Revisiting Martin Luther

One reason that I like holidays is the extra time for reading. The last book that I enjoyed last week was Martin Luther: A Spiritual Biography by Herman Selderhuis. I started another book on Monday night, but I still find myself thinking about Luther. All books can become conversation partners, but some lead to more reflection than others. 

Selderhuis capably traced the spiritual and theological development in Luther's thought, for example on the questions of justification and the proper use of force. He argued for his perspective on the question of exactly when Luther stopped being a monk. He showed Luther as a man of his times, a unique individual but, like everyone, influenced by the historical currents around him. I was fascinated by the way that he described the transition from Luther being the leader of the Reformation to being one important voice within it.

The issue that I still find myself pondering involves Luther's personality. This book reminded me of an issue that has interested me for years. Luther was a great man, but he used rough language, guzzled beer in excess, told crude jokes around his table, and was notorious for his stubbornness. His stubbornness was positive, enabling him to continue to function in spite of many physical problems. It was also negative, resulting in many broken relationships and lost opportunities.

I have decided that Luther's negative qualities contributed to his most celebrated moment. When he stood before the assembled nobles at the Diet of Worms, everyone believed that he was going to be burned alive if he did not back down. Facing the emperor would have been beyond intimidating. Everyone in the room, Luther included, would have assumed that the assembled nobles were better than him. Their society was stratified, and no one would have imagined anything different at the time. The pressure was immense. The best kind of person to stand up to that kind of pressure is a person who does not care what other people think, the kind of person who speaks his mind and does not back down. Those qualities made him the perfect person to begin the Reformation, and those same qualities meant that he could not continue to be the leader for the rest of his life. In the providence of God, the perfect man was there at the perfect time. In his great stubbornness, he made his great contribution to the kingdom.

Rediscovering Calvin Miller

 One of the joys of a personal library is the ability to revisit a book whenever you want. I recently picked up Calvin Miller's Preaching: The Art of Narrative Exposition for my first serious visit in several years. The visit took me on a journey down memory lane.

Years ago, I was in a glorified internship with the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (today the North American Mission Board). I was right out of college, and I found myself preaching to over 200 senior adults every Sunday during the winter months. At the time, I had never had a formal class on preaching or on the Bible. I was desperate for help, and I found it in Calvin Miller. The first two preaching books I bought were his Marketplace Preaching and Spirit, Word, and Story. Those were the wrong books for someone just starting out, but I did not know that then. I devoured them, and later I devoured other works of his. His thoughts on preaching came to be a major influence in my life long before I ever heard him preach. 

The gaps in my education have been filled through the years, and I have come to understand some issues differently than he did, but I never have lost an appreciation for Calvin Miller. I was writing a dissertation in 2006 when Preaching: The Art of Narrative Exposition was released, but I took the time to devour it in much the same way as its predecessors. My recent interaction with the same book was slower and more thoughtful. 

Through the years, I was able to interact with him a few times in small group settings. We had a couple of conversations on the fringes of those meetings. One of those was about two weeks before he died. In person, I found him to be exactly the person he was in his books: a humble man with a sterling character and an intense devotion to Christ. 

My recent interaction with Preaching led to pulling other Calvin Miller books from my shelves, to thumbing through some of them, and to re-reading sections of others. There are some concepts that I need to revisit and some ideas that I should reevaluate. Preaching is a subject that no one ever truly masters. It is always a work in progress. I remember some comments from Martin Luther along those lines, and I suspect that Calvin Miller would agree. As far as I can tell, he was not finished growing as a preacher until he had preached his last sermon.

Today, I am thankful for Calvin Miller and the legacy that he has left for us.

We Knew Exactly What We Were Doing

Last Spring, I became aware of reports of mismanagment of sexual abuse cases in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). At this time, I do not believe that anyone has a completely clear picture of what has happened. There seems to be solid evidence that some mistakes were made, at the very least. There are suspicions that what has happened is worse than mere mistakes. A possibility exists that there has been a culture at the SBC Executive Committee of cover ups. Quite a few facts are in the public domain now, and some of those facts seem to be damning, but nothing like a coherent and complete picture has emerged. Basically, we do not know the whole story.

I went to the SBC annual meeting in June specifically because of the questions about the handling of sexual abuse cases. For various reasons, I had not planned to go this year, but I went anyway. At the end of the convention, I was relieved. "Pleased" would be too strong of a word to use because too many people are hurt. This is an ugly business, but I was relieved. The Southern Baptist Convention had done the right thing. There would be a full and independent investigation by a third party with a report to the whole convention next year. 

Now, that outcome is in doubt. I watched most of the live stream of the recent SBC Executive Committee meeting, which ended yesterday. I am deeply disappointed in the result. For what may have been the first time ever, the Executive Committee did not follow the clearly expressed will of the messengers of the SBC. The headquarters of the SBC is supposed to be the local church, but they turned that upside down yesterday. One thread running through that Executive Committee meeting and through other conversations was that the messengers did not understand the ramifications of what happened in June. It was almost as if insurance policies and dollar signs were floating around the room during the debate. I want to be clear: I knew exactly what I was doing.

I have led Southern Baptists for decades. I have faced some ugly situations. I have been to law enforcement myself. I have talked to an attorney about a sticky situation. I have supported people in the aftermath of abuse. Some things will never leave me. I have the scars that come from leadership, but I am not unique. There were thousands of men with the same kind of experiences in that room in Nashville with me. There were thousands of pastor's wives in that room too, women who have served alongside their husbands helping people through every kind of suffering that exists. On top of that, there were the missionaries, and counselors, and many others who also face down evil as part of their everyday ministry. Many abuse survivors were in that room, many more than those who identified themselves publicly. Together, we have faced every kind of difficult and complicated situation that exists. We knew exactly what we were doing.

In a group of over 15,000, some people may have been confused. Some people obviously do not understand parliamentary procedure. Big meetings can be confusing, but anyone who was there remembers the mood of the room. The anti-establishment feeling was strong. The messengers wanted a full and independent investigation no matter what the cost may be. That was what we approved. Out of well over 15,000 people, I saw maybe 50 "no" votes from where I was seated. We knew what we were doing, and we voted for it overwhelmingly.

All of this hand-wringing and dithering around over potential lawsuits and insurance questions misses the point entirely. If there is moral rot, it must be exposed. If it costs tens of millions of dollars, so what? Hiding it will cost much more in the long run. Moral rot that is allowed to fester always costs more, and it costs much more than dollars. People have been hurt in ways that most of us cannot imagine. There is no price tag for that. There is no price tag for losing trust, and trust has been lost. If trust in the SBC wasn't already dead, then it died yesterday.

I remain committed to the SBC, and part of that commitment is to use whatever influence I have to do what is right. The rot must be exposed and removed. We must restore trust. If the people who were responsible had acted responsibly in the first place, we would not be here. It costs more to do the right thing now than it did back then. It will cost even more if we continue to put it off.  Anyone who stands against exposing and removing the rot should be replaced. The next meeting in Anaheim is in my calendar, and I will be ready. We knew exactly what we were doing, and we still intend to do it.

Speculation and the Bible

When there is a disaster, some people start speculating about God's judgments and the end of the world. I grew up in a church culture with some speculation. Everyone did not do it, but a few people did. As a young adult, I began to question the speculation that was being presented as if it were biblical prophecy. I remember being at a Christian concert during the first Gulf War when the singer stopped and announced that Iraq had fired Scud missiles toward Israel. This was presented as if it were all plainly presented in Revelation. Somewhere around 1995, I remember a well-meaning good ol' boy preacher who explained how hurricanes Erin and Opal were God's judgment on a particular "gay" beach outside of Pensacola. Some people are quick to label a particular disaster as God's judgment, often while ignoring plenty of facts along the way.

Throughout time people have speculated, and that speculation has just faded away as the course of history has moved forward. I remember the 88 reasons that Jesus was coming back in 1988. The same guys published another book in 1989, but it did not get as much attention. The Y2K disaster was not a disaster after all. The prognostications about the first Gulf War were not fulfilled. Through the years, "the antichrist" has been identified as Hitler, Stalin, Mikhail Gorbachev (remember the birthmark?), Ronald Wilson Reagan (6 letters in each name), some supercomputer in Switzerland, Barak Obama, and Barney the Purple Dinosaur. Barney was a joke, proving that almost anything can be identified by "666" if you play with the numbers enough. History is littered with other examples. Each of these has faded away, destined to be replaced by new speculation in the future.

Presenting speculation about the Bible as if it were responsible interpretation confuses people. We live in a society in which many people have great difficulty with concepts like meaning, application, and truth. Most people just do not distinguish between what a text means and how it should be applied. Many people have fuzzy ideas about the nature of truth. Some people have problems in distinguishing between fact and opinion. At one time or another, many of us have been fooled by something we have read on the Internet. The bottom line is that we must be careful with how we interpret the Bible and how we communicate it. In our current situation with COVID - 19, fast and loose connections between something in the newspaper and something in the Bible are not helpful, and they may be harmful.

May we all be careful with how we interpret the Bible, and with how we communicate it. COVID - 19 has people's attention. Let's respond with responsible communication of biblical truth, and forget about the speculation.

Spurgeon's Parallel Lines

I have learned through the years that oft-repeated quotes can take on a life of their own. Retellings in different contexts can flatten the features of a quote, or sometimes even subtly change its meaning. When the famous quote from Spurgeon about parallel lines came up in conversation recently, I wondered about it. Then, I planned to use it in a sermon. To the best of my memory, I had never heard the passage actually quoted. Everybody usually just refers to the quote. To the best of my memory, I had never seen it in print. I had just heard it referenced time and time again. So I looked it up. Here is the quote with a bit of its original context from Spurgeon's A Defense of Calvinism:

That God predestines, and yet that man is responsible, are two facts that few can see clearly. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find, in another Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other. I do not believe they can ever be welded into one upon any earthly anvil, but they certainly shall be one in eternity. They are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the human mind which pursues them farthest will never discover that they converge, but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring.

Since the references to this quote often are used to find common ground between Baptists with different ideas about God's sovereignty and human free will, I was happy to see that the quote can properly be used to serve this purpose. Among conservative evangelicals, what unites us is far more important than our minor disagreements. We never will understand everything. Let us thank God that he has revealed himself to us, that he is sovereign, and that he is merciful and gracious.

The Last Prayer in the Bible

In the next to last verse of the Bible, John prayed, "Come, Lord Jesus." When we think about the great prayers of the Bible, we may think of the Lord's Prayer, or maybe Solomon's prayer of dedication for the Temple. John's prayer probably is not on our list of great prayers of the Bible; but it has a great place in the unfolding story of God's plan for all creation.

Simply put, God's plan is the gospel. The gospel is the story of Jesus. The gospel began before the foundation of the world and will continue after time as we know it has ceased to exist. Each of the Gospels is the story of Jesus, and Paul used "gospel" to describe the whole story of Jesus. The long awaited Messiah lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death, rose from the dead, and ascended to the Father; but the Jesus story is not finished yet. We are living in the time between his first and second comings. When John prayed, "Come, Lord Jesus," he was praying for the next step in the gospel to happen.

So often our prayers are mundane. The typical church prayer meeting is long on requests for the sick and short on global vision. The Lord's prayer is different. The first half of the Lord's prayer is about a God's agenda, God's name, God's kingdom, and God's will. When we follow the model prayer that Jesus gave to us, we say "your kingdom come." Then we say, "your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." When we say those words, what are we ultimately asking? Basically, we are asking for the same thing John was asking for when he said, "Come, Lord Jesus."

These days people are wringing their hands about North Korea. News stories about perverts and children abound. We live in a society that does not value the idea of absolute truth. About five times as many unborn babies have died in the United States than people who died in the Holocaust. Every day it seems like there is another story about human trafficking, or the opioid epidemic, or a horrible accident. This list could go on and on. When we think about the big picture, praying "Come, Lord Jesus" makes perfect sense.

Drucker on Time

I discovered Peter Drucker's body of work from references to it in leadership and business books some time ago. On beginning to read one of his classics for the first time, I quickly understood why he has been so influential through the years. Recently, I was "grazing" in my library and began to thumb through The Effective Executive. Drucker's thoughts on time claimed my attention once again, and they are worth sharing.

The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. There is no price for it . . . . Time is totally perishable and cannot be stored. Yesterday's time is gone forever and will never come back. Time is, therefore, always in exceedingly short supply.

Time is totally irreplaceable. Within limits we can substitute one resource for another, copper for aluminum, for instance. We can substitute capital for human labor. We can use more knowledge or more brawn. But there is no substitute for time. 

Being effective and time management go hand in hand. As Drucker reminds us, time is a highly perishable resource. May we use the time that we have wisely as we work together for King and his kingdom.

The Joy of Children in Church

One Sunday evening, I noticed a broken crayon on the floor against a leg of the Lord's Supper table. It looked black. When I picked it up I saw that it was blue; but I saw more than that. "Broken crayon" was a generous way to describe it. The fragment of what used to be a whole crayon had a long and useful life. Broken at both ends and well-worn, only the smallest of fingers would be able to use it for coloring anymore. What was left of the paper around it showed evidence of being jumbled up in a box of other crayons for quite some time. I suppose it had been a Sunday School crayon. At first glance, a piece of colored wax on the floor could look like a hazard. Someone's heel could grind it into the carpet and cause a mess. My first thought was just to pick it up and throw it away. A moment of reflection, though, caused me to see the bit of crayon differently. It wasn't a piece of trash, but a sign of life.

Sometimes children at church can cause problems. They may squirm too much, giggle, or just make noise during a service. Before a service, they may race into the auditorium on little legs that are moving too quickly. Here and there through the years I have heard complaints about children's behavior, and many of those complaints have been valid. Children can disrupt adult meetings, or cause a mess, or whatever; but all people can cause problems. Given a choice, I would choose the problems that children can cause over the problems that adults can cause every time.

Children are an incredible blessing in a church family. The difference between a church with relatively few children and a church with plenty of children is immense. Twice I have watched churches change from having few children to having a healthy number of children coming with their families. In both cases, the change has been gradual but profound. The difference between a typical Sunday with few children compared to a typical Sunday with plenty of children is like the difference between death and life.

A few weeks ago, I was busy with our food box ministry. The truck had delivered 5,000 pounds of food, and we were unloading and sorting it. Almost no one was talking, everyone was busy, and I heard an exclamation from across the floor, "HEY MISSA WODIN!" (translation: Hey Mister Roland!) The little tyke had seen me through all of the activity, and the greeting warmed my heart. Children have a way of doing that.

I have been fascinated by babies in a ladies Sunday School class recently. A couple of mothers have been bringing tiny little ones to class, and they all have been taking turns holding them. Yes, we have a nursery, but this is something beyond child care. I keep hearing about the good lessons and discussions in this class too. The class has energy, and the mothers and the babies are a part of that. The women love it. It might not fit every class, but it fits them. If that is how they want to do Sunday School, I think it is great, and we could use even more of it!

Children are an essential part of life in a healthy church. Nothing will make a church seem dead like the absence of children. Nothing works like the presence of children to make the atmosphere feel alive. Children truly are a joy in a church family.

A Christmas Meditation from Athanasius

A Christmas meditation from Athanasius, one of the great heroes of the faith in our early years:

The incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial God entered our world. In one sense, indeed, He was not far from it before, for no part of creation had ever been without Him Who, while ever abiding in union with the Father, yet fills all things that are. But now He entered the world in a new way, stooping to our level in His love and Self-revealing to us.

Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 8

Merry Christmas!

Serious Discussions about Lasagna

An occasional break in my routine investing time in the kitchen to support our Wednesday night activities at church is something that I enjoy. Last Wednesday night, our church supper featured lasagna and serious discussions about lasagna are continuing around FBC Richton. I have important discussions around church all of the time. In the past few months, I have enjoyed all of the interaction around the book of Hebrews. The level of interest has surprised me at times, and continues to be a delight even now after our study is finished. In the past week, the number one topic of conversation has been lasagna. I cannot provide a recipe because I never measure anything when I am cooking. In truth, I never cook anything exactly the same way twice. This post is an attempt to describe the process. The key to great lasagna is to experiment a bit here and there through the years until you arrive at a result that suits the tastes of your family perfectly.

Beginning with a really good meat sauce makes a difference. Instead of just using a jar of sauce, saute chopped bell pepper, onions, and garlic to go into the sauce. Sometimes, I like to saute chopped tomatoes to add, too. Adding just a bit of cream or melting in a little cheese can make a difference. Instead of only using ground beef, use a blend of ground beef and italian sausage. A 50/50 blend and a 60/40 blend work well, but so does 100% sausage. A little extra basil, red pepper, or fennel can make a difference. Adding just a pinch or two of sugar removes the acidity of tomato sauce without making it taste sweet. Of course, some people like a hint of sweetness in their pasta sauce, so they may want to add a little bit more. Many recipes call for adding water to the sauce, but if you want flavor use beef broth instead. Allowing the sauce to slowly cook for a couple of hours allows the flavors to blend, resulting in a superior sauce. Remove it from the heat when it is just the right consistency for layering with the noodles, not too thick and not too thin.

Any box of lasagna noodles will have a recipe on the back or side that describes how to mix cheese for layering. Great lasagna has more cheese than any printed recipe describes. Maybe use a recipe for a starting point, but more Mozzarella mixed with the Ricotta is good. (I never have used Mascarpone in lasagna, but I have wondered about using some with the Ricotta.) An extra egg or two helps it all stay together better. I like to throw in some basil and/or chopped parsley because it adds flavor and looks good. Some chopped raw garlic or some garlic powder in the cheese blend is good, because more garlic always is good. I have to learned to avoid too much of the "hard" cheeses in the cheese blend for layering because they make it less creamy. Some Parmesan and Romano is good in the layering blend, but any extra is best on top of the lasagna. Of course, more Mozzarella melted on top at the very end of the cooking process is essential for great lasagna. 

Last Wednesday, those who ate at FBC Richton had a choice of regular lasagna, or the "kicked up" version. The special version was the result of a special request. There were differences in the spices and cheese blends, but the main difference between the two kinds was the meat. The "kicked up" version had more meat, and some of it was prepared differently. I broiled link italian sausage until it was almost done, then allowed it to cool and chopped it. (It would have been just like the ground sausage without the broiling.) Then, the chopped sausage was browned until it was completely done. Browning it in a skillet after it was chopped added an extra element to the flavor. This was added into a roughly 50/50 blend of browned ground beef and italian sausage, forming the extra meat layer for the "kicked up" lasagna. The result was 1/3 ground beef, 1/3 ground italian sausage, and 1/3 chopped italian sausage for that layer. 

I hope that these thoughts are useful for those who have been asking for a recipe. All of the lasagna-themed discussions have been fun. Food can be great, but sharing our lives over food is even better. May this post contribute to many great family lasagna experiences throughout our church family and beyond.

My New Addiction

In some of the coldest days of last year, I made a new discovery that has changed my daily routine. It began with an ordinary trip to the store for dog food, detergent, and all of the other things needed to operate our household. The store was out of our usual brand of disposable coffee cups, so I bought another brand. Later, when I opened the package, I found a sample of Twinings Chai. The smell of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and ginger wafting up from the tea bag caught my attention. After a cup of spiced tea on a very cold day, I was hooked.

After a few weeks of Chai, I decided to try some other varieties. The more subtle flavors of Earl Grey captured me. Then, like any addiction, I needed more. With the vigorous encouragement of our daughters, I began to explore other brands and other varieties. Adding new kinds of tea soon became an activity for the whole family. Before we knew it, summer was upon us and I had 20 varieties of tea in a chest in my study. My new addiction became our new addiction. The girls started dropping coming more frequently in the afternoons, and afternoon tea became a regular feature of life. Sometimes people who drop by to chat or to take care of business accept a cup of tea, too. I have enjoyed watching other people discover the unique flavors for the first time. Green tea, Jasmine, Blackcurrant, and Oolong, we have tried it all.

We all have settled on our favorites by now. After some experimentation, I stock the Twinings brand almost exclusively. Earl Grey, Chai, and English Breakfast Tea are the varieties that have to be replaced the most. My lifelong love of Coca Cola has not been abandoned, I still have the occasional cup of coffee, and sometimes a bottle of orange juice in the mornings is the only thing that will do. Of course, iced tea runs deep in my veins as a part of my heritage. If we pay attention to the world, there are endless opportunities for fascination, endless flavors to enjoy. That is the way the Creator designed his creation. In the last year, our family has added a seemingly endless variety of hot teas to our list.

Our Special People

One of the highlights of my week is my coffee meeting with my buddies from the group home down the street. I never intended to begin this Sunday morning ritual. It just naturally developed after a minor accident with a coffee pot before Sunday School a few years ago. It was obvious that someone needed to step in to help them, and I was the guy on the scene. Our coffee meeting has evolved into a unique time that encapsulates the essence of what church is supposed to be.

On Sunday mornings, I like to arrive at least two hours before anything starts. After an hour or so of peaceful time alone, I make a pot (or two) of coffee and get ready to host my buddies. Usually the coffee is ready and everything is in place when I hear them coming down the hall. Then comes the knock at the door. As soon as that door opens a quiet pastor's study is transformed into a serious social gathering. Our meetings have changed over the last few years. These days, they sit in some chairs at one end of the room while I prepare their coffee for them. While I take orders from each one, sometimes everyone talks at once. All of my friends want to tell me about their week, and most of them want to do it at the same time. Our gatherings may sound a little chaotic, but they are special times.

We have had all kinds of conversations as we sit around and they sip their coffee. We have talked through all  sorts of issues, sometimes in a group and sometimes one on one. One of them always wants to talk about her clothes and accessories, and I had better notice anything that is new! One of the guys likes to give me advice about my truck. He has told me all about checking the oil, how to replace a thermostat, and how brakes work. They talk about their daily lives, their families, and everything else under the sun. On some Sundays, the most genuine and open conversations that I have will be with my friends from the group home.

Our special people have really surprised me a few times. Once, one of them was joking around with me, and said that he was going to "woop" me. I laughed, but then he started "wooping" me! No harm was intended, and no harm was done, but being "wooped" was a real surprise. Some of the biggest surprises have come when they have noticed little details about me. They tend to notice things that no one else does. They may be special, but they can see right through a person.

I cannot express how some conversations with them have moved me. Sometimes, they want to talk about very serious issues as they deal with grief over lost loved ones, health problems, or other important issues in their lives. We have had many conversations about spiritual matters, and Bible reading is discussed often. The people who operate the group home are compassionate, and I know that they and the workers provide a listening ear for the residents. Still, everyone needs an outlet, and special people often feel the need for an advocate. Sunday morning at church ought to be the perfect place to find one. Besides, I get to have conversations like those with "normal" people all the time. Why should our special people be any different?

To many in society, these people are worthless, or worse. Some would see them as a real burden. A purely evolutionary view of life would mean that they should be discarded. Anyone who knows them knows better. They are precious people. They may have challenges, but they truly are special. We believe that all human life is special because God created people and he created us in his image. The special people in our lives give us an opportunity to put that belief into practice.

Seven Stanzas at Easter

In honor of Resurrection Sunday, I offer the following poem by John Updike. I love this poem because it encourages real reflection about the resurrection.

Seven Stanzas at Easter

John Updike

Make no mistake: if he rose at all
It was as His body;
If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
Each soft spring recurrent;
It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
Eleven apostles;
It was as His flesh; ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes
The same valved heart
That-pierced-died, withered, paused, and then regathered
Out of enduring Might
New strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,
Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded
Credulity of earlier ages:
Let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
Not a stone in a story,
But the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of
Time will eclipse for each of us
The wide light of day.

And if we have an angel at the tomb,
Make it a real angel,
Weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in
The dawn light, robed in real linen
Spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
For our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
Lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed
By the miracle,
And crushed by remonstrance.

Preaching in Hitler's Shadow

When you habitually read books on preaching, some can begin to run together in your memory, but others stand out. One that will remain distinctive in the memory through time is Preaching in Hitler's Shadow: Sermons of Resistance in the Third Reich. Dean Stroud edited a volume of sermons from Nazi Germany, providing a solid introduction and helpful footnotes. This is a book about preaching like no other.

When reading about World War II, sometimes the persecution of Jews is mentioned exclusively, as if no other groups were targeted by the Nazis. Do not misunderstand: I have no wish to minimize the horrors of the Holocaust for the Jewish people. The problem with some writing and discussion of the era is that the horrors for other groups often are omitted. For example, the Nazis carried on a campaign of systematic extermination against the Roma people, Communists, homosexuals, and some Christians. Their main target may have been the Jewish people, but many groups suffered under them. The story of every group needs to be told.

Preaching in Hitler's Shadow is distinctive because each sermon in it was a part of the Christian response to Nazi doctrine. Before reading the book, I had some ideas about Christian resistance to the Nazis, but they were vague conceptions of Bonhoeffer and my memories of hearing Eta Linnemann speak once. Now, I have had an opportunity to read and reflect on the words of resistance. The simple act of selecting an Old Testament passage for a sermon had profound implications, because it was Jewish. Barth preaching that Jesus was a Jew was radical at the time. Before reading Bultmann's "A Sermon about the Parable of the Great Banquet," I had never before seen him as courageous. A couple of funeral sermons for victims of the Nazi's purge of Germany's mentally challenged and mentally ill people gave rise to serious reflection about how society values (and devalues) human life. One of the sermons in the book is the last one preached by Paul Schneider, the first evangelical pastor to die in a concentration camp. When you read the sermon, there is no wonder why the Gestapo wanted to silence him. At the same time, the sermon prompts you to wonder at his courage and commitment.

This little paperback volume is not light reading, but it is well worth reading. Hard times can reveal our true character, and great character is revealed in this book. Christians in our era can be inspired by thoughtful Christian resistance to tyranny, and people who are not Christians can see how Christ empowered people to counter the lies of the Nazis.

The Conviction to Lead, by Al Mohler

Summer vacation is finished for our family. Now, we shift gears, change back to school day routines, and move forward. During transitional times I like to look back, evaluate, and reflect. Anyone can move ahead more effectively if they remember where they have been. My summer reading is completed, and (after I read and reflect on a couple of more books) now is the time to plan for the fall. As I look back at the summer, one of the books that stands out in my mind is a leadership book by Albert Mohler, The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership That Matters. 

The book has an audacious goal. It begins, "Let me warn you right up front -- my goal is to change the way you think about leadership. I do not merely aim to add one more voice to the conversation; I want to fundamentally change the way leadership is understood and practiced." When I first read those words, I had to pause. I have read literally dozens of leadership books. I have invested serious time with many of those beyond a first reading. Those books have helped me to evaluate myself and understand the world around me. Could such a small volume accomplish such a monumental task?

The book is well-written. Often conversational in tone, the author is conversant with a wide variety of literature without the heavier feeling of an academic volume. Many of the references in the book have aroused curiosity that will guide some of my future reading. Principles are well-illustrated, including personal stories from the author's life. The outline of the book is clear, logical, and comprehensive.

So, did Mohler achieve his goal in this book? He did. Often, pivotal thinkers are not the ones who innovate. Pivotal thinkers often are the people who remind us of the basics and apply them in our context. The basic idea of the book is that leadership should grow out of convictions. The idea seems so simple, but great ideas always do. Other books exist about leading out of Christian character, but this book goes beyond them. Like so many others, this book is practical, but it is not merely pragmatic. The logical progression of the basic premise of convictional leadership makes this book unique. The author actually did reframe the conversation.

Reading this book prompted me to take stock personally. Yes, I believe many things. Which beliefs have matured to become real convictions? To what extent does my leadership grow out of those convictions? Learning to lead is a lifetime pilgrimage, and this book has helped me along the path. I recommend it for anyone who leads anything. Teachers, volunteer coaches, anyone will benefit from interacting with this book.

A Church with No Name

I was driving through a small community recently and noticed a church building with no sign of any kind at all. Judging by the cemetery beside the building, a congregation has called that place their home for quite some time. Surely the church has a name, but without any sort of sign to communicate it, they are a church with no name to anyone on that highway. Once upon a time I was the pastor of a church with a sign, but with no name on it. Driving by a church with no name reminded me of those days and the attitudes that I faced as I tried to address the situation.

Four years were required before that church finally installed a sign with the church's name on it. When I first noticed the problem, I mentioned it to a couple of people. One of them told me of a bitter battle over the current sign, the one without a name on it. Some people still had hard feelings about that sign years after its installation. I was advised to leave the issue alone. Another discreet inquiry revealed a different attitude. "Everybody already knows who we are." This attitude was a solid brick wall. It would not be moved. A frontal assault to push the church to install a sign would fail, so I decided to try a flanking strategy instead.

The times that we talked about being guest-friendly or including new people were perfect times to mention the need for a sign with the church's name on it. None of those discussions resulted in the momentum needed to purchase a new sign, but they did result in other signs being installed. For instance, signs designed to point guests toward restrooms were added to the building. Once a guest speaker came and he was not sure that he had driven to the right church. A sign would have confirmed it for him, but of course in our case it did not. I was able to mention that to a few key leaders. As time went by, I mentioned the issue when there was an opening, but nothing happened. Through the whole process, the "everybody already knows who we are" attitude was dominant.

In the end, Hurricane Katrina convinced the leaders that we needed a new sign. I remember the moment vividly. A tornado came through like a freight train just ahead of Katrina's eye wall. The tornado was moving very quickly, and I was too amazed by what I was seeing to be scared. Several large objects went flying in those couple of seconds, including that old sign. That tornado caused too much suffering for me to call it "good," but it did accomplish one good thing. A couple of months later, everyone agreed that we needed a new sign with the church's name on it.

I would like to be able to tell a story about how my leadership resulted in solving the sign problem. In truth, the sign was not a great priority. It was just a symptom of a larger problem. We often assume that everyone knows who we are. Being open to others and friendly to guests includes introducing ourselves. The absence of a sign with a name or signs to direct guests to restrooms is a symptom of a larger problem. A sign is just a sign, and really does not matter much at all. Being sensitive to guests matters a great deal. If we truly care about reaching out to people, then signs will follow.

Surprised by a Statue

A couple of days ago, I ran across Lives Given, Not Taken: 21st Century Southern Baptist Martyrs on my bookshelf, and remembered an encounter I experienced a few weeks ago when I was at the annual Pastor's School hosted by Beeson Divinity School of Samford University. They are always wonderful hosts, and the university's facilities are open to participants. I took advantage of their hospitality, and slipped into the library about an hour before lunch one day. Sunday is always coming, even when you are away at a conference. I needed some study time, so I walked up to the second floor of the library to find a quiet place to gather my thoughts and review my notes for the coming Sunday. Then, I noticed a statue. Curious, I walked up to it and saw the likeness of Martha Myers. Her name and story were familiar to me, but I had not realized that she was a Samford graduate. The statue honoring one of our Southern Baptist martyrs took me totally by surprise.

Most Southern Baptists do not realize that we have modern-day Southern Baptist martyrs for the faith. Martha Myers, M. D., served at Baptist Hospital in Jibla, Yemen as a medical missionary for years. She was shot, along with other missionaries, in 2002 by a Muslim who was angry over their Christian influence. She touched countless thousands of lives in her decades of missionary service in Yemen. She had even treated the wife of the man who murdered her. Her story continues to be inspirational today. Martha Myers knew that she could suffer horribly or even die for the faith because of her service in Yemen, but she just kept going anyway. The story of her life is a memorial to true Christianity.

You may read more about Myers and the statue by following this link.

Simple Church

When I first read Simple Church in 2006, it was one of the most significant books that I had ever read. I have read hundreds of books since 2006, but Simple Church remains one of the most significant. Consider a section from the book:

Moving to simple needs to happen. For the sake of the kingdom, the church, and the people you serve, it is time for action. In many churches, there has been too much talk. New statements mask the same behavior and the same paradigms. New strategies cover up complexity. In most churches, nothing really changes.

The kingdom is not about chatter. It is about action. Nike has some great theology. It is time to just do it. It is time to refuse to be a programmer. It is time to design and implement a simple process that moves people toward spiritual transformation.

It is time for change. The alternative is to continue leading dying churches filled with spiritually anemic people.

Change or die. Those are the choices.

Like any church leader, I often lament our local challenges. If we zoom out from our local situations, we see those issues repeated over and over again across the country. If the SBC has 45,000 churches (in round numbers), at least 44,000 of them have the same problems. The plain truth is that most churches are designed for maintenance rather than for disciple making. The sad truth is that many people resist  a design that facilitates disciple making. We often meet for the sake of meeting. We prefer the comfort of maintaining the institution as it is. May God help us.