Baseball, Redemption, and a Hospital Room

A week ago yesterday my bride received a phone call. It was one of those calls that you dread. Her dad, Dennis, was in the hospital due to a stroke. It was "minor" but for a man like Dennis and for a family like ours it is major. Dennis is an athlete (at times becoming a scratch golfer!).  Dennis is the life of the party.  Dennis is the picture of the entrepreneurial spirit.  Dennis is the kind of man that other men want to be.  This is seen in the respect that his four son-in-laws have for him and the tender love that he bestows on his four daughters.

Amy left Detroit early last Thursday morning and drove (I am sure more quickly than she cares to admit) directly to the hospital room in Evansville, IN where Dennis was beginning his recovery.

But wait, that's not the whole backstory.

The beloved St. Louis Cardinals were about to finish their three game homestand against the hated Chicago Cubs.  The Cards had won the first two games of the series and were in position to sweep and return to first place in the division. In business like fashion they dispatched the Cubs and welcomed to town their cross state rivals, the Royals for a weekend set.

Every single day there was baseball. Every single day there was time spent in a hospital room. Every single daay there was a conversation over lunch or dinner that took place between Amy and Dennis about the Cards.

You see baseball was the beginning of healing. It was normalcy brought into an abnormal situation.  It was the pastoral balm that allowed father and daughter to sit and talk and be. Baseball. Not doctors. Not a golden tongued preacher. Not a good book. Baseball. It was the context.  The rhythm of life that never stops.  It's six on, one off created rhythm that touches us deep.

Some say the season is too long. Some say the games are too long. Some say it's boring. Some say it's day in and day out grind take away from it.

I could not disagree more. It is redemptive.  It is ongoing.  It is always with you. It provides passion, joy, pain, sorrow, elation. Most of all, it provides time.  Time for a father and daughter to be together.  Time for them to get lost together and forget that they are in a hospital room. Time for them to be transported to that place they both love.  That place where the buzz of the crowd, the warmth of the sun, and smell of the hot dog fill you.

Baseball.

Redemption.

A Hospital Room.

Beautiful.

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Scot McKnight on Spiritual Eroticism

Scot McKnight: Spiritual Eroticism | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders.

Above is a link to an article by Scot McKnight.  As I read it I was struck by how pointed the article was. Do we love Jesus, no really, do we love Jesus with the kind of love that requires us to be in his presence? Or are we satisfied with the idea of loving Jesus?

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>Two Scoops

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I like children's music and videos and stories. I learn a lot from them. Sometimes the most profound truth can be explained with two scoops and some breakfast cereal.

Posted by Robin Schmidt on February 26th, 2009

I heard a children's sermon once that really stuck with me.

Hugh Auburn of Bay Presbyterian Church gathered the children one Sunday morning and invited one of them to help him. He had two large mixing bowls full of cereal, one for himself, the other for his helper.

He told her the object was to scoop her cereal into his bowl while he scooped his cereal into her bowl. He gave her a big spoon and then pulled out a serving spoon, which was larger, and they began.

Cereal flew and it was immediately obvious that his larger spoon was scooping faster than her spoon. In the way of children everywhere she stopped and declared that it wasn't fair, his spoon was bigger. He was quite gracious and offered her his spoon, which she happily took.

He then pulled out an even larger spoon. They began again, cereal flying, laughing, same result. She stopped, I want that spoon. He gave her his larger spoon and pulled out an even larger one. She asked for that one before they even began scooping again. He obliged, but came up with an even larger spoon/scoop.

He then looked at us all and said, "You can't out-scoop God."

I can't out-scoop God. What a great thought!

I've read Malachi 3:10, Luke 6:27-38, Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:10-20, II Corinthians 8 and 9, James 2:14-16.

But you know what? I've never tried to out-scoop God. I've never jumped in throwing cereal as fast as I can only to see God showering it faster. Is God standing with his large scoop waiting? "C'mon Robin, try me. Let's play out-scoop me!"

That idea has joined with another - "Do what is right without giving way to fear" 1 Peter 3:6...

and another from Psalm 50...God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

The cattle on a thousand hills? Have you ever seen cattle on hills? I've seen eight deer on our Grace Chapel incline. But the idea of God owning the cattle on a thousand hills is a little fuzzy to me.

You know what I have seen? Dollars. I have seen dollars and I have seen checking accounts. I think we might get a better idea if we translated that verse - God owns the dollars in a thousand checking accounts.

God owns the dollars in my checking account.

I am starting to get excited. I am looking about for a large spoon. I think I am ready to begin playing Lord, get set, GO!

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>Finishing The New Year

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I’ve always enjoyed starting something new. Whether it’s a book or a garden or a vacation, the beginning is my favorite part. That’s when things are still fresh and exciting, where anticipation runs high and all your expectations are still reasonable. Beginning something is always easier than seeing it through to the end.

Posted by Doug Walker on December 31st, 2008

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 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 such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. – Hebrews 12:1-3

I’ve always enjoyed starting something new. Whether it’s a book or a garden or a vacation, the beginning is my favorite part. That’s when things are still fresh and exciting, where anticipation runs high and all your expectations are still reasonable. The book will be Pulitzer material and captivate you throughout. The garden will yield a bounty of produce with no weeds or rabbits. The vacation, of course, will be a dream.

There are other reasons why I delight in beginnings. The most honest is this: If I’ve just started something, I haven’t had the opportunity to gum things up yet. I think this why I can play the opening lines of literally hundreds of songs on the guitar or piano. I am the master of introductions. I think it’s because the introductions are usually the parts that sizzle, and they’re what everyone remembers. The hard work is plowing through the verses and chorus, often a repetitious exercise that’s not nearly as fun as playing the intro.

But isn’t that life? Beginning something is always easier than seeing it through to the end. Whether it’s boredom or fatigue or just biting off more than we can chew, finishing anything these days is a challenge. It’s been said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. That saying was probably intended for those who were paralyzed and afraid to make the first move. For me, the first step is a breeze; it’s the remaining 500,000 that give me so much trouble.

Starting is important, to be sure. But it’s finishing, and finishing well, that is most important. And it seems to be pretty important to God, too. The list of good finishers in Scripture is pretty impressive – Noah saw the ark to completion, Abraham left his home and made it to Canaan. Job endured trial, tragedy, sickness and loss, yet never gave up. God’s people did finish their journey to the promised land (although it was questionable that they would). Samuel finally found a king after a lot of searching (and wrong guessing). The Apostle Paul was relentless in quest to spread the gospel and start new churches. In fact, he was the one who said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7)

We’re standing at the threshold of a brand new year – a time to start fresh. A time of beginning again. Tis the season for resolutions, so I would imagine many of you have set goals for this year. Instead of the same old promises to yourself, try something different this time. In lieu of simply making a resolution, picture yourself achieving it. Imagine yourself in light of its outcome, rather than just its beginning. Maybe even call it a new year’s destination and not a resolution.

This is not a silly exercise, because as Christians we should be doing the very same thing every day, only on a much grander scale. If we are followers of Christ, then we’ve already begun the journey. Our focus now is to finish well. So we look ahead to glory, imagining what it will be like with new bodies in a new heaven and a new earth. We envision the perfect, Edenic life and place ourselves right in the middle of it. This is what is promised to us. This is what gives us hope. And this is what causes us to live better now. To persevere, sacrifice, and love with abandon. Now there’s a new year’s resolution.

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This is really challenging...

This is an interesting video taken while kids 9-16 play violent video games. It's worth the look and the consideration of the effect that violence in the digital realm actually has. 

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more about "learning my lines. . .", posted with vodpod

ht to Walt

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A Response to the Election in the Words of a Teaching Elder

Below is a letter that was sent to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church by Pastor Rufus Smith of City of Refuge Church in Houston, TX.  It is moving. It is poignant.  It is something that we need hear and consider. 

November 6, 2008

To: My Fellow Followers of “That Way”

From: Rufus Smith, Pastor, City of Refuge Church (Houston, TX)

As Chairman of the EPC’s Urban Ministry Network and the only black senior pastor in the Central South, may I ask you to consider pausing this Sunday or next to openly recognize the historic American election this past Tuesday? The question is not whether you or I voted for President-Elect Obama or not, but the issue is the potential capacity of his election to expedite the erasing of the stain, stigma and stereotype in the collective soul and psyche of an indigenous ethnic group and a nation.

Whether you agree with the election results or not, on Tuesday, something happened in the minds and hearts of a significant percentage of African-Americans in your cities, towns and churches. For many whom we are trying to evangelize and disciple, please acknowledge in some way this political seismic shift, atmospheric meteorite and divinely permitted event (Ps. 75:1-6); to ignore it with silence or inaction would be a setback and a squandered bridge building opportunity. Make a phone call, send a note, visit the office, issue a statement or whatever else the Lord may lead you to do to some African-American pastor or leader in your community.

As a Christian, I am NOT personally distracted from the first task of Glory to God via worship and making disciples of every ethnicity; for I deeply believe that our hope is salvation in Jesus not legislation through jurisprudence. As an American, I am prayerful for my President Elect and push for his success (I Tim. 2:1-5 as I did for President George W. Bush); As a Black American, I am as proud as a prancing horse. I was very somber Wednesday. Quite unusual for me. It seemed surreal. Time stood still as I savored what had just happened in my beloved country. 388 long years after the arrival of the Mayflower, the glass ceiling and, I believe, a national curse had been broken.

My 18year old daughter Rhoda called me at 10:45am on Wednesday in tears. “Dad, she said, you won’t believe the stuff I am seeing and hearing…Please come get me”. I warned her on our drive to school this morning of the backlash some would have today. Several of her classmates are dressed in black today to commemorate the destruction of our country and have hurled insults at her. She has been their classmate for 12 years at this highly esteemed Christian school. My wife Jacqueline went to share an off campus lunch with her, then take her back to school where she belongs to continue her maturation process. I don’t fully blame the kids, but their behavior is indicative of the work we still need to do in our society, even among Christians. We as elders know that the ultimate issue is sin not skin.

I don’t expect those who are not black Americans to share the SAME EUPHORIC INTENSITY of this HISTORIC DAY as I do. They can’t. At stake is how this atmosphere can be a time of bountiful harvest for the LifeGiver King and how it can hasten the probability that inner city churches and multi-racial churches like City of Refuge can become commonplace in our children’s lifetime.

I trust that a sacred and civil dialogue can begin for some and continue for others. This time can be a Kingdom building opening for those of us who name the name of Christ and are Christians first, Americans second, and African-Euro-Asian-Latino, Native Americans third.

No reply necessary.

 

Pastor Smith, I say thank you.

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The Blue Parakeet - A Review

First, Dr. McKnight and Zondervan thank you for the advance copy.

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The Blue Parakeet is a text that discusses how we actually read the Bible. Dr. McKnight brings up two key ideas throughout his short work. His first organizing principle is the concept that the Bible was written in a certain period's time and ways. The second is that we are to read the Bible alongside of tradition as opposed to through it.

Dr. McKnight seeks to challenge some of the assumptions that we have regarding how we read the Bible. He begins with a discussion of his own history where people would "read the Bible and do what it says" even though as he began reading the Bible for himself he realized that they did not do all it says. This then leads to the dominant question that he seeks to answer: how do we read the Bible in our times and our ways?

The book is divided into four parts, "What is the Bible", "What Do I Do with the Bible", How Do I Benefit from the Bible", and "Women in Church Ministries Today". The first section provides Dr. McKnight's organizing principles. The second and third sections discuss the proofs and ramifications for his new hermeneutic. The fourth section provides an application to a particular issue within the Christian church.

Dr. McKnight writes an engaging book. I think that he has provided a useful challenge to the assumptions with which we tend to come to the Bible with. He also provides a wonderful framework for understanding the Bible as story.

Many, no doubt, will struggle with his section on women. I am not sure that he proves his point fully. I would like to see this section developed more in a future work.

In conclusion, I would recommend this text for those who are thinking about how to read and understand the Bible in a post-modern, post-Christendom context. I would caution the reader to read with a critical eye as it easy to get caught up in Dr. McKnight's winsome prose. This will be a text that will be at the center of the conversation for some time to come.

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