  This was their "traditional" service (the "contemporary" service had been earlier), and the music by the twenty-five piece orchestra and fifty voice choir was stunning.  I was thrilled to once again hear the boisterous organ;  at the time it had been installed, it was hailed as "the South's finest pipe organ."    The children's message was well done, but not nearly as much "fun" as one of Steve's.  The pastor's announcements were affably delivered, revealing a busy congregation with a wide variety of interests.   All the buzz both before and after the service was about the forecasted ice storm that would hit north Georgia that night, and his announcements included a thoughful entreaty to church staff members to stay home the next day if the roads seemed difficult.  Commuting in the overcrowded Atlanta area is extremely complicated to begin with, and southern roads are not equipped for weather hazards.

In the back of my mind was the curious absence of any mention of the Tucson tragedy.  Even though it had held top billing on the local news the night before, I could see that it had not "registered" in the minds of most people here.  The pastor's sermon was entitled "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  He missed a golden opportunity for an opening illustration in not mentioning the shooting, but perhaps he had not watched the news the night before.

Eager to hear the pastor's take on suffering and God's sovereignty, I could not have been more disappointed.  I am actually not a tough sermon critic, and am always happy to hear a pastor's persective on most any scripture.  In this case, very little scripture was cited (an omission which would have been unthinkable at this church in my youth).  Although I was happy to see the pastor introduce the word theodicy* in his message, he did not provide a satisying explanation of much comfort to the listeners.   But the worst part was when he affirmed the Baptist term "soul competence," a doctrine he said he "would fight to preserve."  It was virtually the only time he became animated in the whole sermon.

While many Baptists (including the most historical sources) define this term to distinguish individual religious liberty against that of an eccelsiastical or national body, this pastor was emphasizing the "decisional" power of the individual as (virtually) self-regenerative.  My grasp of the five points of Calvinism could not have been more strongly reinforced had I visited the most orthodox Presbyterian church in Atlanta that morning.  There was no hint of unconditional election or irresistible grce in his insistence that we save ourselves by our own choice.  Consequently, he was left with no answer for the central question, in essence confessing that "it's a puzzle" why bad things happen, if God is good.  His implied conclusion was that more people need to choose God.  My conclusion was that his God is not sovereign.

Forgive me if I belabor this point.  Throughout the week that has followed, I have watched Tucson dealing with the after-effects of the tragic shooting.  If ever there were a time when the relevance of such "dusty" terms as man's depravity and God's sovereignty could be put to the test, it would be here and now.  I am so thankful that the believers with whom I fellowship at Dove Mountain are well-provided with answers for the needy Tucsonans around us, when they will inevitably ask us why a good God would let such a bad thing happen:   "All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God" (II Corinthians 4:15).   It's all grace, from beginning to end.
        
After a convoluted travel adventure, complicated by the predicted ice storm, I arrived back in Tucson.  By Monday evening I was reunited with my dear family, and able to share the impact of this tragedy which had taken place at our neighborhood Safeway.  On Tuesday I was reunited with my dear Veritas students, and we could pray together for Tucson, Congressman Giffords, and the many hurting families.  By Wednesday, I was having contact with fellow Dove Mountaineers, and we could affirm our faith in God's hand to bring justice and wisdom.

I always enjoy going "back home," briefly, but it was good to be home.

 *According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary the meaning is "defense of God's goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil".  Encyclopedia Britannica gives the meaning as "explanation of why a perfectly good, almighty, and all-knowing God permits evil." Random House Dictionary writes "a vindication of the divine attributes, particularly holiness and justice, in establishing or allowing the existence of physical and moral evil." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition states "A vindication of God's goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil."    

Work vs. callings

In the recent World issue on labor and jobs, I appreciated the emphasis on the Christian notion of "callings."  Here's another quote from the Bonhoeffer biography I've been reading, one that discloses his own resolution about his calling:

“My calling is quite clear to me. What God will make of it I do not know…I must follow the path.  Perhaps it will not be such a long one (Phil. 1:23).  But it is a fine thing to have realized my calling…I believe its nobility will become plain to us only in coming times and events.  If only we can hold out.”    

Here Bonhoeffer was not just referring to his calling as a pastor, a matter that had been settled earlier in his life.  He was referring to the calling to leave the state church and found the "confessing church,"  the group which resisted control by Hitler's Third Reich.  Ultimately, this calling cost Bonhoeffer his life.

Reading the right classics

Classical Christian school leaders have always endorsed reading whole books, and whenever possible, in the original versions.  Well-meaning "child enablers" have been dumbing down the classics for many years. 

In recent years, I have collected a number of examples of this to show to parents.   The contrast between the first page of the original Peter Pan and the first page of the Disney version is an example I have frequently demonstrated.  Ironically, the copy of the "Disney version" I show to audiences is from a book I received as a child in the 1950's.  

In the case of almost every "classic," I have had to go back and read the originals as an adult, in order to appreciate the breadth of thought and language the author actually employed.  But the damage is worse than just "dumbing down."

This year I am teaching Robinson Crusoe for the first time, and once again, I find the original not at all like the childhood version I remember.   In the original, after Crusoe has been on the island long enough to build a shelter and begin a simple form of agriculture, he discovers a Bible in a chest of books salvaged from the ship and begins reading it.  Eventually his whole attitude about the fortunes and misfortunes of his life begin to change.  He becomes conscience-stricken for the first time in his life, and then we come to this paragraph:

 "Now I began to construe the words mentioned above, "Call on Me, and I will deliver thee," in a different sense from what I had ever done before; for then I had no notion of anything being called DELIVERANCE, but my being delivered from the captivity I was in; for though I was indeed at large in the place, yet the island was certainly a prison to me, and that in the worse sense in the world. But now I learned to take it in another sense: now I looked back upon my past life with such horror, and my sins appeared so dreadful, that my soul sought nothing of God but deliverance from the load of guilt that bore down all my comfort. As for my solitary life, it was nothing. I did not so much as pray to be delivered from it or think of it; it was all of no consideration in comparison to this. And I add this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true sense of things, they will find deliverance from sin a much greater blessing than deliverance from affliction."

What an elegant depiction of salvation!   So many of these gems of our heritage are being edited out of modern experience.  I checked a popularly available edition of the book, and all mention of the Bible and Crusoe's praying have been omitted.

Let me beat this drum one more time:  when children are educated in a literacy which never affirms that others (than their parents and the people at their own church) have any experience of Christ's salvation, it is much easier for them to dismiss faith in God when they become adults.  This is only one of many ways that secular education is destroying the faith of covenant children.

Manipulative children, ineffective parents

Without even leaving my desk this morning, I came across two frightening examples of scary parenting trends.   One was a video clip on You Tube of a child slapping his mother on national television (Dr. Phil), and the other was a clip on the Today Show showing a little boy dressed in a pink tutu while a smiling mother answered questions about why she lets her son dress the way he wants to.

I don't go looking for these things, really.  Both were stumbled across "on the way" to finding something else.  That bad parenting is so readily accessible should be frightening enough, but the treatment it was receiving is even more frightening.  In the case of the former, Dr. Phil counseled both mother and son in a "negotiating" manner placing enough of the blame on the mother that the son never had to show any remorse at all.  In the case of the latter, the interviewers were "accepting" and "affirming" of the inept mother.

Now please don't misunderstand me here.  I don't expect those who have rejected the wisdom of God to raise children well.   If Dr. Dobson had been sitting in Dr. Phil's seat, he would have handled this situation differently.  If Pastor Tedd Tripp had been interviewing the mom who let her children dress like a girl, he would have given different counsel altogether.  But both would have been severely criticised by the God-hating world around us.  This is partly why they are not sitting in those influential seats.  We should not be surprised in light of the Apostle Paul's teaching:  "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:  for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I Corinthians 2:14)

My concern here is not that the unregenerate think foolishly, but that believers might watch these programs and be influenced by them.  We live in a time of abundantly available resources for Christian parenting.  If you aren't sure where to turn or what to read, just go to the family section of any Christian book store.  Or ask a Christian who has effectively parented.   There are many at Dove Mountain.

Happy New Year!

Like most Americans, I spend the first day of each year watching football.  I also watch the Tournament of Roses parade, because I'm a band fanatic.  

From a purely sports fan perspective, it was great fun to see the non-automatic-qualifying Texas Christian Horned Frogs edge past Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.   On a blog I read this morning, some Christians were complaining that the announcers failed to ever say the word Christian throughout the entire broadcast, consistently referring to them as TCU and the Frogs, instead.  I'm not so sure this was a slight.  Even Texas Christian's own athletic department pretty consistently uses the abbreviation TCU.  If the announcers actually were consciously avoiding the "C" word, that's a bit ironic, in that the sponsoring denomination, the Disciples of Christ, often bill themselves as "progressive" Christians, identifying with many non-Biblical causes in the process.  But like any private college, there are many faithful believers there, in spite of the sponsorship.

This background drama makes it all the sweeter that the winning quarterback, Andy Dalton, provided an amazing interview at the game's end.  Christian sports fans often wince in pain at gratuitous "religious" phrases thrown into these postgame interviews, but here was an articulate young man quoting I Peter 5:6, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.." with word-perfect ease and cogent application.   It spoke volumes for what a consistent, thinking Christian looks like.  It was a great New Year blessing for me, and by the looks of the blogs, to many others, as well.  Thank you, Andy!