the great albums (1) - between here & gone

An album that grows out of an increasingly haunted sense of life's transitory nature and the sadness of 9/11 - it doesn't at first blush sound inviting but don't be put off. Between Here And Gone is a masterpiece. Mary Chapin Carpenter combines lyrical grace with musical depth to fashion a powerful statement that invites repeated listens. You won't ever tire of this album.

It begins with a couple of lighter-weight tracks, What would you say to me? and Luna's Gone. But far from being filler, they ease you into the album's depths slowly. What follows is a musical version of Alice Sebold's vision of heaven in her novel The Lovely Bones. MCC doesn't quite capture the colourless disappointment of the novel but there's something bubbling under the surface of My Heaven that will be exposed in the album's core.

And that core is a trio of songs that, in a Simon-esque way (albeit not musically), reflect the life and times of the USA in the early 21st century. Goodnight America, Between Here & Gone and Grand Central Station are songs of weight, depth and a certain majesty. Deep questions, open fears and choking longings are foregrounded for all to see and feel. The dream is breaking apart; souls are passing through, barely felt. And sweat and tears are not enough to redeem the suffering of 9/11, despite the (rightly) celebrated bravery.

'The key to travelling light is to not need very much' she sings in One Small Heart, a brooding piece on the search for freedom, taking the open road. You can sense the splintered heart behind the wheel. A more sinister heart is exposed on The Shelter Of Storms, where the bitter end of human perversity is only unremitting, unexplained sadness.

Of course, this being MCC, there's a song about Girls Like Me, who don't fit, live alone, like a cold beer, aren't what most men are looking for (more fool them). But this time there's a happy ending: Elysium is a celebration of love-at-last and is a joyous end to a solemn yet tender album.

And I know I haven't begun to do it justice.

kinda fonda kindle

Well, the app that is, not the device (I'm sure I'd be fond of the device, too, so if you were thinking to send one my way, don't delay).

As the result of some discussion on a PDA/Smartphone website, I decided to install the Kindle app that's available for the iPod Touch (and iPhone, too, of course) and see if I could buy a book for it (the discussion, for your interest, was over the non-availability of ebooks for the UK).

Well, it worked. And I got an absolute steal. For $2.35, I got the Packer/Dever collection, In My Place Condemned He Stood. Amazon UK price for the paperback is £8.99.

I think I might have to go browsing again...

padding it out?

The recent unveiling of the iPad has led to some interesting discussions about the future of publishing, especially for the news media. But it also presents huge opportunities for Christian publishers/ministries - take a look at this article and then imagine, say, the new Keller book in digital format, with audio & video clips, links to material and other resources on the web, plus the ease of the publisher updating material as & where necessary. Oh, and not forgetting the user's ability to add their own notes into the 'book'.

Great opportunities, methinks.

speaking the gospel

I'm so thankful for both the example and the content of this talk. It's a humbling listen; it's also thrilling.

HT: John Dyer.

enya: on your shore

The singing is lovely, the lyrics (by Roma Ryan) are beautifully crafted. Deep waters, indeed.

My favourite track from her Watermark album.

Strange how my heart beats
To find myself upon your shore.
Strange how I still feel
My loss of comfort gone before.

Cool waves wash over
and drift away with dreams of youth
so time is stolen
I cannot hold you long enough.

And so this is where I should be now
Days and nights falling by
Days and nights falling by me.
I know of a dream I should be holding
days and nights falling by
Days and nights falling by me.

Soft blue horizons
reach far into my childhood days
as you are rising
to bring me my forgotten ways

Strange how I falter
to find I'm standing in deep water
Strange how my heart beats
to find I'm standing on your shore

no going back

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything. Abraham said to his servant, the senior one in his household who was in charge of everything he had, “Put your hand under my thigh so that I may make you solemnly promise by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living. You must go instead to my country and to my relatives to find a wife for my son Isaac.”

The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me to this land? Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”

“Be careful never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him. “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, promised me with a solemn oath, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel before you so that you may find a wife for my son from there. But if the woman is not willing to come back with you, you will be free from this oath of mine. But you must not take my son back there!” (Genesis 24:1-8)

Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:61,62)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:14)

a forgotten time-bomb

the incipient danger of self-reliance

The point is to keep him feeling that he has something, other than the Enemy and courage the Enemy supplies, to fall back on, so that what was intended to be a total commitment to duty becomes honeycombed all through with little unconscious reservations. By building up a series of imaginary expedients to prevent 'the worst coming to the worst' you may produce, at that level of his will which he is not aware of, a determination that the worst shall not come to the worst.

C S Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, p.163

Today

would have been Dad's 90th birthday.

In gladdest memory of him, here's a shot of Dad, Patrick & me at the RAF Valley airshow back in 1975. The photo was taken by my (then future) brother-in-law, John Davies. Patrick was 15 and I was nearly 12. It was a lovely day.

My shirt was originally a white nylon school shirt that Mam had dyed purple.

the dangers of middle-age

(Screwtape urges his nephew to do his best to keep his human patient alive, because time is a great ally to their work...)

The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-age are excellent campaigning weather. You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and the inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it - all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition.

C S Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, p.155

maybe i shoulda waited?

change & permanence

The humans live in time, and experience reality successively. To experience much of it, therefore, they must experience many different things; in other words, they must experience change. And since they need change, the Enemy (being a hedonist at heart) has made change pleasurable to them, just as He mas made eating pleasurable. But since He does not wish them to make change, any more than eating, an end it itself, He has balanced the love of change in them by a love of permanence. He has contrived to gratify both tastes together in the very world He has made, by that union of change and permanence which we call Rhythm. He gies them the seasons, each season different yet every year the same, so that spring is always felt as a novelty yet always as the recurrence of an immemorial theme.

(C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, p.136)

humble followers, humble leaders

It's quite striking how often in close prximity in Matthew's gospel Jesus impresses on his followers, and especially the 12, the absolute necessity of humility and self-denial...

16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

17:24 After they arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Your teacher pays the double drachma tax, doesn’t he?” 17:25 He said, “Yes.” When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect tolls or taxes – from their sons or from foreigners?” 17:26 After he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 17:27 But so that we don’t offend them, go to the lake and throw out a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth, you will find a four drachma coin. Take that and give it to them for me and you.”

18:1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 18:2 He called a child, had him stand among them, 18:3 and said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven! 18:4 Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 18:5 And whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me.

18:21 Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? As many as seven times?” 18:22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times!

19:13 Then little children were brought to him for him to lay his hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded those who brought them. 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 19:15 And he placed his hands on them and went on his way.

19:28 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth:40 In the age when all things are renewed, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 19:29 And whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

20:16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

20:24 Now when the other ten heard this, they were angry with the two brothers. 20:25 But Jesus called them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. 20:26 It must not be this way among you! Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, 20:27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave – 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Same Old Thing

What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call 'Christianity And'...If they must be Christians let them at least be Christians with a difference. Substitute for the faith itself some Fashion with a Christian colouring. Work on their horror of the Same Old Thing.

The horror of the Same Old Thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart - an endless source of heresies in religion, folly in counsel, infidelity in marriage, and inconstancy in friendship.

(C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, p.135)

ramachandran: neurons & civilisation

Worth a gander.

something a little different

Ideally suited for late night chilling, David Sylvian's album Dead Bees On A Cake is really worth a listen.

Not my usual cup of tea - and maybe not yours either - but I found it compelling.

matthew 18 - a change of subject?

In Matthew 18, Jesus speaks of the need for humility (vv.1-5), the need to protect the vulnerable (vv.6-9) and the need to seek, to restore, the erring sheep (vv.10-14). Then he starts speaking about dealing with sin in the church (vv.15-20) and the importance of a forgiving spirit (vv.21-35) - a complete change of subject? A random gathering of teachings that Matthew had to include somewhere but wasn't too sure where to put them?

Sin matters. Those most vulnerable to the sins of others matter. It has to be handled. But that demands humility. And it demands a real concern to win over, to restore, the guilty. And that can only be done by those who are conscious of grace received.

Seems like Matthew knows how to put a gospel together.

resting place: a present reality

In John 14:2 Jesus tells his disciples that there are many dwelling places in his Father's house. It's usually taken to be a reference to heaven and our future hope but the NET notes on that phrase are worth pondering:

Most interpreters have understood the reference to my Father’s house as a reference to heaven, and the dwelling places (μονή) as the permanent residences of believers there. This seems consistent with the vocabulary and the context, where in v. 3 Jesus speaks of coming again to take the disciples to himself. However, the phrase in my Father’s house was used previously in the Fourth Gospel in 2:16 to refer to the temple in Jerusalem. The author in 2:19-22 then reinterpreted the temple as Jesus’ body, which was to be destroyed in death and then rebuilt in resurrection after three days. Even more suggestive is the statement by Jesus in 8:35, “Now the slave does not remain (μένω) in the household forever, but the son remains (μένω) forever.” If in the imagery of the Fourth Gospel the phrase in my Father’s house is ultimately a reference to Jesus’ body, the relationship of μονή to μένω suggests the permanent relationship of the believer to Jesus and the Father as an adopted son who remains in the household forever. In this case the “dwelling place” is “in” Jesus himself, where he is, whether in heaven or on earth. The statement in v. 3, “I will come again and receive you to myself,” then refers not just to the parousia, but also to Jesus’ postresurrection return to the disciples in his glorified state, when by virtue of his death on their behalf they may enter into union with him and with the Father as adopted sons. Needless to say, this bears numerous similarities to Pauline theology, especially the concepts of adoption as sons and being “in Christ” which are prominent in passages like Eph 1. It is also important to note, however, the emphasis in the Fourth Gospel itself on the present reality of eternal life (John 5:24, 7:38-39, etc.) and the possibility of worshiping the Father “in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:21-24) in the present age. There is a sense in which it is possible to say that the future reality is present now.

mccartney: flaming pie

When it was first released (back in '97) some people said Flaming Pie was a return to form, of sorts, for Paul McCartney. I borrowed the tape from the library and thought it was okay but too sketchy.

But then he's always been sketchy - which isn't a criticism, just an observation.

Anyway, the fine folk at Spotify have afforded me the opportunity to reflect more leisurely on my opinion and I feel I ought to revise it. It was, indeed, a return to form.

Give it a spin. You won't regret it.

thinking out loud 2 - abraham's justification

When was Abraham declared righteous (i.e. justified) by God?

In Romans 4:3, Paul refers to Genesis 15:6 as God's justifying of Abram, on the grounds that he believed God.

In very similar language, James 2:21 tells us that Abraham was considered righteous when he offered Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22).

Traditionally, the debate over these accounts surrounds the means of justification: was it by faith or by works? Of course, James is saying that Abraham's faith worked and Paul would no doubt agree. Saving faith works - and in Genesis 22 Abraham demonstrated saving faith by his works.

All well and good.

But when was Abraham justified? That question has an underlying assumption: justification is a once-for-all declaration by God that someone is in the right with him (on the basis of faith in the work of Jesus). Perhaps the assumption is biblically unwarranted.

It seems clear that James is positioning justification in Genesis 22, Paul in Genesis 15. And as if that wasn't confusing enough, the same Paul can speak of people being justified at the final judgement: in Romans 2:13 he declares that "it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous". When will this justification happen? "This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares" (Romans 2:16).

So are these additional justifications? Is a person justified more than once? Or is this making justification a process and not an event, such that a person is not ultimately justified until that final declaration?

It's neither of those. It is simply saying that God can, at any point, declare what is true of someone: that, by virtue of faith in Jesus - a faith that demonstrates itself by appropriate works - they are right with him, they are justified.

In Genesis 22, Abraham is (implicitly) declared to be righteous, not on the basis of his earlier belief in God but because of his present demonstration of the same faith. I can be declared to be a justified man today, not because I believed in Jesus some years ago but because it is visibly so of me today that I have faith in him.

What if that demonstration is presently lacking? Was the earlier declaration only provisional? Was it not as definitive as it seemed? This co-opts the debate about once saved, always saved and the solution remains the same. The declaration by God is real; it is not provisional from his perspective. Yet it is correct to say that it is real in that moment. And it does need to be worked-through in my own experience of it.

Someone helpfully suggested that there is a similarity in the multiple attestations that Jesus was God's Son - at his baptism, at his transfiguration, in his resurrection. Those declarations were real and not provisional. Yet they were also 'real in that moment'. They were not made with respect to the past nor to the future (although of course both past & future are in some way involved and implicated). And, very interestingly, the resurrection of Jesus, in which he is declared with power to be the Son of God, is also spoken of as his vindication, his justification.

There might be a big 'So what?' looming at this point. Perhaps the following give some observable outcome to the discussion:

i. If God can declare Abraham justified in the midst of his life (referring to Genesis 22) without any threat to Abraham's confidence in his eternal security within God's covenant, then he can also do so at the end of Abraham's life, again without threat to Abraham's sense of assurance during his life on earth. Each declaration is real, at that point in time. To speak of a final justification on the basis of the whole life lived (Romans 2:13; 2 Cor. 5:10) is not destructive of assurance in the present, because assurance is most-fully rooted elsewhere, in the finished work of Christ. Did the Father's declaration of the sonship of Jesus at his baptism cast a shadow over whether he had been God's Son prior to that event? I think not.

ii. And if God can declare Abraham justified on the basis of works as demonstrative of faith (as in Genesis 22, refracted through James 2:21) without collapsing the whole notion of justification by faith alone, then he can again do so at the end of Abraham's life without subverting the sole efficacy of Christ's saving work. To believe in a final justification on the basis of works is not to believe in works-salvation. The works are only & ever demonstrative.

iii. And if the declaration 'justified' can be made on several occasions (on as many occasions as God himself chooses to examine a person's faith, perhaps - in keeping with Genesis 22:1) then it cannot be said to be a performative declaration; it can only bear witness to what already is. That is, justification is not conversion. It is subsequent to it and declarative of it. It is more akin to the Spirit witnessing to our spirits that we are the children of God - taking & speaking the verdict of 'justified on the basis of Christ's work, as received by a faith that works'. If the declaration can be made on more than one occasion, it cannot be co-terminus with conversion.

hansen: on valuing visitation

A very helpful piece by Colin Hansen on the importance of pastors knowing those to whom they preach and amongst whom they minister.

It doesn't offer a mechanism for ensuring it happens but it's good to be reminded.

hauerwas: on essential liturgy

What do you make of this quote from an interview with Stanley Hauerwas?

It was a bad innovation when the revivalistic structure overtook the church’s primary liturgical form in a way that charismatic preachers replaced the centrality of Eucharist. We’ve suffered from that.

I think he has a point. Sort of.

behaviour: systems & culture

What brings about effective, lasting change in behaviour? In a recent Out Of Ur videocast thingy, Andy Stanley maintains that it isn't great messages, slick events or whatever that changes people but systems (the video is short & he doesn't explain the point beyond making it).

Not long after watching that, I read this post by Matt Perman. Some time previously he made the point that systems trump intentions. I think there's some mileage in that point. But he now adds that culture trumps systems, referencing an article about Obama's response to the recent failures in the security systems of the US to make the point. I think the point is well-made.

Which leads me to pondering: if systems are helpful in creating behaviour (think: godly patterns & structures) yet are not sufficient to secure that behaviour, how can the culture (think: motivation) be impacted in order to bring about genuine transformation?

I think the answer lies in the biblical combination of Word and Spirit. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2) and we are to be transformed into his image with ever increasing glory which comes the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18).

planted

Some mates & me are going to read through Eugene Peterson's seminal work on pastoral vocation, Under the Unpredictable Plant, over these next few weeks. We'll be blogging some random thoughts here.

I've read the book before, some years ago, and have dipped in here & there since then. It's definitely worth another, sustained read. I'm looking forward to the conversation immensely.

raw material

...get it quite clear in your own mind that this state of falling in love is not, in itself, necessarily favourable either to us or to the other side. It is simply an occasion which we and the Enemy are both trying to exploit. Like most of the other things which humans are excited about, such as health and sickness, age and youth, or war and peace, it is, from the point of view of the spiritual life, mainly raw material.

C S Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Ch.19

on using twitter

This probably isn't a unique-to-me use of Twitter but I find it useful.

I've set my twitter account to private, so no-one can see what I tweet (I'd never tweeted before anyhow...) and now use it to write little notes to myself about pastoral visits, phone calls etc.

What's the benefit? I can write them up 'on the fly' with my iPod Touch and they stay secure (& confidential) for future reference and are easily accessed before a return visit/call.

Simple. Easy. Useful.

on using illustrations

Craig Barnes makes a solemn point that all preachers know they need to think about. Writing about the use of illustrations he comments,

few things can be more subversive to the point of the biblical text than our efforts at illustrating it.

Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. Alas.

By way of contrast, he mentions the use of images (noting along the way that "the Bible has very few illustrations, but it is filled with powerful images"). He writes,

Illustrations tell stories that exemplify the point of the text. Images embody the point.

(The Pastor as Minor Poet, pp.129,130)

lamech's prophecy

He says of his son, Noah (by way of explaining his name),

He will comfort us in the labour and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed. (Genesis 5:29)

An experiential knowledge of the fall and its consequences. The longing for a redeemer.

These were days when people had begun to call upon the name of the LORD (Genesis 4:26b).

methuselah

The oldest man in the Bible. The son of Enoch, who walked with God. The grandfather of Noah, who found favour with God.

He died, aged 969, in the year of the worldwide flood.

Was his death the 'signal' for the time of judgement to begin? Or was he lost in the flood? We're not told. Speculation isn't helpful.

But the possibilities are sobering.

sound advice

How important is sound? How important is the right sound? Check-out this 5-minute talk.

limits & grace

As a minor poet, the pastor doesn't simply tell people to be satisfied with their limited lives but instead helps them to find the joy and sacred purposes to these limits. Some of the things that are missing from the garden are good and certainly desired. When a couple discovers that they cannot have children, when a spouse is buried, or when a terminal disease is discovered, it isn't helpful for the pastor to point to all of the other blessings in a person's life. What is helpful is for the pastor to walk into the sorrow in search of the sufficient grace of God. Anyone who finds more of the steadfast love of God from which we are never separated has found something far greater than that which is missing from the garden. And it is for that grace that we are most grateful.

M Craig Barnes, The Pastor as Minor Poet, pp.96,97

The missing half

Not infrequently, helpful preachers remind us that 'It's not about you'. Such a reproof can often be timely and needed.

Craig Barnes believes the same. But he fills-out the point by adding, 'You are about it.' And so the point is not simply negative; it has another side that is both affirmative and formative of genuine spiritual maturity, by emphasising reconciled identity.

(see The Pastor as Minor Poet p.69)

'These are the generations...'

It's an interesting phrase and it recurs in Genesis a number of times, at 2:4, 5:1, 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:1; 36:9 & 37:2. The NET Bible notes make the observation that

It is always a heading, introducing the subject matter that is to come. From the starting point of the title, the narrative traces the genealogy or the records or the particulars involved.

They further note that,

The subject matter of each תּוֹלְדֹת (tolÿdot, “this is the account of”) section of the book traces a decline or a deterioration through to the next beginning point, and each is thereby a microcosm of the book which begins with divine blessing in the garden, and ends with a coffin in Egypt.

Yet each decline is not without some spark of hope in divine intervention - thank God.