Tried With Fire

Pastor Ryan started teaching a Sunday school class on how to read the Bible. He mentioned something briefly in his introduction that was very interesting -  The majority of believers in the past would have learned the Word of God in a corporate setting via preaching and public reading, not from their own Bibles. Think about it. Until the invention of the printing press, copies of the Bible were written and bound by hand. A laborious and time-consuming process. Until the Reformation, the Bible was not written in the language of the average person in the pew. Also the cost would have been prohibitive for the average person. But even after the Reformation, how long did it take for copies of the Scriptures to be readily available? Was it after the Industrial Revolution that books became more affordable via mass production? Even then, there was the issue of literacy, which I don't think became as widespread until reforms in public education. This brief aside in Pastor Ryan's c...

One of the elder's preached Sunday morning since the pastor is out of town. The text was John 13, and the theme was - love one another. This was a timely sermon because our church is beginning to get larger. It's easier to get lost in the crowd and not know everyone's names. It's also easier to fall into set patterns of gravitating to some versus others. I'm thankful for this challenge to love and, as an integral part, to know one another in greater depth. As Ron said during the sermon, "How can we love people we don't know?", and this is something I've been thinking about for some time. In my opinion, one mistake is to assume that we are more alike than we really are. Thus it would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that I don't need to learn anything more about you. I already know you because we must be similar especially if we are part of the same church. I don't need to stop and listen to a different perspective because I'v...

This is one of the saddest true-life stories I have ever read - Japan's Rent-a-Family Industry .  People may quibble at the word "broken," but this article shows how broken we are when it comes to human relationships. It's tragic that people have become so disconnected that they would pay a stranger to act a part to fill that void. Ironically one of the reasons for the rental is conforming to society's expectations. If everyone took of their masks, who would be even close to the ideal? But that is the power of culture, you are loyal to the ideal even if it is out of reach and the exception, not the norm. Another related article is this one -  Japan's Prisons Are a Haven for Elderly Women . This breaks my heart that the elderly would find a better community in prison because their families have rejected them and they are friendless. This may be Japan, but it is worth taking note. America is getting grayer and grayer too. After I read these stories, a few th...

There has been a lot of virtual ink spilled ever since the recent TGC conference on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. I still stand by my desire to take these conversations out of e-space and bring them face-to-face. I affirm that there is a single human race that fell in Adam and has been redeemed through the work of Christ. I affirm that He is the source of our unity and that He fully paid for the sins that divide. While I agree that race is a social construct, God has providentially created us with roots in different countries and cultures. This a wonderful thing for which we should thank Him. Thus the church is not the Borg. Unity is not colorblind nor ethnic blind. Neither is it gender blind. Yet I'm still discouraged by what I've seen on social media. The visceral response to events like MLK50 and David Platt's talk at T4G seems to indicate that there is something unstable below the surface.  Amy Mantravadi describes it as a ...

When emotions run high and opinions are strong, social media reflects that. The tweets and statuses may be preaching to the choir or not. They may disperse into the ether without making a blip on anyone's consciousness, or they could potentially wound a fellow saint. As I've seen the volleys go back and forth even yesterday, it saddens me. But lest I point the finger out there, have I ever given any indication that I would: - Disrespect or mock a fellow believer if I found out that we disagreed and pressure them to agree with me? - Be unwilling to listen? Not care enough to learn more and try to understand where someone is coming from even if the disagreement still stands? - Be the last person they would go to because of lack of empathy/sympathy? God forgive me if I have done so, and I would ask the same of you, my brothers and sisters. The interaction among opposing sides is getting less and less civil in the culture at large, and it is rubbing off on us. And yet th...

I've been listening to I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't) by Brene Brown. She is known for her research in the dynamics of shame, and this book is specifically for women and shame. I don't know whether Brown is a Christian or not. She doesn't bring God explicitly into her writings at all. However, her work is very helpful because it names what many of us experience and also raises issues that may hinder us as individual Christians and/or communities. In the section on shame triggers, Brown writes of identity as being a primary trigger but from two aspects. The first is desired identity. I want or need to be this. I want people to see me as that. If not, I have not measured up to whatever this desired identity is, which brings shame. However the second aspect is where she grabbed my attention - unwanted identity . This is the case where we are given an identity that is not truly ours by others. Growing up as an Asian American in an era where there was inaccur...

[E]xtra degrees of charity and empathy are necessary in public discussion and debate. At the moment, what we have instead are extra degrees of anger and contempt. David French This quote is from an article by David French at National Review on the gun control debate that is raging after the  school shooting in Florida last week. He writes that if we cannot stop demonizing one another, this could tear our nation apart. I agree. The animosity towards one's opposing side has only grown since the 2016 election. I've seen this on social media in general and among those who profess Christ's name, which grieves me even more. Does strong disagreement justify this behavior? Would we use the same language and attitude toward a fellow Christian face-to-face as we would to a stranger on Twitter? If this is a fellow believer, we are called to love them as someone for whom Christ has died. For the unbeliever, he/she is our neighbor. If we won't acknowledge that, we are called to ...

In February, I  wrote about a ten-year anniversary - the day my husband moved out of the house on Valentine's Day and out of our marriage. But at the end of 2007, another event took place. The last Sunday of 2007 was the first day I walked through the door of Grace Baptist Chapel and found a church home. I'm sharing that story at Out of the Ordinary today. You can read the post here . Photo credit: By LudwigSebastianMicheler (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I was just thinking about this very thing when this pic providentially showed up on a friend's FB wall. (Thank you, Brandi!) If I had my druthers, I would be part of a group of Christians who regularly discussed difficult topics. Not for the sake of pressuring consensus or to vent but to ask hard questions and not assume there are easy answers. I've been able to find this to a certain degree online. It is harder face-to-face, which is really where my heart is. It seems that discussing our place in the public square is not exactly a favorite topic among Christians. We don't want to start arguments. We don't want to disagree, but how can we challenge one another to make doctrine in the pew a matter of practical Christian ethics if we don't talk about these things? I also wonder if we mistakenly put consensus and conformity in the place of unity in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then it is easier to norm and assume we all vote the same, have the same educational ...

Megan Phelps-Roper grew up in Westboro Baptist Church, and Fred Phelps was her grandfather. This was the only mindset she knew, and she believed it. She picketed and protested and used her social media account to denigrate anyone who would try to challenge her brand of hate. However, she interacted with one young man, a Jew in fact, who did not trade fire for fire but engaged her in respectful conversation, as best as Twitter could provide. Through these dialogues, Megan began to question what she believed. She eventually rejected what she had known all her life and now "is a social media activist, lobbying to overcome divisions and hatred between religious and political divides." ( Wikipedia ) Quite a transformation. If you are like me, my first reaction was "I am so glad she started to think for herself ." But did she? In How to Think , Alan Jacobs argues that it wasn't so much thinking by herself as beginning to think with different people.   He als...

There is so much wrong with the world that it is easy to get discouraged and forget that God is bigger, greater, more powerful, and more loving than I can even imagine. But even with my forgetfulness, God is faithful to remind me what is true. So here are few things that encouraged me from being with the saints yesterday. My pastor has been leading a theological fellowship with 5 students from Christopher Newport University. These 5 young men shared with the adult Sunday school class what they have been learning. Each took turns briefly speaking about the doctrine of God including the Trinity and Simplicity, the doctrine of Creation, and the need for an historical Adam. It was encouraging to see them make the connection between good doctrine, the gospel, and discipleship, a connection which many of us don't get until we are much older. In the morning sermon from the 1 Cor. 2, Pastor Ryan spoke on how much we owe the Holy Spirit in our salvation. We were bumbling around in the d...

There's a beautiful and poignant post over at Fathom Mag by Tasha Burgoyne. Almond Eyes is a letter from a mother to her daughter telling her that she is made in the image of God no matter how people treat her. This article is even more meaningful because of a prior post  where her child, still young enough to be riding in a stroller, was the subject of racial remarks. In some ways, this country has come so far, and in other ways, it's as though nothing has changed. When Tasha writes  about "people who might pull back the corners of their eyes and laugh at you on the playground," 40+-year-old memories came to mind. I still remember the faces of the kids who thought it was hilarious to mock the only Asian in the school. I remember some of their names. Not because I've been holding a grudge all these years, but the whole "sticks and stones" is wishful thinking. Words leave scars that take a long time to heal especially when they have undermined your se...

pg. 49 "Any experience of vulnerability without authority is painful, but the deepest and most intractable examples of suffering are communal and multigenerational. ... even if you are personally materially well-off, if your community is mired in suffering - if your parents, people and nation have known little for generations but enforced helplessness due to tragedy and injustice - then you are not free from the oppressive reality of suffering. And this kind of suffering is far deeper, and far less tractable than the suffering all of us experience a individuals - because simply escaping it as an individual does nothing to change the fundamental systems of vulnerability without authority. " Strong and Weak, Andy Crouch, InterVarsity Press, 2016, pp. 60-61. (italics mine)

This quote is from Spiritual Warfare: A Biblical and Balanced Perspective.  It certainly applies to the extremes that one finds in regard to that topic. But I think it can apply to more than just spiritual warfare. Living the Christian life is not merely about mastering one truth or even a set of principles. Rather, it is learning to think and act biblically. We must be reminded of certain truths frequently so that we don't become unbalanced or myopic in our view of the Christian life... Making a similar observation, Martin Luther once noted that Christians are often like a drunk trying to get on his horse. First, the drunk falls off one side, only to climb back up and fall off the other side. 1 For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and Newton's 3rd law doesn't just apply to physics. For every bad teaching, there is probably an opposite but equally bad teaching. If we're not careful, we'll be like Luther's drunk who never stays on th...

My pastor has been preaching through the book of Revelation. We're still in the first few chapters where Jesus is commending and correcting the churches. While these letters were written to real churches in existence in John's lifetime, these letters are for all true churches throughout time. These letters are for us. For me. In the letter to Ephesus, Jesus commends this church, but He also admonishes them that they have lost their first love. This could mean love for God, love for believers, and love for the lost. According to my pastor many commentators have different views as to which love. But who amongst us would dare say that we love God, believers, and the lost as we should? Who doesn't need to grow in all three areas? My mind is still reeling from the election. My heart is also grieved for believers and unbelievers alike as we seem to more divided than ever. So my prayer for myself and for the church is that we would regain our first love. - Love for God that...

"When I've asked students and friends to describe an experience of community, they often tell stories about a time of intense emotional bonding with a group of people: a weekend retreat that was deeply affirming, a camping trip with friends, or a short-term mission project where participants began to feel like family. Such experiences of community tend to be brief, occasional, and intense. Communities in which we grow and flourish, however, last over time and are built by people who are faithful to one another and committed to a shared purpose. Community life certainly has moments of incredible beauty and intense personal connection, but much of it is daily and ordinary. Our lives are knit together not so much by intense feeling as by shared history, tasks, commitments, stories, and sacrifices." "But communities need more than shared history and tasks to endure. A combination of grace, fidelity, and truth makes communities safe enough for people to take the risks...

We're writing about the local church this month at Out of the Ordinary , and it's my turn again: I love the local church, and I stand by everything I've ever said or  written  about my faith family. But Christian community isn't always easy. It requires commitment, perseverance, and sometimes it's necessary to roll up one's sleeves and fight for it. But the fight may not be against another person. I've learned that the battle is often against myself. Read the rest of the post ...

ht: Justin Taylor The video is a Q&A session with Rosaria Butterfield , author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert .   It's one of the best books I've read this year in which she relates her conversion from lesbian, atheist, feminist college professor to psalm-singing, OPC pastor's wife and homeschooling mom. If you don't have time to watch the whole Q&A, watch from around 11:00 - 15:00. Butterfield answers a question about how can the church help believers who are struggling with sexual sin. I think one could make the same application for all the sins believers still struggle with, not just the ones of the flesh. I do not believe she is advocating giving sin a pass. Rather, it probably wouldn't hurt any of us to examine our hearts to see if our prejudices and fears keep us from believing that God is able to save or if we would prefer that God save those people, whoever those people may be, in someone else's church or at least clean them...

The pastor, his wife, and two brothers from our small group helped us with some yard work this afternoon. The bushes hadn't been trimmed for at least three years, volunteer trees had sprung up in the beds, and vines were climbing onto the roof. In the picture above, Pastor Ryan is on the roof freeing the gutter from one of the invaders. We accumulated quite a large pile of trimmings after a few hours. We are studying Acts in our small group. The early church helped one another in practical ways "as any had need." Today was a modern day example of that. This job was more than I could tackle on my own even with my daughter's help. I am grateful to the Lord and to my brothers and sister for their help today. Thank God for Christian community.