Yearly Halloween thoughts (amended)

Someone just asked me today if our church did some sort of Halloween alternative activity. I let him know that we don't have a building, so that makes it harder (though not impossible by any means). But I also let him know that I didn't feel there would have been that much interest anyway-as I perceive it.

As I've noticed over the years, Christians in different areas of the nation have different "taboo's": convictions that have been elevated so high that for many they are just understood. I really can't figure it out, but I'm as intrigued as I'm perplexed about it.

I dropped Connar off to his pre-school today in his fireman costume. Most kids dressed up for this "Harvest Party." They'll get candy. Amy is going in today to do some pumpkin activity. This is a Baptist church. Another fairly, or very legalistic church in the valley where women have to wear dresses, say nothing against Halloween and has no Halloween alternative. It's just not taboo in this area.

But in South Carolina, and in parts of Florida, scores of churches had Halloween alternatives. It was understood that Halloween celebration outside the church was not kosher. Or at least that's the vibe I got.

Yet in FL, alcohol consumption in moderation is not taboo. But in my area, for many churches and Christian schools in the area, it is. Although somehow cigarettes and chewing tobacco for some reason isn't.....Other areas Christians consider cussing as "a" or THE sign that you are an unbeliever, while in some parts, it can be appropriate in private conversation.

Christians should have convictions and not just respond as oysters (filter feeders who suck everything in) to the culture. If there are holidays or just any day, where they our communities say, "Let's get naked and go to bath houses," then stay home and keep the lights on. Early Christians were insulted because they didn't go get naked with their neighbors. They really did get insulted for this.

However, we also shouldn't simply respond to the "taboo" mentality of local or state "church culture."And if you do choose to celebrate, and people think you're wrong, it doesn't matter. You don't have to prove that "you're right" and "they're wrong." I just preached on that yesterday. We often have opinions that we hold on too tightly, and by doing so, let real cultural values contrary to the gospel, quietly seep into the church. I wonder if Satan really does like Halloween as much as some folks say, but for different reasons: division, pride, and self-righteousness on BOTH SIDES of the issue.

I'm much more concerned about playing sports on Sundays, and how quickly people culturally cave to whatever the community event it is when it coincides with worship. 

If you choose to celebrate Halloween, and trick-or-treat with your kids, I'm pretty sure no one is going to come up to you and say, "Hey, you're a pagan like me. Awesome, can we talk Druid stuff, or whatever the perceived origins (I stopped counting how many different "authorities" claimed THEY knew the true origin) and how we both are bringing mother nature, or Satan, or someone other than God glory tonight?" You can read about folks like that here. If they do, consider it a blessing to have the conversation and one that is pretty easy to steer that one toward Jesus.

If you do celebrate Halloween, and you haven't yet-our area is incredibly unique (some neighborhoods have already had their trick-or-treat night)- here are some good ways to "bring Jesus" with you as you go to and fro. 

If you choose not to "celebrate" it, that's fine too. You can still care about your neighbors, serve and bless them on other nights. In my opinion, you miss one opportunity; but it is not the ONLY opportunity.

Inconsistency and Insecurity from Keyshawn and Gruden

As a huge Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan, I'm always listening to what comes out of former Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden. And even more so now that he's currently out of coaching (and no doubt somewhat muzzled because he is still receiving a check from the Bucs), yet involved with ESPN. Gruden took the Bucs to the Super Bowl, but after that, never won a play-off game. In fact the year after the Super Bowl, he actually told former Buccaneer Keyshawn Johnson NOT to come to practice anymore, ever. That was probably 8 years ago, and yet Keyshawn, aka "MEshawn" still talks about Gruden messing with his head.

“When your psyche is messed with, and you don’t want to be around the organization or team, you just want to do whatever you can to get out of there,” Johnson said. “And that   was the situation when I was under Coach Gruden in Tampa.”

Then, as men with egos always do, Gruden fired back.  

“I had a guy on SportsCenter say he couldn’t get along with me the other day on TV,” Gruden said. “So I know how it feels. You’ve got to have some thick skin, and you’ve got to know when things get tough there are going to be some negative things said.”

The commentary from this article is priceless:

 If Gruden’s skin were really thick, wouldn’t he just let it go?

How true is that? Does Jon Gruden really have thick skin? Not nearly as thick as one would, or should think, for a coach. Just another example of how our actions are always a better indicator of what we believe than our words. Whenever we see such inconsistencies with things we say, and then how we live, Christians have a place to run for forgiveness and change: the cross. It's a place for the inconsistent to find the ONLY one who was/is/will be consistent. And it is a place where we can begin to change the belief, which will lead to changed actions and words (Colossians 2:6-7).

And regarding MEshawn Johnson, who actually wrote a book called Just Give Me the Damn Ball (I still can't believe that-but at 22.95, not sure how many he's actually sold), he's a bit more fragile than advertised as well. It's a good reminder that those who seem so outwardly confident, cocky, obnoxious, are probably just as insecure as the rest.


 This is incredibly helpful to realize in ministry and in life. If we can see this insecure person, as opposed to only seeing the Just Give Me The Damn Ball person, we'll find loving them much easier.

A potential Trinitarian example

There is no concept harder to explain to a toddler, a youth, or even an adult than the Trinity. We explained to my three year old Connar the other day that Jesus lives in heaven, but now He doesn't believe that Jesus lives in Florida. That's a fun one.

The ontological, or essential unity and yet distinction within the Trinity is described in by the Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 6

WSC Q 6: How many persons are there in the Godhead? There are three persons in the Godhead. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and in glory.

You can actually hear it sung by an accomplished musician here. In fact I just used this music to verify the correct wording now that my bibleworks program doesn't work any longer with my new Apple operating system.

There really isn't an illustration or example that is technically accurate when describing the essential unity and yet distinction in the Trinity. Pretty much all of the examples teachers tend to use (and not deviously mind you) are actually heretical forms of what is called "modalism" or Sabellianism (where God appears at one time Son, another time Spirit, another time Father but not all at once). And so we're kind of limited to holding tight to the scriptures, and to the language passed down to us from church history.

However, I don't think we're necessarily limited on illustrations describing the functional subordination (where each member honors and points to the next person) relationship within the Trinity. What I mean is that the Spirit points to the Son, the Son points to the Father, the Father points to the Son. A little bit of that can be seen in John 16:12-15.

We've been trying to get my one year old son Cade to talk, but he's only got the "da-da" sound down. He can probably say that word because my wife Amy, who obviously spends the most time with him, always pointed him toward "Da-da." She is incredibly important in Cade's life, but she wanted to point him toward someone else equally as important. When I'm with Cade, I try to get him to say "Ma-ma." I also try to get Cade to say Connar's name "Ca-ca" (he did ONCE and that was it.) I don't need to hear him say my name; I desire him to say the names of his mother and brother. I want to honor them. And they want to honor me. Neither of us is essentially more important (though you could obviously argue she gets the nod from me), but we each sense the need to bring honor to the other.

Maybe this helps. Maybe it doesn't. Like any analogy it has limits, but it makes sense to me.

Review for The Quest For Comfort

When you hear catechism, what words come to your mind? Honestly? Seriously, if I had to do a word association with catechism, I think I'd hear, or maybe say (I confess) words like "rigid," "heady," "for pastors," "for a different kind of Christian." You may have had experiences with those who embrace different catechisms, and think, "Well those aren't my kind of guys or gals." Or you may think that a catechism is something you memorize as a kid, or have as a resource as adult, to make you smarter. Regardless, catechism and comfort don't regularly find their way together in the same sentence. They should.

You will see comfort and catechism collide in William Boekestein's The Quest for Comfort. This is the 2nd book of his I've had the opportunity to read and review: Faithfulness Under Fire was my first.  Through vivid illustrations, and simple language, he uniquely connects the quest for true godly comfort with the devotional riches found in the Heidelberg catechism.

This book is a children's book. It is designed for children, and illustrated for children, but it is just as devotional to parents. As a P.C.A minister, I'm fairly well versed in the history surrounding the Westminster Confession of Faith. However, I found myself woefully ignorant of the events which fortunately forged the Heidelberg Catechism.

Just as the events surrounding the hymn "It Is Well With Soul" make it that much more comforting-that God could provide comfort after such a tragedy-so do these events add to the rich experience of the Heidelberg Catechism.  In fact, not long after finishing The Quest for Comfort,  I "went out" and purchased the Heidelberg Catechism for my kindle.

Boekestein draws the reader into the timeless struggle of trying to understand and apply the scriptures amidst a culture and human heart which naturally rejects it. While the whole story makes for a fun and quick read, there are three reasons why I WANT to read the Heidelberg catechism, and this book again for that matter.

The Need for such a catechism. We hear of a deacon and preacher actually get in a fist fight over doctrinal questions. How crazy is that! Reminds me of Robert Duval's character in The Apostle when Billy Bob Thornton's character tries to stir up trouble and experiences quite a "beat-down." Tension makes for a great story. But more than making for a great story, it reminds us how helpful a tool a catechism can be in understanding and applying the bible today. We have folks who can help us understand and apply it today, even though they lived a long time ago.

Comfort of a catechism. Like the title suggests, Boekestein frames this catechism not just historically, but existentially. While folks at the time had access to the Belgic Confession, Frederick III wanted, "something simpler, more personal, more peaceful. He wanted a book that showed the heart of the gospel to men, women, boys, and girls who needed the comfort that only God can give." The goal was not to exhaustively cover every biblical topic but to provide some objective truth which comforts the heart and set the hands and feet in motion to service. We should seek comfort in the gospel and this is a great place to find and experience it.

Restore adventure to the Christian life. As adults we can sometimes lose that sense of adventure as we live in a place of religious freedom. But what a time to rekindle that passion. We don't need to pretend we live in the same time period, or same "place" (many Christians do now though), or feel guilty we don't. However, since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1), we should take encouragement that God worked in them, and He'll work in us. One can almost hear them encouraging us, "You guys have opportunities and challenges we didn't face. Look to Jesus and He'll take not only take care of you, but He'll take you on an adventure."

I commend this short book to you. It will do your soul, and the soul of your little one's some good. And if you're at all like me, you'll go out and get your hands on the Heidelberg catechism.

Spiritual Constipation and the Gospel

This past week I had a wonderful opportunity to sit down with someone who I had hoped would help out with an existing ministry at Redeemer. But first I wanted to hear his story, how God had worked in the past, and what the Lord was doing now. He was connected to one of our C.D. (community/discipleship) groups now, and had been involved in a previous bible study for a few years. So after I had discerned the desire to grow, and to continue to grow in his faith, I laid out an opportunity before him. He gobbled it up like Pacman. 


But how he responded brought me more joy than simply his response. I've been feeding and getting fed for a while now, and I've been ready to serve for a while. I've been getting fed and now its time to feed others. I can't hold this stuff in. It's uncomfortable to continue being fed and not feeding others.


He had been experiencing what I call "spiritual constipation." That is, that he'd been feeding and drinking deeply on the gospel through our bible studies and CD groups and felt spiritually bloated. He was stopped up. I know that's somewhat graphic language, but this is a reality for many. We're not designed to experience the blessings of the gospel only to hold them in. We'll get backed up. We'll be uncomfortable, or at least forfeit some of the joy of following Jesus and fellowshipping with Him. In the end, if we are truly growing in grace, we'll desire to serve and bless others.


In Genesis 12:1-3, we see that Abraham is blessed SO THAT he would be a blessing to others. God has never in the scriptures blessed anyone so that he/she could simply revel in that blessing and keep it for themselves. And we now know that it is through Jesus, that we inherit the blessing promised to Abraham (Galatians 3:29), which is ultimately "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3)." With these blessings, and "every" sounds like a pretty large number to me, YOU do have something to offer. 


If you are the lad or the lass who believes it is important to go to a bible study each day of the week, and yet you are not serving in the local church, I would like to encourage you to consider that this MAY not be God's design for you. He designed you to be a conduit of gospel blessings, not to be a storage container for them to remain stagnant. My hope is that you would begin to feel spiritually bloated and uncomfortable, because it is not God's design for you to be "spiritually" constipated. 


Now of course there are caveats if you simply need a break, or you've been burned out, or if you have to wait to join to serve, or if you can't say no to anyone who asks you to do something. But consider that you serving the church with your gifts, and reaching out to those outside the church is not only to benefit others. It's for you as well. 


I hope that you can find a spiritual comfort that comes with being a conduit for the gospel instead of keeping all the good stuff to yourself. Yes you'll enter into suffering at times, but you won't regret being used by God to bless others with the blessing secured to you by Jesus.

Godly Masculinity in Parenthood

Last night my wife and I watched the most recent Parenthood episode, and as usual, thoroughly enjoyed it. One scene near the end stuck out as particularly powerful, and a great example of how a man can lead his family.

If you're unfamiliar with the show, "Coach" Craig T Nelson is the patriarch and somewhat overbearing grandfather. He has four grown kids, two boys and two girls, who also have children. One of his daughters decides she wants to support her alcoholic ex-husband through rehab. He expresses extreme disapproval. His other daughter and son-in-law express their intentions to adopt a co-worker's baby. And that is also met with such disapproval that the daughter begins to re-think the whole process. Then at the dinner table, it comes out that his oldest daughter has requested money from his younger daughter and son-in-law to pay for her ex-husband's rehab. "Coach" just loses it.

Then the son-in-law, who is normally behind the scenes, steps up to intercede for his wife and sister-in-law. He's not normally "manly" in the sense we tend to think of men. While he's good with his hands, he is not the primary breadwinner. He is better with their daughter, and can regularly be seen packing her lunch and making dinner.

Yet, despite the cultural masculine image he doesn't portray, he nevertheless acts, and leads like a man (Eph 5:25), sacrificing his own comfort, reputation, approval to defend his wife and sister-in-law at the hands of this overbearing patriarch.

He commends his sister-in-law's willingness to be hurt and disappointed (which could happen in rehab with such a perennial loser ex-husband) and is happy to support such a cause. Then he explains that HE and HIS wife will adopt who ever they want, "And you need to be okay with that Zeke."

Out of nowhere. This passive lad decides it is time to lead. It was time to love. Absolutely beautiful. The patriarch cannot make decisions anymore for his daughters. There's a new sheriff in town: the husband.

Everyone seems to have a picture of masculinity they purport to be truly masculine. Miler Lite does this with humorous commercials of men acting like women and being called out. On the other end, some Christian folks have tried to redefine masculinity (as though that were one of Jesus' goals) and end up just creating an image of man based upon themselves, their personalities, and their picture of Jesus (which is never big enough when you hyper-emphasize one part of his character-like godly anger to the neglect of his gentleness and compassion). Jesus is more of a "punch you in the gut" kind of guy, a well respected leader claims.

Yet I just don't know that Jesus would promote such a picture of masculinity. But I can say with confidence, that this scene, depicts a laid back-not in your face kind of guy-acting like a godly man.

I think people get lost in "Am I acting like a man?" and forget about simply following Jesus wherever He puts you. In this case, the husband chose to defend his wife at the risk of being rejected by his father-in-law. And this is hard. Family is a functional god in many areas of the country, particularly my part. We often care about their approval more than Jesus' approval. Still Jesus essentially says, "You need to love me and follow me, even when it goes against your family's or in-law's wishes." (Luke 14:26). And so he does.

Yet this guy follows Jesus not by force, banging his fist, or even raising his voice; he respects his father in law. "You're going to need to be okay with this, Zeke" He doesn't say, "You can kiss my grits." But he draws a line in the sand, defends himself and his wife, and commends his sister-in-law. There is no doubt who is calling the shots-not Grandpa, or P-Pa, or Gramps, etc....

If more men would lead like this, more women would want to follow them. When fear of God replaces fear of man in the home, good things will be happening there. That's the kind of masculine expression I think Jesus cares about. Far more than who makes more money or more dinners.

Gay, Proud, and Presbyterian

Last week or so, the Presbyterian denomination P.C.U.S.A., ordained the first openly gay minister. You can watch the interview here. Its pretty sad, because I have family members, in-laws, and friends in PCUSA churches as members and ministers. Those churches don't feel this same way, but perhaps the day is coming when they must recognize that they can't have real fellowship with those in their own denomination. Crazy.

If the bible is "silent" on homosexuality, on what issues is it "loud?" Or if there are different ways of interpreting the bible (called a "hermenuetic"), which allow us to pick and choose what we follow, then I'd keep the homosexual part in play but throw out the whole love your enemies part. That's one I don't like all that much. It's hard. But I don't get a vote, and I'm glad.

Anyhow, here are a few takes from this video

1.) What is Liberalism? A friend of mine, when being accused of being a "liberal," was asked, "What is the difference between you and liberal mainline Christianity?" He answered, "I stand UNDER God's Word as the final authority." A typical liberal mainline minister will stand OVER God's Word to critique it.

2.) At what point is a church no longer a church? The Reformers gave three marks of a church: Preaching of Word, Administration of Sacraments, and Church Discipline. When the word is preached in such a way that is not the final authority, then it would be tough to argue that is being preached at all. How many liberal churches are truly churches? I don't know, but something to consider.

Of course in my denomination, we have to ask that question as well. Just because a group of people have a building, that says, "Church" on it, is that gathering legitimately a church? Is it a church when there are 6 people, 20 people? Is there a cut-off? Should we consider it a bible study that meets Sunday mornings? So we have that question as well, but it becomes more difficult when theological fidelity is present, and perhaps the Holy Spirit absent. Again I don't have answers, but just want to point out that theological orthodoxy does not in and of itself make or maintain a church.

3.) Language games. It is not hard to say the correct theological terms and mean something completely different. A plethora of German scholars in the late 1700's-1800's had one foot in a "conservative camp" with their words, but in their meanings, they paved the way for a severe lingering suspicion of the scriptures. They would say things like, "Jesus is my Savior," but mean that Jesus was important to them. You can also say things like "God's Word is my authority, but I just don't think the bible speaks against homosexuality." Again, a language game.

4.) What's the difference? When a church is so identifiable with the cultural stance or perhaps even a political one, can it then turn around and say anything true about the gospel or people's need for it? How is it different than a social club worshiping a deity that it finds palatable? I'm actually kind of curious to visit such a church, but on the four Sundays I have off each year, I'd rather hear God's Word preached faithfully.

5.) Many Christians literally struggle with same sex attraction. While some folks have pronounced victory in this fight, there are other Christians who affirm homosexual sex is contrary to God's will, and as a result fight each day to live faithful to the Lord who has bought them with the price of His blood. This book, Washed and Waiting, is one of the best books I've read this year. In it you'll hear of a normal dude struggling in this area, yet trusting in Christ to forgive and empower him. I felt for this brother in Christ. How must he feel when other "Christians" choose to ignore God's commands and good design and profess to be saved by and follow the same Savior? And then celebrate their "victory."

The evangelical church probably still has a ways to go. To condemn and affirm sin is one thing, but to not welcome, not affirm the dignity, to provide blanket assumptions for why folks are gay, and to not befriend and get to know other fellow sinners (but ones yet to experience grace) misses Jesus as well.