The Saga of the Wall, as Told by Lyrics You're Ashamed You Know

First, the wall must come down...

A wall of denial is falling down
Whoa it's fallin' so hard, down to the ground
Never knew something so strong could be washed away by tears
But this wall of denial was just built on fear

(Stevie Ray Vaughan, Wall of Denial)

I'm gonna knock it down
Any way that I can
I'm gonna scream, I'm gonna yell
I don't want to have to use my hands
IT'S LIKE SCREAMING AT A WALL
SOMEDAY IT'S GONNA FALL
(Minor Threat, Screaming at a Wall - I must admit, I don't really know who they are)

When the walls come tumblin' down
When the walls come crumblin' crumblin'
When the walls come tumblin' tumblin' down
(John Mellencamp, Crumblin' Down)

Alas, we were too busy smashing and hauling and being generally manly that we neglected to take pictures of the wall's demise. Onto the new wall...










It wasn't very complicated:

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
(Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall Part 2)










And now it shall remain, untouched upon pain of something bad, yet permanently scarring my fragile psyche:

There's a lot of strange men, in cell block ten
But the strangest of em' all
Was a friend of mine who spent his time
Starin' at the wall..
Starin' at the wall..

As He looked at the wall
So strong and tall
You could hear him softley curse
Nobody at all ever climbed that wall
But I'm gonna be the first..
I'm gonna be the first..

Well the warden walked by and said son don't try
I'd hate to see you fall
For there is no doubt that they'll carry you out
If you ever touch that wall..
If you ever touch that wall..

Well a Year's gone by since he made his try
But I can still recall
How hard he tried and the way he died
But he never made that wall..
He never made that wall..

Well there was never a man who shook his hand
But I know a man who tried
The newspapers called that a jailbreak plan
But I knew it was suicide..
I knew it was suicide..

(The Man in Black, the Wall)











p.s. - Forgive my obtusity. We tore down a limestone and mortar wall and put up a new mortar-less block wall. It took way more time and way more sweat than I thought it would. But now we might be able to sell the house someday. The wall belongs more to Josh Bright than me. He did an astounding amount of ridiculously hard work for me.

I think your wallet is looking too heavy...

My friend and fellow-wall builder (coming soon!) Josh Bright is taking part in a Walk for Life, raising money to fight for the unborn. If you are at all able, go here and donate!

Words I had to look up up while studying today

Panegyric: a lofty oration or writing in praise of a person or thing; eulogy.

Litotes: A figure of speech consisting of an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite (i.e., this isn't a bad blog at all).

As in, this litotical pangeryic is not a little great. Got that?

Why Church History

Sunday morning the college class began a semester-long overview of church history, mostly using the outline provided by Mark Noll in Turning Points. The big discussion on Sunday was, "Why should we study church history?" This is most helpful to me, a recovering church-history scrooge. Here are some of the reasons Noll gives to study church history, to which we added a few more:

• Studying church history shows the historical character of the Christian faith. Unlike many other religions which are based on philosophies and various theologies, Christianity is not simply a collection of doctrines or a comprehensive worldview. Rather, it is first and foremost about what God has done and will do in real time and real space.
  
• Looking to the past will give us perspective on interpreting the Scriptures. It keeps us from assuming that way we read the Bible is the way it's always been read - not that church history should make us constantly doubt our exegesis, but should give us valuable perspective. We should be very careful when we find ourselves understanding Scripture differently than the church has for 20 centuries.
  
• Perspective itself is a benefit of studying church history. How often do we hear that the modern world is the worst it's ever been? Or that we've finally found the one answer to our theological problems? Such histrionics, whether pessimistic or optimistic, would be tempered if we took seriously the study of Christ's church.
• We have a heritage to claim and enjoy, so let's get to it. Whether it's our specific heritage, like the Covenanters, or the heritage enjoyed by the whole church, like the church fathers, we ought to honor those who have gone before us and claim that heritage.
• We can learn great lessons from the saints in the past. As we learn about how our mothers and fathers of the faith faced down the pressures of the world and walked wisely (and sometimes unwisely), we will find wisdom and conviction.
  
• Similarly, most of the battles faced by the church have already been fought. If we forget that and neglect to pick up and wield the weapons forged by our ancestors, how much the poorer are we! The most recent and painful example of this was the church's frantic arm-waving over the Da Vinci Code. Yes, it's bad and blasphemous and all that. But it's already been answered - all this heresy and silliness wasn't invented by Dan Brown. Were the church instructed in her history, would so many be so tempted or worried?
• Studying church history will lay bare the great grace of God in sustaining an imperfect church through many centuries.
• Perhaps more than most generations, our Christian generation operates in a historical vacuum and hast lost the power of the historic Christian faith. The church must find a stronger foundation than the self- and chrono-centric one she stands on now.
  
• Finally, as hinted at by Psalm 78 and Hebrews 11, studying the history of Christ's reign with His people, studying church history builds faith. There is strength and courage and belief to be had when we lay hold of these stories - who doesn't need more faith?

Would you add any more reasons?

Ignoring History

From an interesting interview with President Jimmy Carter:

Yes. That would be certainly satisfactory to me personally, and I think most people believe that enough time has passed so that historical facts can be ignored.

(He's speaking of whether or not Germans should be allowed into the UN peacekeeping force headed to Lebanon, but the quote is precious. I wish we could ignore the historical facts all the time!)

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File under "Francis Schaeffer's Two-Story Thingamajig"
Francis Schaeffer and Nancy Pearcey wrote/write a truckload about how our society is keeping Christianity under wraps by restraining people's faith to an "upper story" of life, where it can bring personal peace and fulfillment, but not real change in the world around us (that would be the "first story" of facts and realities that can be brought to bear on others around us).

In an editorial in the WSJ today, Roger Scruton discusses "Islamofascism" and does, quite honestly, a great job of exploring questions many people have about the "religion of peace" (it's worth reading just for the first half). But then he says this:

Christians and Jews are heirs to a long tradition of secular government, which began under the Roman Empire and was renewed at the Enlightenment: Human socieities should be governed by human laws, and these laws must take precedence over religious edicts. The primary duty of citizens is to obey the state; what they do with their souls is a matter betrween themselves and God, and all religions must bow down to the sovereign authority if they are to exist within its jurisdiction.

Much could be said; this is a perfect example of what Pearcey and Schaeffer are talking about. "What you do with God is your business, but don't let it affect me. Now...let's get on to making laws that are purely areligious." Nothing humans do is non-religious. Everything we do is an act of worship to one god or another. Every law we make is a religious law (pssst - remember that the Supreme Court has acknowledged secularism as an official religion).

Perhaps more problematic is the assertion that religions must "bow down" to the authority of the state if they are to exist there. The church should indeed obey all laws that don't require disobedience to God; likewise, the church doesn't have direct authority (i.e., ability to enforce its will) over the state. But where is the ultimate authority in this discussion? Is it not with Christ, who is the King of the Nations? Aren't all leaders exhorted to "kiss the Son, lest He turn and you perish in the way"? We need to spot and name comments like Mr. Scruton's for what they are: reflections of our society's version of tolerance for Christianity. As long as we don't evangelize or preach Christ's kingship or call the nations to repent or call for laws based on Biblical morality, we're fine. But a faith that is merely personal is not the faith Christ has called us to.

A great cello concerto by Edward Elgar.

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African missionaries to England. This is both encouraging, in the missions-mindedness of the African church, and discouraging, in the reliance on "African exuberance" that many missionaries are showing.

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Our friend Meg gave me a link to this guy over at Slate.com. A "non-observant" Jew reading through the Bible for the first time and writing about it. David Plotz claims some familiarity with the Bible, but his writings show that his familiarity was only surface level. The reason these posts fascinate me is that they're honest, detailed pictures of what people really think when coming into contact with Scripture for the first time. He confesses that his writings are probably somewhat inaccurate and blasphemous; I would have to agree. But they're interesting nonetheless - and helpful, insofar as they are a picture into the unbelieving mind's view of God's Word.

Here's his first post on Genesis. He's up to somewhere in Numbers now. ...if only Christians paid this much attention to Scripture!

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Cool bookstore: Splintered Light Bookstore. They have some connection to Ken Meyers, of Mars Hill Audio fame. Apparently, they carry all the books he talks about on the Journal.

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This fall I get to teach the college class at church. We're doing an overview of church history using Mark Noll's Turning Points. I hope I can get the students into it; if you're coming this week, be thinking about why we should study church history. Brownie points (maybe even candy) could be awarded.

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Last week we held a picnic for new international grad students. We fed about 250 folks and had some great conversations; my son learned some Chinese and made a lot of new friends. And we got to worship with five of those students on Sunday! Purdue ranks second in the nation in the number of international students enrolled per year. What a treasure at our doorstop! Pray that God might teach us how to love them like Christ would.

Catching Up

It feels like too much has happened to catch up well - but let's try anyway, bullet-style.

• My younger brother got married on a beach in Cabo, Mexico. A fine reason to celebrate and a fine reason to go to the beach.
  
• My friend Zach is getting married. Congratulations!
• My friend Josh is featured in this article. He's a policeman in downtown Indianapolis; I got to ride with him for a shift. According to the article, they're doing some good work, trying to stem the tide of homicides in Indy. Doesn't he look handsome in his uniform?
  
• Church planting what-nots:
• We're still hunting for a good place to worship.
• We're putting on a picnic tomorrow night for several hundred international graduate students. Hopefully, some will come to church on Sunday.
  
• We've got some talented folks getting together our website, stationary, etc.
  
• My study leave went well. It was so enjoyable and I got so much done that I'm wondering why more pastors don't have a study leave every year.
  
• Family conference was great this summer. I got to teach the junior high class again; what a great age! They're a lot of fun, they listen well, and they're still small enough to be afraid of me.
  
• Our 2 1/2 year old: his vocabulary and syntax have really taken off lately. It's quite fun to have more "real" conversations with him these days. I was reading a book the other day and he asked, "What book is that?" After I told him the title and what it was about, he said, "Looks like a pretty cool book." (You have to imagine that whole sentence coming from a 2 year old to make it funny.)
  
• I'm finally getting back to preaching in Proverbs this week, after a 5-week interruption. Right now I'm just hoping I can finish before we're sent out with the church plant. I suppose it depends on how many sermons I preach about the "Proverbial" woman of chapter 31.
• No real book reviews to share; most of my reading this summer has been snippets of this and that book. Studying worship, I've really benefited from Liturgies of the Western Church, by Bard Thompson. Someday soon I'll read a whole book again.
• Last night was the first night of our neighborhood Bible Investigation. Alas, no one came. Several neighbors told us they might make it next week, so we'll try again next Tuesday.
• Monday was our 7th anniversary. The year of perfection! What a blessing my wife is.
  

Sorry for the disjointed news-session. Hope you're all doing well.

Catechism

Several people have asked us for the catechism we're teaching to #1, our 2 1/2 year old. We started with a couple questions from the classic children's catechism, but quickly realized that those questions were too involved for him. So we just kept making simpler questions up on our own.

A couple notes:

1. This list is definitely in process - when we're doing family worship consistently, I like to add a new question a week or so, depending on how he's doing.
   
2. The first few questions can be answered with simple hand gestures, so #2, our 1 1/2 year old has started too.
3. I try to avoid "yes" and "no" questions, though you'll find several of them in the list. Too many of them gets confusing and I'd rather them learn the content and idea.
   
4. I'm trying to find a balance between getting doctrine across and getting them involved in the story behind the questions. "Questions time" often includes a lot of clapping and cheering, especially when we get to the part about the resurrection (Long live the king!).
   
5. I don't always add questions at the end; right now, I'm working to flesh out the story of Jesus' life and death in ways #1 can understand.
   
6. Several of the questions about sin and forgiveness are quite helpful in the process of discipline.

Here it is:

Q: Who made you?
A: God

Q: What else did God make?
A: All things

Q: Why did God make you and all things?
A: For His own glory

Q: How many persons are there in God?
A: Three

Q: Can God do all things?
A: Yes

Q: What is God?
A: A Spirit

Q: Can you see God?
A: No

Q: Who is our Helper?
A: The Holy Spirit

Q: Who is our Savior?
A: Jesus

Q: Where do we learn how to love and obey God?
A: The Bible

Q: How do we talk to God?
A: Pray and Sing

Q: Who was Jesus’ mom?
A: Mary

Q: Did Jesus ever sin?
A: No

Q: How did Jesus die?
A: On the cross

Q: Whom did Jesus crush?
A: The serpent

Q: What happened after Jesus died?
A: They put Him in the ground

Q: Did He stay in the ground?
A: No

Q: What happened?
A: Jesus rose from the dead. Long live the king!

Q: What day did Jesus rise from the dead?
A: Sunday

Q: So what do we do on Sunday?
A: Worship

Q: Where is Jesus?
A: Heaven

Q: Is He coming back?
A: Yes

Q: Who were our first parents?
A: Adam and Eve

Q: How did God make man?
A: In His own image

Q: What did God give Adam and Eve?
A: Body and soul

Q: Do you have a body and soul?
A: Yes

Q: How long will your soul last?
A: Forever

Q: God made a promise with Adam; it was called the covenant of _______
A: Life

Q: What did God want Adam to do?
A: Obey

Q: What did Adam do?
A: Disobey

Q: What’s it called when we disobey God?
A: Sin

Q: What does God have to do to sin?
A: Punish

Q: Do you sin?
A: Yes

Q: So what do you need?
A: Forgiveness

Q: Where do we get forgiveness?
A: Jesus’ blood

Q: How do we get Jesus’ blood?
A: By faith

Q: How do we get faith?
A: By grace

Q: How do you know that you belong to God?
A: My baptism

Coming and Going, part 2

I'm back...and I'm leaving. Vacation was wonderful: my younger brother got married, I got sunburned, all is good.

Tomorrow I'm heading to a van down by the river (really a cottage) to spend time praying and writing, specifically about worship issues for Immanuel RPC. Hopefully I'll get to posting some more after that.

But the best thing going right now is...my wife. Tomorrow is her rightly-celebrated birthday and it's my favorite holiday. Happy birthday lady!

We're Home

We're back from a great vacation! More on that later, because here's what we feel like now:

Coming and Going

Sorry I haven't posted lately. Bad blogster, bad.

Rest assured that I have plenty of cool things to talk about: church planting stuff, family conference, more thoughts on worship, how funny our 2-year old is.

But now we're leaving for vacation. Internet connection at our intended destination is doubtful. Lord willing, we'll catch up on the other side.

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For less-than-light reading: because of the new mini-(soon to be major, it seems) war between Israel and Hezbollah/Lebanon, I've been reading about what exactly Hezbollah is. Here's wikipedia's helpful entry. I'm quite confused about Middle East politics. Any help would be appreciated, except from Christian radio stations, who seem to think that this all means Jesus' return is in 2.348 weeks. The best counsel I've gotten about the whole thing is to (1) pray for the leaders (1 Tim. 2:2) and (2) pray for the Christians in Lebanon & Israel. They don't get much press, but they do exist and need extraordinary amounts of grace right now.

I like this npr song of the day, "The Day the Volume Won" by Micah P. Hinson.

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Last night we had a great summer party, including some ultimate frisbee. I, however, took a frisbee square in the forehead at about 120 mph and now I've got a new bruise on my face. This is getting ridiculous.

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Saw this article about biodiesel in the local paper. My question: why isn't this more popular? Why isn't there a big push for us all to switch to driving diesels so we can use this renewable, homegrown fuel? (I couldn't find an answer on biodiesel.org)

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To redeem myself from my former failings to slay the groundhog trapped in my window well, I did our church lawn a service on July 4th and slew the beast. Or at least the baby of the beast. And I did it with my car (no mess on my boots). All hail the victorious hunter.

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I'm working through Jeffrey Meyer's book, The Lord's Service, about worship. It's quite challenging and I'm finding it difficult to agree with him 100%, but there are some real gems in this book. Here's a quote from his section on why we ought to call it "the Lord's service" instead of simply "worship" (which carries the idea that we are giving to God His proper worth):

If our service is primarily for God, then our worship inevitably degenerates into Pelagianism with a thin Calvinistic veneer. To combat this problem we must understand the proper order of things. First, we receive from God. Then, secondly, we give back to Him with gratitude precisely that which He graciously continues to give us. Everything we are and have we received from Him (1 Cor. 4:7). He stands in no need of our service or praise. He has not created us primarily to get glory for Himself, but to distrubute and share teh fullness of His glory with His creatures. He is not like the pagan gods who need to suck up as much glory and praise as they can.

Maybe You're Imagining Things

In the comments section awhile back, we had a discussion about the propriety of fantasy literature in the Christian's library. So it goes unsaid that I believe fantasy literature to be, in and of itself, not a problem. More than that, though, I think it can be quite the benefit to the Christian; fantasy develops what some have called the moral imagination - note this comment from Mars Hill's website about Alan Jacobs' book on C.S. Lewis (The Narnian):

...Lewis's thought and imagination were integrated in a way foreign to the modern mindset, which relegates reason to the public sphere and imagination to the private with neither informing the other. In a disenchanted world, Lewis cultivated a willingness to be enchanted. He trained his imagination on the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, probing the images and feelings that thus arose for the thoughts and truths they embodied.

With that foundation, here are some notes on fantasy I've read lately.

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Neil Gaiman, Sandust

Despite being enormously popular, I've only read one other of Gaiman's books (Neverwhere - a great gift from my brother). I stumbled upon Stardust and decided to read it, especially in light of the "Christian" fantasy I've been reading lately.

Stardust is a great little book. Tristran, a young man from the village of Wall, foolishly promises to bring a fallen star to his crush. To do this, he must leave the village of Wall and do the adventure-travel thing in the land of Faerie. (It turns out that the fallen star isn't a burned-up meteors, but an odd young lady.)

While the plot is nice and simple, Gaiman's ability to effortlessly infuse imagination into every part of this world is the highlight of the book. The reader gets the sense that this world has existed long before this story and will continue long afterward.

Caveats: This is not a parable or even an especially moral story. Some sexual content and the lack of the typical moral backbone make this book more suited to adults than kids.

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DragonSpell, Donita K. Paul

I picked this one up on a whim and I'm pretty glad I only paid for a used copy. Dragonspell falls self-consciously under the heading "Christian fantasy" (not a good sign) and doesn't improve from there.

The story of a young slave girl named Kale who is freed because of her gift of finding and protecting dragon eggs (she's a dragon-keeper). Dragonspell consists of her training, travels with new friends (Paul eschews the typical human, dwarves, elves, etc., formulation in favor of inventing 14 new races for us to remember), and a couple battles in which she doesn't really co much.

My beef isn't that books shouldn't be theological or even parable-like; but if you're so concerned to get your point across, you probably ought to just write a theological book. On top of that, if you're going to be this theological in a book of fiction, your theology ought to at least be right. In several scenes, it's fairly clear that Paul is leaning heavily on a charismatic, individualistic version of Christianity. The book also falls short of the others in literary quality. There are probably better books to purchase with your time.

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Eragon & Eldest by Christopher Paolini

In short: poor kids finds a dragon egg, it hatches, they become "linked", they go on adventures against the evil emperor, bad stuff happens to good people, bad stuff happens to bad people. I'm assuming the good people will win in the end.

I spoke of Eragon awhile ago and I still really like it. Then I read Eldest, the second of the trilogy, and liked it, too. Detractors say that these books are highly derivative, but being derivative is really a compliment when your source material is Tolkien. If you've read Tolkien, you'll recognize the world where young writer Christopher Paolini has taken up literary residence (orc-like urgals, immortal elves with pointy ears, dwarves that live in caves, etc.). But the story is still very enjoyable and creative, even without the more established Christian worldview that Tolkien had. A lot of kids around church are reading it now, which makes me cool again, right? Right?

Eragon the movie is slated to come out this winter. Hopefully, it'll rise above Willow status and do the book justice. The movie looks like it has some good talent.

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Shadow in the Deep, by L. B. Graham

This is the third of seven in the "Binding of the Blade" series, a fantasy series being published by P&R (Presbyterian & Reformed) publishing company. Set in the land of Kirthanin, spanning a couple generations, this series has a very strong, epic scope to it. Good, realistic characters, fun action, dragons and talking bears (who doesn't like talking bears? Especially talking bears that can beat up the bad guys with big sticks??)

The author is clearly writing from a Christian perspective, but thankfully his story doesn't suffer for his theology - in fact, it enhances it as good theology ought to do. I've reviewed the first two already, so I'll skip the plot summary and just recommend this book. I'm sure I'll buy the next four whenever they arrive.

Synod, part 4

We're now in the middle of some of our discussions on worship. We have a Psalter Revision Committee working to publish a new psalter, hopefully by 2008-ish. In my humble opinion, they're doing really good work. You can imagine how many opinions are being expressed. They're doing a good job taking the rough, stilted, King James-ish language out and putting more accurate, singable translations in. I also really like some of the new tunes. But when it comes, it'll be a big adjustment, regardless of how sympathetic a congregation might be to the new psalter.

We also have a committee to revise the directory for public worship. There's nothing to vote on this year, but I imagine their update report will generate some debate as well. Their initial work relies on the idea that worship is covenant renewal; this is based on synod's adopted position paper on worship, which you can find here.

Synod, part 3

We have a committee on "Understanding the Times." This committee's job is somewhat ambiguous, but they generally write a several-page report covering what the two committee members feel are the most important regarding the current state of our nation(s) and societies. Though it doesn't necessarily stand as an official denominational position paper, it always generates some decent debate. This year the paper was exclusively political, which is unfortunate, to my thinking. I'm glad that it was worded strongly enough to generate some good discussion, though I'm guessing it will just peter out. But it brings up some fun questions to talk about:

If we really want to understand the times (1 Chr. 12:32), how do we do that? How do we best utilize the church's resources and get helpful information out to her pastors and churches?

How ought the church of Christ to address its political beliefs to the government?

How does the kingship of Christ impact our understanding of society beyond politics?

Synod haikus

Haiku for a synod afternoon

synod words go slow
speeches and rumors of speeches
pinch myself awake

Haiku for a synod debate

rankled words spill forth
teeth grind, blood pumps, smiles still friendly
good times had by all

Synod, part 2

A couple other important reports:

• Home Mission Board: this was an encouraging update on where our denomination is focusing in church planting. This board is leading us in a 20/20 vision (20 new churches by 2020) and it looks like many churches and presbyteries are taking up the charge admirably. You can check out the HMB's website here.
  
• Foreign Mission Board: It's been a big year for the FMB; our mission to Sudan is really taking off well, by God's grace. This is Dave Long's (the most senior pastor) last year as head of the FMB. He's served very well in this big job for a while; synod gave him a well-deserved standing ovation.

Getting synodical

This week is the RPCNA synod. You can get somewhat official updates here. But you can get non-official updates here.

Jim Pennington, long-time pastor and missionary to Japan, is our new moderator.

The retiring moderator, Dr. Jonathan Watt, preached on Hebrews 6:10 regarding God not forgetting our works, meager as they are. This morning Bob Hemphill, pastor of Westminster RPC in Denver, began our week's series on mercy ministries by preaching on the parable of the good Samaritan. The highlights:

• Charity is impossible apart from the work of the Spirit in our impovershed hearts.
  
• Charity is best exemplified by the awesome greatness of our Savior's service to us. Go thou and do likewise...

Currently, the business of synod committee is going through their initial report, where they give their recommendations for handling the different "communications" (papers, appeals, etc.) coming from the presbyteries. Some interesting debate is ensuing...

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For your Mac vs. PC enjoyment.

Happenings and Thoughts

Wow, it's been a busy week. But it's great to see the Lord working in our midst and making us fruitful.

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Several people in our church family are different stages of fighting cancer. One friend had his kidney removed this week. Through it all, I've been encouraged and rebuked - rebuked because of my lack of faith in our God who cares so deeply for His children. Encouraged, not so much by the faith of these dear saints (although there's much for me to learn there as well), but by the grace of God that shines so clearly through His own in times of distress.

This week in Proverbs, I'm preaching on the beginning of chapter 30, which states that "every word of God proves true." Because He knows the weakness of our faith, God keeps reminding us of His power and goodness and faithfulness. This is both to my shame and joy; shame that I need these lessons so often. Joy, for these are the sweetest lessons to learn.

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Church planting: our location committee has met a couple times already, investigating and evaluating possible worship locations. We're narrowing it down, but there's some work left to do. There's also some waiting left to do; please pray that God would open the right doors and close the wrong ones.

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Our synod's coming up next week in Beaver Falls, PA. Because of our denomination's past flirtations with teetotaling and legalism in that area, and because the issue of wine in communion may come to the floor of synod again this year, I was fascinated to hear about the Southern Baptist Convention's new resolution regarding alcohol (summary: they don't like and you shouldn't either).

This isn't about our opinions or habits regarding the use of alcohol; this is about legalism supported through misreading of Scripture.Justin Taylor commented on his blog (the whole post is very good):

I'm not sure how wise it is to pass resolutions that functionally condemn the actions of Jesus (John 2; Luke 7:33-34; ) and Paul (1 Tim. 5:23). I'm also not sure it's very wise to prohibit that which God has given as a gift (Deut. 14:26; Ps. 104:15).

How can such a resolution be supported? By picking and plucking verses from Scripture without considering the whole. There are dire warnings in Scripture against drunkenness. But to present those apart from the rest of the Bible's teaching on alcohol (see the verses Taylor quoted) is to oppress God's people with His own Word. This is why our method of studying Scripture is as important as our belief in Scripture. For this we can't do better than to listen to our confession:

The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly. (Westminster Confession, 1.9)

This reminds me of a conversation I had a few weeks ago with another church planter. He was speaking of his method of preaching and commented that he "only tells the people what the verse says, without bringing in other parts of Scripture all the time." Perhaps to some this sounds noble, but it is a sure path to oppressing God's people with His own Word. This method of preaching effectively denies the unity of Scripture and the rule that Scripture is its own best interpreter. Couple this with preachers who don't preach systematically through the Bible, and you've got a wizard behind the curtain, pulling the strings to make the Bible says whatever he wants it to.

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After gently chastising those of you who hadn't sought out the Derek Trucks Band, a fairly random phone call resulted in a friend's invitation to see the Allman Brothers Tuesday night; the opening act was none other than DTB themselves (Derek is the relatively new guitarist for the Allman Brothers, as well as Eric Clapton's band's new guitarist). My (new best) friend upgraded us to six rows back in the middle. Derek Trucks was the highlight of the night; it was the best guitar I've ever seen live. Even among the seasoned the Allman Brothers, his playing just made everybody else look like they were still taking lessons.

If you'd like to hear some of it, here's a bunch of DTB concerts you can download, all legal and approved by the FDA. So far I've listened to the concerts from the Wanee Festival and the House of Blues. That site itself is pretty cool, too; lots of concerts and other things archived by people who like doing that kind of thing.

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Tomorrow is the last day for our garage sale. It sounds like some of the men will be manning the tables whilst the women throw a baby shower. Come on by, we'll give you a good deal.

Short Reviews

It's been a while since I offered my relatively uneducated opinion movies and music. So...here goes:

Everything is Illuminated - Based on the recent book with the same title, this movie tells the story of a Jewish man's journey to the Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather's life during World War II. It's a travelling movie, but also a Holocaust movie. As the story wanders, almost unravelling, then coming to a powerful conclusion, the title is shown to be the theme, that everything is illuminated in the light of the past. Frodo, um, Elijah Wood does a good job as the Jewish traveller, but is upstaged by his Ukranian guide, played by Eugene Hutz. Everything is quite funny and powerful and sweet. Very well done.[Note: Because of a couple "adult" conversations, this movie isn't for kids.]

Cinderella Man - In short: a good boxer loses too much, suffers during the Great Depression, has a chance for a comeback, supported by great wife and cute kids. The high points: Ron Howard's direction and the acting (Russell Crowe & Renee Zellweger), the power and beauty of a wife devoted to her husband, the depth of commitment men ought to have to their families, cool boxing action. The low points: Humanism + savior complex = nothing good (i.e., the idea that you just have to try hard enough and everything's going to be all right leads folk to find hope in all the wrong places), the repeated blasphemies by Paul Giamatti's character as he repeatedly used Jesus name in vain. This is as good a sports movie as you might see, but, underneath the shiny, tear-filled exterior, the lies of hope in humanity remain.

The Island - Where to begin? What might have been a clever concept (engineered clones trapped in a facility find out who they are and fight the man) is slicked-up and turned into one long product-placement video game. The acting isn't bad (but I'd like to get a count on the "come on!!" and "let's go!!" quotes), the action is pretty cool, there are some clever ideas, yet it's like a Twinkie (68% air). Instead of wrestling with biogenetic ethics, it's a simple good guys vs. bad guys action movie pretending to be heavy. And seriously, if they pack any more product placement into this movie, it might qualify as the most expensive commercial ever. Go read a good book.

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Joss Stone, the Soul Sessions - We find ourselves split. I like this record, but it's a little too much soul for the wife. Anyhow, if you need some groovy yet romantical-type music, this might fit the bill. A good band, great singer, good songs.

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Jim Hall & Pat Metheny - Two jazz guitar masters noodle around for an hour or so. Parts of this record are absolutely wonderful; for instance, the vastly different groove on "Summertime" is worth the price of admission. But the improv pieces will have all but the most dedicated jazz fans wincing a little bit. So, if you can get past the flights of fancy, this is a great album.

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The Derek Trucks Band, Songlines - I've reviewed this before (scroll down a bit), but I'm simply astounded that you haven't bought it yet. Really. What are you waiting for? It's one of the best albums I've bought in years.