12 Tuesday Feb 2019
Posted in Contra Mundum, Meditations, Pro Ecclesia, Theology
“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 Jn. 5:12, NIV). Union with Christ is the great gift of the gospel. Knowing Christ is the key to meaning, hope, and eternal life.
Reformation 21 has been gracious enough to publish another piece of mine, this one on the centrality of union with Christ. Head on over and take a look!
02 Saturday Feb 2019
Posted in Contra Mundum, Pro Ecclesia
Tags
Atheism, Canada, Christianity, God, Inclusivity, Liberalism, Scripture, Theism, Truth
While all of us who minister do so only by the grace of God, and I am keenly aware of my unworthiness for this high and holy calling, I think some of the minimal qualifications of pastoral ministry are rather intuitive–such as believing in God.
The United Church of Canada has decided, apparently, that theism is not strictly necessary for pastors. No doubt it is still desirable in the eyes of that denomination’s discerning leadership that their pastors believe in God; but it is not a deal-breaker. That is the inescapable message of the news that the denomination has decided Rev. Gretta Vosper, an avowed atheist, will continue to pastor West Hill United Church, in Toronto.
The article linked above, from the liberal Religion News Service, is enlightening. It begins, “Gretta Vosper is surprised to still be a minister.” I’d imagine quite a lot of people share her surprise. It’s a rather puzzling thing, until you follow the (il)logic.
How does the United Church of Canada justify this decision? Why would a Christian denomination allow an atheist to shepherd a church? The key is inclusivity. The denominational leaders found themselves wrestling with the tension between two of their “core values”: “our faith in God” and “our commitment to being an open and inclusive church.”
So, by “inclusive” they mean not simply that they welcome different groups of people, but that they welcome people with a variety of doctrines (or lack thereof) into the clergy. Aha. That would create a conflict with your cherished belief in the existence of God. The leaders of the United Church of Canada have found themselves in the embarrassing situation of wanting to affirm x and not-x at the same time. I suppose the implication of their solution is that they will accept either x or not-x (please choose one); which is to say that the United Church of Canada believes nothing at all, or at least not with any real conviction.
How does a denomination get to such a pitiful place? Quite obviously they have let themselves be swept along by the winds of western cultural trends and ideologies; the zeitgeist, rather than the Holy Ghost, has been filling their sails. But it’s more specific than that.
The atheist pastor herself offers what may be the key. In this she does a valuable service to orthodox Christianity, if we will heed it. From the article:
Vosper was willing to go through with the hearing even if the ruling went against her. She said she is fit for ministry in the church.
She said she believes what she was taught in seminary.
“Everything I teach is consistent with the theological training I received,” the 60-year-old said. “I was taught the Bible was a human construction, and there is much wisdom in many texts, both ancient and contemporary.”
During her studies, Vosper said she learned that the Bible isn’t the only source of spiritual or moral authority.
“If the Bible is not the authoritative word of God for all time,” she says, “why does it take such a central position in the United Church?”
Well, I think she has put her finger right on the problem. The rot took hold of their seminaries, particularly a rotten doctrine of Scripture, a loss of the orthodox doctrine that the Bible is uniquely inspired, completely true, and utterly authoritative. Her seminary professors passed down to her a faith uprooted and blighted, and at whatever point in her journey it followed the logical course and became no faith at all.
But Vosper can perhaps take some comfort that the Bible does not enjoy nearly so central a place in the United Church as she feared. If that were the case, they might have put more weight on the fact that the Bible starts with the words, “In the beginning, God…” (Gen. 1:1).
We have here a wake-up call for faithful Christians in the United Church of Canada–it might be time for an exit plan; a cautionary tale for the orthodox–guard your institutions, because what’s taught in seminary doesn’t stay in seminary; a warning for theological moderates who want to see more doctrinal inclusivity in your denominations–you might find yourselves inclusive’d all the way to atheism.
The good news is that this disease is easily preventable. There’s a ready antidote to this poison. There’s an extremely popular book that could be studied in seminaries to promote deep and widespread theism among the ministerial students. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17, NASB).
31 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in Quotes
Tags
“O blessed Lord, I beseech Thee to pour down upon me such grace as may not only cleanse this life of mine, but beautify it a little, if it be Thy will,–before I go hence and am no more seen. Grant that I may love Thee with all my heart and soul and mind and strength, and my neighbor as myself–and that I may persevere unto the end; through Jesus Christ–Amen.”
-James Skinner, quoted in Great Souls at Prayer, 125
29 Tuesday Jan 2019
Posted in Contra Mundum
Tags
Abortion, America, Humanity, Planned Parenthood, Repentance, Truth
King Herod Gov. Cuomo has recently signed into law legislation that makes it legal in the Empire State to put to death babies in the womb, at any time prior to birth, and for (effectively) any reason. With much fanfare, the pro-abortion state legislators advanced this assault on the life of the most vulnerable. The blood of the innocents is on those clapping hands, who have enabled this unspeakable evil.
We are reminded that America today tolerates an evil as great as any in our nation’s history. Powerful forces promote the killing of babies, most notably Planned Parenthood; as their president, Leana Wen, recently said, “our core mission is providing, protecting and expanding access to abortion and reproductive healthcare.” The key lie that abets this vicious crime is the idea that abortion is healthcare, rather than the destruction of an innocent and vulnerable human life. This is what Planned Parenthood has recently tried to reinforce in a billboard campaign, where one of the images features a woman with the quote “I had an abortion, & it was just healthcare.” It wasn’t. It was the murder of a baby. Other messages begin the same way, but end “and I am not ashamed” or “and I am not apologizing.” But shame is appropriate in this case, and apologizing would not be nearly enough. Repentance is necessary, before the throne of God. Only there can healing and forgiveness be found.
Worst of all, this widespread wickedness is given cover by some who claim to serve God. The priests of Molech liberal clergy also have made news in their support for this evil. The rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, and other supposedly Christian leaders, should perhaps have sensed something was amiss with their theology when they found themselves teaming up with the minister from the First Unitarian Universal Church. All pretensions of Christianity aside, nothing is so pagan as child sacrifice.
The child in the womb is a human being, made in the image of God. Their lives are sacred, and abortion is a hideous evil.
Yet remember also that Christ died to save a world of sinners; that when we turn to Him with repentance and faith, He forgives all our sins. And God may yet give us the grace of national repentance, and have mercy on us, and turn our nation from this evil. For this we should pray.
28 Monday Jan 2019
Posted in Pro Ecclesia
…not to let your church become an extension of a megachurch franchise. You might be the place where the embattled celebrity pastor is sent to preach while he’s too controversial to preach at the main campus(es). And if you protest because you think that’s bad for your flock, you might get fired.
Ecclesiology matters.
28 Monday Jan 2019
Posted in Meditations
The apostle Peter knew the joy that flows from contemplating the greatness of salvation in Jesus Christ. When he began his first canonical letter, he reminded Christians of the wonder of God’s gift, exulting: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Pet. 1:3, NIV). The reason for his praise was that God, out of the vast riches of His love, has given believers “new birth into a living hope” through Christ’s resurrection.
We come into this world spiritually stillborn, and have no spiritual life unless God begets us anew in Christ. But, if we come to Christ, we are born again–spiritually alive. Sin forgiven, death disarmed, a welcome into the family of God–all this is given to those who will receive the gift of God the Father, being united with God the Son by God the Spirit.
This new birth, done and accomplished for those who are in Christ, has present results and a glorious future. It means a living hope now, in this world of dead ends and empty promises, vanity and illusion. Christians have a hope that is real and sure. The end result of this hope is a magnificent inheritance when Christ returns: “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (v.4). The treasures of this world are ephemeral; the treasures of God are eternal.
Praise to God, who blesses generously those who come to Him.
22 Tuesday Jan 2019
Posted in Meditations
Tags
The book of 1 Peter is a letter, and so it quite naturally begins with a greeting. It says who it’s from (the apostle Peter), who it’s to (the scattered churches of Asia Minor), and offers a blessing. But summarizing it like that misses the profoundly theological statement about identity that Peter communicates even in his opening lines.
For Peter introduces himself in a way that draws attention to Jesus Christ. He uses the nickname Jesus gave him (Peter), and identifies himself as an apostle of Christ–that is, someone who speaks not for himself, but for Christ Jesus his Lord. Peter’s identity is found in Jesus.
Then, when he turns to his addressees, he puts their identity in theological perspective too. They are ‘elect exiles’ or ‘chosen foreigners’, strangers in the world because they are citizens of God’s kingdom. And this chosen identity is elaborated in a trinitarian description of salvation, that “have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood” (1 Pet. 1:2, NIV). Their identity is formed by God’s saving work for and in them.
In a world so confused about identity, in a culture that wears a thousand masks to hide its face, Christians must be firmly rooted in their God-defined identity. We are ‘elect exiles,’ strangers in the world, sent to proclaim the kingdom of He who has overcome the world.
19 Saturday Jan 2019
Posted in Contra Mundum
Tags
The Chinese government’s persecution of the church has risen considerably in recent times. What animates this animosity towards their good and peaceful Christian citizens? At the deepest level, I think it is the war between the Prince of Peace and the prince of darkness, who holds the powers of this world. But this plays out through the particular political and social situation. As China becomes increasingly totalitarian, the presence of people who have a higher loyalty than the state becomes increasingly problematic–no matter what good citizens these people are in other ways.
So it was highlighted the other day that Chinese government officials had entered a church and ordered the removal of the ten commandments. There was a particular commandment that President Xi Jinping found objectionable. Any guesses which one?
The first one, of course. The first and most offensive commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.” That commandment, the call to render first and foremost allegiance to God Almighty, a tyrant cannot abide.
This is the basic condition of the spiritual war in which we are engaged. The first Christians declared that Jesus Christ, not Caesar, is Lord. Christians today must say the same, and Caesars today will rage against Christ and His people.
But this first commandment is not only offensive to dictators. It carries the same offense on a personal level, and each and every one of us has a dictator in the heart. One of the anthems of American popular culture is ‘it’s my life and I’ll do what I want with it.’ Against the rebelliousness of the human heart stands the divine command, “have no other gods before me.”
Jesus Christ offers hope, freedom from the self-tyranny that ends in emptiness and despair and death. Jesus offers life and restoration. The promise still stands, that “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9, NIV).
08 Tuesday Jan 2019
Posted in Meditations
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (Php. 2:7-8, NIV)
With these words the apostle Paul exhorts Christians to humility after the example of Christ. He who was highest made Himself lowest for us. Though humanity is the pinnacle of God’s creatures, made in His image, in comparison with the glory of God we are nothing. But God the Son eschewed the privileges of divinity to become man for our salvation.
Such was the advent of the King of Kings, which those wise men followed the star to see two millennia ago. At epiphany we remember their coming, noble guests from far away who journeyed to see the newborn king. But, for us, epiphany is richer because we know the story of this great king.
In the passage from Philippians, Paul goes on to describe the depths of Christ’s humility, that He died on the cross–a death which, like His incarnation, was for us. Having humbled Himself so far in obedience to the Father, having done obedience to cover our disobedience, He has been exalted:
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (vv.9-11, NIV)
Epiphany is richer for us because the newborn king lived a human life, died for our sins, and has been exalted on high. He sits enthroned above, and reigns forever and ever. He has gone from the manger to the cross, to the tomb, to rise again, to glory. We will not find Him in a stable, but at the right hand of God the Father; and, sooner or later, everyone will acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ.
That is the invitation of epiphany: to bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, giving glory to God the Father. For Christians today it is a joyous thing, because it reminds us that we have hope and confidence in this dark world, hope in the face of adversity, confidence against every setback, joy in the certain triumph of Christ our Lord.
And for everyone it is an invitation. You were made to worship God. Christ has triumphed over sin and death; in Him you may be brought back to God, made whole, and restored to your vocation of worship. Come to the King.
Come and worship Him.
26 Wednesday Dec 2018
Posted in Poetical
Tags
Light has come!
The wondrous Word:
Prophets’ promise, life and Lord,
Master, Maker, divine stranger
With us, with us,
God-man swaddled in a manger.
Light has dawned!
In darkness shining,
Searing sin’s tendrils entwining
Souls in prisons shadowed—
Free finally
To walk in daylight hallowed.
Light has broken!
Brightly burning,
Light and life, returning
Days lost to the tomb—
All eternity
Bundled in the virgin’s womb.
Light has dawned!
Lift every voice,
Let men and seraphim rejoice;
From each and all, let praises swell
Abundantly,
Glad and glorious noel.
Light has come!
Come, holy light;
Pierce the blackness of my night.
Living one, abide in me
Ever anew—
Your advent my nativity.
