Sola Gratia. Soli Deo Gloria.

Save the Date: June 10, 2012

2012-02-03T00:07:00.000-06:00

My Animoto Video ~ David and Chelsea's engagement

Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus

2011-12-20T13:11:00.000-06:00

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign is us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

~Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

The Way of Days

2011-11-27T21:13:00.001-06:00

Yep, some days are just like that.

Joy

2011-11-27T18:13:00.001-06:00

Today marks the beginning of the Advent Season. Rejoice.

Good news. Glad tidings. Great joy.

The Giving of Thanks: An Acceptable Sacrifice

2011-11-26T18:33:00.001-06:00

"Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving." ~Psalm 50:14

"He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me." ~Psalm 50:23

"Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving." ~Psalm 107:22

"To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and call upon the name of the LORD." ~Psalm 116:17

The Psalms clearly refer to thanksgiving as a sacrifice. Why is it a sacrifice to give thanks to the Lord? Because being thankful forces us to take our eyes off ourselves and onto God as the source of all blessing. It causes us to humbly acknowledge our utter and complete dependence upon the Lord.

Oh give thanks to the LORD,

call upon His name;

Make known His deeds among the peoples.

Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;

Speak of all His wonders.

Remember His wonders which He has done,

His marvels and the judgments

uttered by His mouth.

~Psalm 105:1-2, 5

The Journey Continues

2011-11-10T09:18:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, after months of meticulous research, thoughtful prayer, careful planning, thorough budgeting, and much discussion, our oldest son, David, boarded a plane destined for Huemoz, Switzerland, to study at L'Abri Fellowship for the next month. Predictably, as David's plans have steadily materialized into action, a few questions have been raised by family and friends alike. Therefore, the following brief history of Francis Schaeffer and an explanation of the main emphases in the community teaching (taken from the L'Abri website) might be illuminating as to the purpose of David's journey.

L'Abri Fellowship began in Switzerland in 1955 when Francis and Edith Schaeffer decided in faith to open their home to be a place where people might find satisfying answers to their questions and practical demonstration of Christian care. It was called L'Abri, the French word for "shelter," because they sought to provide a shelter from the pressures of a relentlessly secular 20th century. As time went by, so many people came that others were called to join the Schaeffers in their work, and more branches were established.

There have been perhaps four main emphases in the teaching of L'Abri.

First, that Christianity is objectively true and that the Bible is God's written word to mankind. This means that biblical Christianity can be rationally defended and honest questions are welcome.

Second, because Christianity is true it speaks to all of life and not to some narrowly religious sphere and much of the material produced by L'Abri has been aimed at helping develop a Christian perspective on the arts, politics and the social sciences etc.

Third, in the area of our relationship with God, true spirituality is seen in lives which by grace are free to be fully human rather than in trying to live on some higher spiritual plane or in some grey negative way.

Fourth, the reality of the fall is taken seriously. Until Christ returns we and the world we live in will be affected by the disfigurement of sin. Although the place of the mind is emphasized, L'Abri is not a place for "intellectuals only".

We are as concerned for living as we are for thinking and from the beginning the concern has been that the truth is as much exhibited in everyday life as it is defended in discussion. We do not do this perfectly of course but depend on the Lord to bring forth a measure of reality in our daily life.

Speaking of Francis Schaeffer in 2006, George Grant made the following statements on his blog: "Asserting the Lordship of Christ over the totality of life, he wrote a series of intellectually stimulating books documenting the drift of Western art, music, ideas, and law from their Christian moorings. Though he had a wide following among academically minded Evangelicals beginning in the mid-sixties, it was not until the release of his book and film series How Should We Then Live? that he gained national and international notoriety. He followed that with another book and film series, Whatever Happened to the Human Race?which brought new prominence to the struggle against abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. But it was his book, A Christian Manifesto, that catalyzed the burgeoning Evangelical consensus in the culture."

In answer to the question, "Who was Francis Schaeffer?" Udo Middlemann, President of the Francis A. Schaeffer Foundation penned these words: "The unique contribution of Dr. Francis Schaeffer on a whole generation was the ability to communicate the truth of historic Biblical Christianity in a way that combined intellectual integrity with practical, loving care. This grew out of his extensive understanding of the Bible from a deep commitment to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and a critical study of the world of man. These two pillars supported his inquisitive and analytical mind on the solid reality of the truth of God's creation and of his revelation. He understood the roots of modern thinking in its rejection of reality and rationality and pointed out the logical conclusions in a wide range of disciplines and in society.

Dr. Schaeffer understood that what a person believes influences the way he acts in history and individual situations. There is a relationship between a person's view of truth and life, between philosophy and practice, between faulty ideas and foolish choices. Dr. Schaeffer discussed the truth of reality with anyone in many settings. This in turn brought students, professionals, scholars and others from around the world to his home to learn from his insights. They returned with them to their own world and applied them to their circle of life and work. The ideas continue to bear fruit and to stimulate discussions and discoveries through more than 25 books, several films, taped seminars and lectures at leading universities in Europe, the US and abroad. The result has been a profound and enduring impact upon many thousands who have then gone to make their own mark in history.

The central thrust of Dr. Schaeffer's teaching is that Biblical Christianity is the truth about the real world. The only reason to be a Christian is an acknowledgment of what is objectively true about human beings, the real world and the basic human predicaments. The Bible is true in all that it affirms. This emphasis is not so much the summary of academic instructions or doctrinal positions. It is the result of a searching mind, of being exposed to human history, the European culture and art, and of in-depth discussions with knowledgeable people for a lifetime of study, observation and work.

With the Bible as his base and a profound interest in human beings, Dr. Schaeffer's insights were developed through the experience of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the study of Florentine society and art, in lectures followed by tough discussions at modern Cambridge, in rude exposure to the slums of Bombay and in probing questions of people from a great variety of backgrounds, in abortion protests, in response to life in the wider arena of human need and pervasive intellectual confusion in our world."

Francis and Edith Schaeffer not only believed but actively practiced the Reformation doctrine of the priesthood of all believers as a lifestyle that was best portrayed in the beauty of caring human relationships. In telling the story of how Francis Schaeffer affected his life on a personal level, George Grant gives tribute to "the quiet virtue of ordinary kindness" evidenced by this man's life.

Dr. Francis Schaeffer went home to be with the Lord in the spring of 1984, however, his life and ideas continue to permeate and influence Western thought and can be understood and assimilated today through a 5 volume set entitled The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview, through various film series, taped lectures, and through the on-going work of the L'Abri study centers around the world.

Therefore, having been classically educated and discipled by a long line of Christian worldview thinkers, David is simply continuing his journey to experience the lordship of Christ over all things and to seek to live out the Gospel in both word and deed. May God be pleased to engage his heart and enhance his mind through travel and study and to faithfully guide and direct his steps along the way.

Hubris and Humility

2011-10-03T14:28:00.001-05:00

Ozymandias by Percy Shelley

OZYMANDIAS

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'

Ramses II, whose Greek name is Ozymandias, ruled Egypt for 67 years, from 1279 to 1213 B.C. In his day, he was a mighty military conqueror who attained hegemony over the ancient world, and a prolific builder of his own kingdom. Percy Shelley's sonnet recounts the once-great king's hubris ("My name is Ozmandias, king of kings; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!") made a mockery of by the ruined statue marking the lost civilization, driving home the point that the achievements of even the mightiest tyrants are obliterated by time. Or as we commonly say around here, "Every tyranny will eventually collapse under the weight of its own absurdity."

This poem issues a profound warning to this modern age which is marching madly along in its own hubris, its own sophisticated rejection of God, laboring vainly to build the City of Man while shaking a rebellious fist in the face of the true King of Kings.

In 1892, Abraham Kuyper gave a speech entitled, "Blurring the Boundaries" in which he states,

"Virtually all the modern ills came down to this: either the State was claiming authority that was not the State's, or it was abdicating authority where it had legitimate authority."

This statement was made in reference to God's systematic ordering of the universe from before the foundations of time, namely the concept of sphere sovereignty, a gospel principle made prominent and systematically applied to Dutch society by Kuyper.

Simply stated, society was pre-ordered into overlapping, checking/balancing jurisdictions - family, church, and state - each with its own predetermined authority and subsequent responsibility. All must operate as sovereign spheres within their jurisdiction and each sphere must be held accountable by the other spheres if one exercises authority outside its boundaries or fails to uphold its responsibility. Thus, the following statement by a leading 21st century thinker echoes Kuyper's sentiments on blurring these boundaries.

"All the ills of the modern age came down to this: the church has not had the backbone to stand against the state, or the family has been left unprotected and parental perogatives have been stolen so that society as God had intended it was no longer able to function under the Lordship of Christ. Therefore, new principles, new ideas, new authorities, new sovereignties, and new messiahs have been raised up in Christ's stead."

The nutshell of Abraham Kuyper's comprehensive worldview of the lordship of Christ is perhaps most succinctly proclaimed in his infamous quote: "There is not one square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, "Mine!"

Those called to covenantal faithfulness in a day of rampant apostacy must adhere to and submit to the comprehensive Lordship of Christ over every area of our lives. We must hold to the absolute primacy of scripture in order to re-learn, re-tool, re-think, and re-form our own lives and families, our own churches, our own communities if we would be faithful servants and leaders in our day. If Christ is Lord at all, then He is Lord over every segment of our lives and society, of business, of media, of arts and entertainment, of politics and government, of economics and economies, of education, of families, and of religion.

Therefore, let the effort and object of our building be not as Ozymandias', monuments of and to the glory of man. Instead, let us purposefully build covenant faithfulness into the minds, hearts, spirits, and lives of our sons and daughters, our grandchildren, our students, our neighbors, all those with whom God grants us influence, and may it be to the glory of God alone by way of His gracious Holy Spirit.

Franklin Classical School Uttermost 2011

2011-09-27T12:27:00.000-05:00

FCS Uttermost 2011 | Make Your Own Book

Standing Fast

2011-09-21T12:54:00.000-05:00

"Hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship…but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down. But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, men of the west!" ~Aragorn

Lord's Day Morning

2011-09-18T08:33:00.000-05:00

O MAKER AND UPHOLDER OF ALL THINGS,
Day and night are thine; they are also mine from thee--
the night to rid me of the cares of the day,
to refresh my weary body,
to renew my natural strength;
the day to summon me to new activities,
to give me opportunity to glorify thee,
to serve my generation,
to acquire knowledge, holiness, eternal life.
But one day above all days is made especially
for thy honour and my improvement;
The sabbath reminds me of thy rest from creation,
of the resurrection of my savior,
of his entering into repose,
Thy house is mine,
but I am unworthy to meet thee there,
and am unfit for spiritual service.
When I enter it I come before thee as a sinner,
condemned by conscience and thy Word,
For I am still in the body and in the wilderness,
ignorant, weak, in danger,
and in need of thine aid.
But encouraged by thy all-sufficient grace
let me go to thy house with a lively hope of meeting thee,
knowing that there thou wilt come to me and give me peace.
My soul is drawn out to thee in longing desires
for thy presence in the sanctuary, at the table,
where all are entertained on a feast of good things;
Let me before the broken elements, emblems of thy dying love,
cry to thee with broken heart for grace and forgiveness.
I long for that blissful communion of they people
in thy eternal house in the perfect kingdom;
These are they that follow the Lamb;
May I be of their company!

The Valley of Vision

Personal Responsibility

2011-09-15T18:46:00.004-05:00

Whose fault?

Genesis and Worldviewishness

2011-09-10T19:17:00.001-05:00

The book of Genesis is known to be the book of beginnings, the narrative story of how the world came into existence (and why), how man came into existence (and why), how civilization developed (and why), even how the Incarnate Christ would one day enter the world and why (Gen 3:15). Not only is Genesis a literary marvel and a historical masterpiece but within its borders lie the seeds of virtually all of the great doctrinal themes that the rest of the Old and New Testament would later mine from its depths and further develop.

It is no wonder then that my spirit is so deeply stirred as I sit under both the preaching of Genesis at Parish Presbyterian Church and the teaching of Genesis and the Creation story at Franklin Classical School by Pastor/Educator George Grant.

Actually, this is not the first time that I have been privileged to sit under the teaching of the beginnings of the world at Franklin Classical School. This rich, saturated Humanities curriculum is designed to be a survey of the disciplines of history, literature, philosophy, theology, civics, art, music, architecture and ideas of a particular period so that a student passing through four consecutive years of Upper Division (high school) will encounter the timetables of history in the following epoch cycles from the beginning of Creation to the very doorposts of our current age, one per year.

Antiquity (Focusing on all the great civilizations from the dawn of time to the fall of Rome)
Modernity (Focusing primarily on the 19th and 20th century, but with roots extending into the early Enlightenment)
Christendom (Focusing on Western Civilization and Church history stretching from the advent of Christianity through Medievalism and to the Reformation, Renaissance, and Enlightenment)
American Culture ( Focusing on the Age of Exploration and Colonization to the advent of Modernity)

My youngest son, Nathan, a senior at FCS this year, is engaging with the culture of Antiquity as a part of this 4-year educational paradigm of Humanities and I am attending the lecture series. Likewise, when Nathan's oldest brother, David, completed the same UD Humanities cycle four years ago, it just so happened that he ended his captstone year with the study of Antiquity as well. That year, also receiving the benefit of attending Dr. Grant's lectures (that are open to the general public) I sat under the teaching of Antiquity through a Moral Philosophy lens. It was literally a life-changing experience for me and my family that has had, and will likely continue to have far-reaching effects in our lives. The first few opening weeks of lectures repeating the cycle of Antiquity this year have yielded up unexpected discoveries like the precious gemstones that littered the ground in the Garden of Eden.

First has been surprise at the clarity with which I have recalled and retained the information itself, literally remembering the slides, the charts, the quotes, the concepts, and especially the connections made between the ideas presented.

Also, I have been astonished at the depth and complexity of the human intellect and soul that associates, connects the dots, draws parallels between things, and makes distinctions about things in a way that floods me with vivid, techni-color memory of events, happenings, circumstances, and situations occurring not only in my life four years ago but also in the life of the school. And to that, I would add with both relief and thanksgiving that hindsight is truly beautiful for making sense of a thing, a luxury we never have as we are journeying through the middle of a particular season or a peculiar circumstance of life. Alas, therein lies the power of Moral Philosophy- to study the past in order to understand the present for the purpose of influencing the future.

In the four year span between this early and late study of Antiquity, by the Lord's good grace and through the renewing of my mind, coupled with the living out of covenantal parish life in my local church and school community, the foundation of a biblical worldview has been rooted and established in my being. Consequently, I have learned how to think worldviewishly. (Understand, of course, we are speaking of an on-going process, not firm arrival at a destination.)

It is precisely this process of establishing and rooting biblical worldviewishness that fulfills the school's mission to raise up the next generation of cultural and spiritual leaders by imparting and developing in students the ability to think biblically - to see how the world works through gospel interpretation and to understand the current age of Modernity in which we live. Therefore, in a world of chaos, confusion, and brokenness, students young and old, equipped with a coherent worldview go forth with clarity and focus to change the world in their particular field of calling, one person at a time.

The question that often arises is simply, does a person's worldview really matter in the whole scheme of things? In a nutshell, worldviewishness is a comprehensive understanding of the absolute lordship of Christ Jesus applied to the totality of life.

Tomorrow is the 10th year anniversary of 9/11. This week we have relived the horror of brutal, senseless violence, the excruciating sorrow and loss of the families and friends of those who perished in the attack, the ways that we were all suddenly changed in the trauma and through the following ten years of aftermath that has been the result of someone's worldview. We have also recounted this week the stories of courage, heroism, and uncommon valor, the images of firemen entering the buildings from which people were desperately trying to exit, of passengers selflessly downing a flight intent upon destruction into an open field in Pennsylvania. This, too, was the result of someone's worldview.

Yes. It. Really. Matters.

Franklin Classic Supports Mercy Children's Clinic

2011-09-05T13:20:00.001-05:00

This morning, the 33rd Annual Run/Walk Franklin Classic 10K/5K, one of the oldest and most popular races and community events in Middle Tennessee, cast its race undaunted and undeterred by the rain. Proceeds from the Franklin Classic support Mercy Children's Clinic and is the medical clinic's largest fundraising effort. The mission of the Mercy Children's Clinic is to reflect the love and compassion of Jesus Christ by providing quality healthcare to ALL children and support to their families. Fifty percent of their annual budget is raised through sponsors and donations.

Great job, Franklin, for outstanding community support for a fun time and a really worthy cause. . .even in the rain.

The Value of a Good Name

2011-08-07T23:51:00.006-05:00

“A good name is to be desired above great riches, and loving favor above silver and gold.” ~Proverbs 22:1

Man is said to wear three names in this life. The first is the name one is given at birth. The second is the family name one inherits. The third is the name (reputation) one makes for himself in life.

The above passage refers to this third type of name, the name that conveys the nature and essence, and represents the history and reputation of the thing named.

In commenting upon this verse, Matthew Henry explains that there are two things which are more valuable and which we should covet more than great riches:

1) to be well spoken of: A good name (reputation) is rather to be chosen than great riches; that is, we should be more careful to do that by which we may get and keep a good name than that by which we may raise and increase a good estate. Great riches bring great cares with them, expose men to danger, and add no real value to a man. A fool and a knave may have great riches, but a good name makes a man easy and safe, supposes a man wise and honest, redounds to the glory of God, and gives a man a greater opportunity of doing good.

2) to be well beloved, to have an interest in the esteem and affections of all about us; this is better than silver and gold. Christ had neither silver nor gold, but he grew in favour with God and man (Luke 2:52).

In Ecclesiastes 7:1, the Bible tells us that “A good name is better than precious ointment. . .” As Christians, our good works are to be done not to receive glory for ourselves but so that others will see them and glorify God (Matt 5:16). Therefore, a good reputation is to be built and guarded for the glory of God.

In Revelation 14:13, we are taught that the way we live our lives in Christ will outlive us in the hearts and minds of others. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” Our influence, for good or for bad, reaches beyond the grave.

Therefore, litigating a man's name is very serious business and should be conducted with great fear and trepidation lest it result in the impedance of the Gospel.

Character

2011-08-07T21:48:00.000-05:00

"Character is the standard and gauge by which to measure a man. While reputation is a wonderful thing, it is only a standard by which one is measured before his fellow man. Character is what one is measured by before God. Character is a man's own, and he is the sole guardian of it." ~Trigg Thomas

Life Lessons from July 2011

2011-07-31T23:59:00.002-05:00

"Bold love is courageously setting aside our personal agenda to move humbly into the world of others with their well-being in view, willing to risk further pain in our souls, in order to be an aroma of life to some and an aroma of death to others." ~Dan Allender

"The incentive to peacemaking is love, but it degenerates into appeasement whenever justice is ignored. To forgive and to ask for forgiveness are both costly exercises. All authentic Christian peacemaking exhibits the love and justice--and so the pain--of the cross." ~John Stott

Principle of Liberty

2011-07-31T23:30:00.000-05:00

"All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet." ~Robert C. Winthrop

Liberty Without Virtue?

2011-07-31T23:26:00.000-05:00

"What is liberty without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils. . . it is madness without restraint. Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetite. . . Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and less of it there is within, the more there must be without." ~Edmund Burke,

The West Without Its Soul

2011-07-28T16:56:00.002-05:00

"For two hundred years we had sawed and sawed and sawed and sawed at the branch we were sitting on. And in the end, much more suddenly than anyone had foreseen, our efforts were rewarded, and down we came. But unfortunately there had been a little mistake: The thing at the bottom was not a bed of roses after all; it was a cesspool full of barbed wire. . .It appears that amputation of the soul isn't just a simple surgical job, like having your appendix out. The wound has a tendancy to go septic." ~George Orwell, 1940

The Thrill of Salvation

2011-07-24T20:46:00.000-05:00

"What is the effect of my salvation? He simply has put a small, deeply disturbing fire in the fabric of my being that cannot be extinguished or modulated. The irradiance spreads every time I try to contain it. The heat breathes down my neck every time I'd prefer to suffer in the cold. In simple terms, I am possessed by a God who will neither tolerate tepid indifference nor lukewarm piety. He wants my heart, and in fact He has it.

I both love and hate Him for making His home in the sinews of my soul. I am constrained by His presence to love, or at least to anguish over my failure to love, and then to humble myself by putting on those fine robes, the gleaming ring, and the well-fitted sandals. Why does He not make me pay? It would be so much easier if I could just suffer a few years in penance; but alas, He not only rejoices at my return, but He invites the whole neighborhood to celebrate with us. He charms me and compels me without force or pressure to rejoice, to be grateful for His wild and wonderful imposition. I can no more escape Him or His call than I can refuse, at least for long, to breathe or to stop my heart from beating."

~Dr. Dan Allender, Bold Love

Arx Axiom: The Fortress of First Principles

2011-07-19T10:44:00.008-05:00

This article was written by Dr. George Grant

By the middle of the fifth century, the vaunted Roman army was little more than a shadow of its former self. Nevertheless, it exulted in its traditional role as the caretakers of the Roman cultural heritage. Particularly along the barbarian frontier, the garrisoned troops saw their strategic role as much more than maintaining a mere military presence. They were both the guardians and the exemplars of a particular way of life. They were thus to be the very sentinels of their once-glorious civilization.

This seemingly disparate two-fold task was apparently first enunciated by Julius Caesar during the earliest days of Rome's imperial ambition. According to the brilliant biography by Scottish historian John Buchan, it was during his campaign in Gaul that Caesar charged his men with the task of not only defining and defending Roman borders against the encroachment of neighboring barbarian tribes but also of broadcasting the essential elements of Roman civilization abroad. Buchan wrote, "Caesar believed fully that the great destiny of the Roman ideal would only be realized as her best men engaged in the propagation of her culture as well as in the extension of her administration. It was upon the principles of civilization as well as the precepts of conquest that the fate of the Republic hinged."

In the years, and even the centuries, that followed, Caesar's conception was institutionalized as a presuppositional attribute of Roman existence: The army was responsible for simultaneously protecting and epitomizing the integrity of the Empire. It was to stand apart as both a partisan in the enforcement of Pax Romano- Roman peace - and as a paragon in the establishment of Probitas Romana - Roman virtue- for both bespoke Imperium Romana - Roman supremacy.

Eventually the phrase Arx Axiom - literally meaning "fortress of first principles" in Latin - emerged to describe this two-fold military tradition. The citadels of valor and might the Empire established all along the frontier and out into the hinterlands were not simply to serve as a buffer against the dangers of the wider world, they were to be vanguards of its very way of life.

During the twilight years of the Empire when it seemed that the notion of Arx Axiom was losing its efficacy, the great African patriarch, Augustine, revived its popularity. But instead of applying the tradition to the task of the Empire, he applied it to the task of the Church. Instead of positing a fiercely fought culture war between Romans and barbarians that necessitated a kind of strategic military posture, he posited an even more fiercely fought spiritual war between the City of God and the City of Man.

Thus for Augustine, Arx Axiom was the essential posture of the Christian worldview. It was bearing witness to the lost as a fortress of first principles and a citadel of truth.

For us, this word-picture serves as a powerful motivation to keep us on track - not just defending the faith and the faithful from the attacks of the barbarian hoards of modern Humanism but also broadcasting the good news that there is substantive and resplendent covenant community where any and all may find sanctuary and refuge. Arx Axiom is thus more than an epigrammatic motto for us - it is a mission statement. ~Dr. George Grant

Saturday Evening Prayer

2011-07-09T22:39:00.000-05:00

O LORD God,
There is no blessing we implore but thou art able to give,
hast promised to give,
hast given already to countless multitudes,
all unworthy and guilty like ourselves;
Make us willing to receive the supply of our need from thy bounty.

To this end convince us of sin,
soften our hard hearts,
to bewail our folly, ingratitude, pride, unbelief, rebellion, corruption.

Through the law may we die to the law,
then look with wonder, submission, delight,
to the provision thou hast made for the glory of thy name
in the salvation of sinners.

Give us a hope that makes us not ashamed,
a love that excites to holy obedience,
a joy in thee that is our strength,
a faith in thy Son who loved us and died for us.

May we persevere in duty when not fully conscious of thee,
wait upon thee and keep thy way,
be humble and earnest suppliants at thy feet,
live continually as on the brink of eternity.

Let us be at thy disposal for the duties and events of life,
submit our preferences to thy wisdom and will,
resign our enjoyments if thou shouldest require it
as our absolute proprietor and best friend.

In our unworthiness and provocations make us grateful,
for the means of grace and the ordinances of religion
and teach us to profit by them more than we have done.

Help us to be in the Spirit on the Lord's Day,
to enter upon the sabbath mindful of its solemnities, duties,
privileges,
setting all things worldly aside while we worship thee.

May we know the blessedness of men whose strength is in thee,
and in whose hearts are the highways to heaven.

Amen.

~The Valley of Vision

Calvin on Civil Government

2011-07-07T13:39:00.002-05:00

"The appointed goal of the civil government is to cherish and protect the outward worship of God, to defend sound doctrine of piety and the position of the church, to adjust our life to the society of men, to form our social behavior to civil righteousness, to reconcile us to one another, and to promote general peace and tranquility." The Institutes, 4.20.2

"Men's vices and inadequacies make it safer and better that the many hold sway. In this way rulers help each other, teach and admonish one another, and if one asserts himself unfairly, they may act in concert to censure, repressing his willfulness." The Institutes, 4.20.8

Awaken by Lawrence Tribble

2011-07-07T13:13:00.001-05:00

"The Great Awakening touched every section of the colonial domains of England in the New World-from northernmost New England to southernmost Georgia. And its impact was enormous. Interestingly, this cultural and spiritual phenomenon was entirely driven by grassroots evangelism and community cooperation, as this famous verse illustrates." ~ George Grant, The Patriot's Handbook

One man awake,
Awakens another.
The second awakens
His next-door brother.
The three awake can rouse a town
By turning
The whole place
Upside down.

The many awake
Can make such a fuss
It finally awakens
The rest of us.
One man up,
With dawn in his eyes,
Surely then
Multiplies.

The Christian Monster (an excerpt)

2011-06-30T15:13:00.004-05:00

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Man cannot be both like the monster of Frankenstein (Shelley) and like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson). Which one is he?

"You won't receive any hints from the authors of the stories-both Stevenson and Shelley were what may best be described as 'modern pagans.' Both rejected the God of the Bible and were unscrupulous about breaking up marriages in pursuit of love. Both would be expected to describe the nature of man in the same way. But only one was, as G.K. Chesterton noticed, "a Christian theologian without knowing it." Robert Louis Stevenson.

Christians, if they are at all consistent with their faith, should demand loudly that man is like Jekyll and Hyde. They recognize, as Socrates did, that 'the ruling power in us men drives a pair of horses, and . . . one of these horses is fine and good and of noble stock, and the other the opposite in every way. So in our case the task of the charioteer is necessarily a difficult and unpleasant business.'

In other words, man is divided against himself: he 'knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it' (James 4:17). We are sinful creatures, every one of us, and though we think we have good impulses we cannot obey them for an hour--let alone a day.'

Further, the Bible makes it clear that we are destined to become enslaved by our sinful side, because we must be either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:16-18). Since we are unable to be righteous, we find ourselves more and more controlled by our Hyde, until he has taken over our life. Sin, given even the faintest toe-hold, will make a suicide of us.

The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is uncannily like the biblical description of unredeemed man. We are born with the seed of sin planted in us by Adam (Romans 5:12); we know what is right but we refuse to do it (Romans 1:18-20); we want to let our own little pet sins lead us for awhile and then get back in control, but instead we find these sins controlling us (Romans 7:22-24); and then man finds, too late, that 'the wages of sin is death' (Romans 6:23).

Unredeemed man, like Jekyll and Hyde, is a horror story. We are separated from God from the beginning, and as our sin matures we distance ourselves from our only hope more and more. Nothing we do can save us; we will live and die as Jekyll lived and died - unless.

And this 'unless' contains all the hope and all the joy in all of heaven. We cannot be saved unless the very God that we have been separate from since birth and that we rebel against every day offers Himself as a living sacrifice for our sins on the cross! And then by trusting Him to rescue us--understanding that nothing we do saves us--we find our Hyde nailed on the cross with Him, and we are born again.

The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is true, and it matters very much that it is true. Until we believe it--with all its horror and all its bad news--we will never be ready to receive the good news: the gospel of Jesus Christ. Until we recognize that we are sinners desperately in need of a Savior, we won't begin our frantic search for that Savior. You've got to know you're hopelessly lost before you start shouting to be found."

~J.F. Baldwin, The Deadliest Monster: An Introduction to Worldviews

The Power of Beauty

2011-06-27T14:15:00.004-05:00

This current age of modernity is predominantly marked by independent individualism, egalitarianism, and smothering nationalism, with people defining themselves more in terms of their political or national association than by their relationships. However, worse than this condition is that the modern church seems to have accepted such cultural ugliness (the fruit of unsound theology) as normative. No, no, no! Rather, it is the church's great privilege to instruct believers on how to fulfill her duty of glorifying God through the beauty of fleshing out the Christian Gospel in human relationships: the pursuit of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth in common, everyday life amidst the modern barbarism of the times. It is beauty that draws one to truth and trains one's mind to think differently about family life, calling, community, and culture, work and rest, and that shapes our ideas about the past, the present, and the future.

The supreme authority of scripture stitched together with the unspeakable joy of Christ's righteousness imputed to us by Sovereign Grace inextricably interweaves the human fabric of celebratory living into a community life full of beauty, goodness, truth, tradition, care, passion, hope, and love. In this created world in which we live, beauty is always a reflection of the Creator, the beauty of His holiness.

Since modernity seems to be afflicted with amnesia about such things, it is sometimes helpful to visit other periods of history to glean depth and understanding of cultural differences. Flora Thompson's book, Lark Rise to Candleford, recently provided some historicity for me in this category. Thompson's saga was originally published as a trilogy, three separate but linked narratives. Lark Rise (1939) is a part-lyrical, part-documentary portrait of the tiny hamlet, Juniper Hill, where Thompson was born. Over to Candleford (1941) is a more close-focused study of her own family and her relatives in the near-by market town. Candleford Green (1943) is partly modelled on the village where she had her first job, as an assistant in the post office.

On one hand, the book serves as a sort of autobiography reflecting Thompson's childhood vision of the ecstasy of nature and of a life lived close to it. On the other hand, the book portrays rural life in Oxfordshire in the last decades of the 19th Century in a culture still governed by the agrarian rhythms of the seasons of the land and provides an intimate and compelling account of the old rural order just before its transformation by modernism.

The BBC took the book and produced a delightful adaptation for a television series by the same name. One of several themes running through its first season is that of the noblesse oblige (French for, "nobility obligates"). In a culture of stark social class distinction, this phrase implies the moral obligation of those of high birth, or powerful social position to act with honor, kindness, and generosity toward those less fortunate.

This same theme can be echoed and traced in a scene of the modern movie version of Robin Hood. Lady Marion, when questioned by Robin of the Hood (Kevin Costner), why she remained in the country manor (instead of living within the safety of the village) retorted that the Crusades and its resulting social upheaval had left many in the countryside poor and desolate and without aid in difficult times. She considered it her responsibility, her duty, to care for them as best she could until her cousin, the King (Richard the Lionhearted) returned from the Crusade. And, of course, all the while his brother John was scheming for the Crown and Kingdom.

A loose parallel to this notion of noblesse oblige: Is not the church, like Lady Marion, awaiting the return of her rightful King in a time of many imposters? Are we also not nobility, having been adopted into the family of royalty by the blood of the firstborn of many sons? Is it not likewise our duty to be caring for those in our charge in the absence of the King?

Part of my enjoyment of the Lark Rise to Candleford series is that I dwell amongst a community that seeks to neutralize the ugliness of modernity by recovering the beauty of parish life, authentic gospel-centered community where everyone is accountable to someone and for someone. In some mysterious way both the book and the first season series inspired hopefulness in me that the foundations for such a kingdom vision may be perpetuated yet again in the not so distant future.

Radical Transformation

2011-06-24T18:54:00.000-05:00

Today, this table. . .

and this lamp underwent a radical transformation

exchanging what it once was for a whole new usefulness

in the spectrum of beauty.

A View of Hospitality Through Literature

2011-06-20T12:09:00.002-05:00

The House of Elrond

In J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins is on a long journey through mountains, forests, and dark waters. In their journeying, Bilbo and his traveling companions come to rest at the hospitable house of Elrond.

"[Elrond's house] was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. . . All of them, the ponies as well, grew refreshed and strong in a few days there. Their clothes were mended as well as their bruises, their tempers and their hopes."

Isn't this a hopeful and beautiful inspiration to offering healing hospitality? The question is: What do people need, and what can we give? Food, shelter, companionship, comfort, forgiveness, beauty, new ideas, a chance to experience the reality of God's love?

The Nature of Warfare

2011-06-20T11:13:00.001-05:00

"The War between Christ and satan is a global war. It is carried on, first, in the hearts for the hearts of men. Through preaching and teaching in the church and in the home, through the witness borne by individual men everywhere, the allegiance of men is turned away from satan to Christ. But the warfare is also carried on where you might least expect it. It is carried on in the field of reading and writing and arithmetic, in the field of nature study and history. . .

So far, we have been speaking of the victorious struggle of Christ against satan for the hearts of men. This struggle is global in character. There is not a square inch of ground in heaven or on earth or under the earth in which there is peace between Christ and satan. And what is all-important for us as we think of the Christian school is that, according to Christ, every man, woman, and child is every day and everywhere involved in the struggle. No one can stand back, refusing to become involved. He is involved from the day of his birth and even before his birth.

Jesus said, "He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad." If you say that you are "not involved" you are in fact involved on satan's side. If you say you are involved in the struggle between Christ and satan in the area of family and in the church, but not in the school, you are deceiving yourself. In that case you are not really fully involved in the family and the church. You cannot expect to train intelligent, well-informed soldiers of the cross of Christ unless the Christ is held up before them as the Lord of culture as well as Lord of religion. It is the nature of the conflict between Christ and satan to be all-comprehensive."

~ Cornelius Van Til

The Great Commission (An excerpt)

2011-06-11T15:41:00.002-05:00

This blog post entitled The Great Commission is an excerpt from George Grant's book, The Blood of the Moon: Understanding the Historic Struggle Between Islam and Western Civilization

"The earth is the LORD's" (Ps 24:1). God has not limited the jurisdiction of His sovereignty to heaven. Despite the disruption of the Fall, He continues to execute His authority over the world with "an everlasting kingdom" (Dan 4:3). He rules it from His throne on high (Ps 11:4). That is clear enough. At the same time, though, He graciously apportions it out to His people. He commissions us to exercise stewardship over it. We are to be more than just salt: preserving. We are to be light: reclaiming (Matt 5:13-16). Justice, mercy, and humility before God are to be tandem virtues in our lives as we reach out to a lost and dying world.

This is the crux of a balanced biblical worldview. And it is dramatically underscored in Christ's final instructions to His disciples in the Great Commission. He said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of this age" (Matt 28:18-20).

All authority in heaven is His, of course. The heights and the depths, the angels and the principalities are all under His sovereign rule. But all authority on earth is His as well. Man and creature, as well as every invention and institution, are under His sovereign rule. There are no neutral areas in all of the cosmos that escape the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ (Col 1:17).

Therefore, on this basis, the Commission states that believers are to extend Christ's kingdom, making disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching-- wherever unbelief may be found in all the nations of the earth. This mandate is the essence of the new covenant, which is an extension of the old covenant: go and begin the process of reclaiming everything in heaven and on earth for His name's sake (Gen 1:28). We are called to be a part of what will, in the fullness of time, "bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ" (Eph 1:10).

The emphasis is inescapable: we are not to stop with simply telling the fallen men and nations that Jesus is Lord; we are to demonstrate His lordship in our families, in our churches, in our work, in our communities, and in our culture. We are to make disciples who will obey everything that He has commanded, not just in a hazy zone of piety, but in the totality of life by demonstrating the very principles of redemptive grace and mercy that we proclaim.

This is the thrust of the Great Commission. It is the spiritual, emotional, and cultural mandate to win the fallen world for Jesus. and though we know that only Christ Himself can fulfill that mandate in its entirety at the close of human history, our duty is to trust and obey, work and pray, love and serve, minister and administer. We are to "occupy till He comes" Luke 19:13.

A biblical worldview necessarily embraces the comprehensive implications of the Great Commission - in word and deed, in going and proclaiming, in standing for gospel mercy and standing for substitutionary justice in this fallen world. It applies Scripture to every area of life and godliness. The fact is, the salvation of fallen souls is the immediate aim of the Great Commission. But the ultimate aim is the promotions of the glory of the triune God (Rom 16:25-27). We must have a passion for souls (2 Cor 5:11). We must take every opportunity (Col 4:5), expend every energy (2 Cor 6:4-10), and risk every expense (Acts 4:29) beseeching men to be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20). But individualistic redemption is not the be-all and end-all of the Great Commission.

The Fall affected both men and nations, both souls and societies, and both individuals and institutions. The Fall is comprehensive so the presentation of the gospel must be comprehensive. Our evangelism must include sociology as well as salvation; it must include a new social order as well as a new birth; it must include reform and redemption, culture and conversion, a reformation and a regeneration. Read the sermons of the great evangelists through the ages and you will immediately see that kind of balance--they invariably begin by addressing the grave injustices of the day, proceed to tender examples of human need, and conclude with a vital appeal to reconcile with Christ. They move from the first word of the gospel, to the second, and finally to the third. Regardless of the text, the outline is simple: guilt, want, and substitution in need of justice, mercy, and humility before God.

Any other kind of evangelism is shortsighted and woefully impotent, which may be why so many of the efforts to reach the Muslim community have failed so miserably in the past. Any other kind of evangelism fails to live up to the comprehensive high call of the Great Commission and the very essence of the gospel. We can and we must reach out to the adherents of this simple faith with the glorious truth."

~Dr. George Grant, The Blood of the Moon: Understanding the Historic Struggle Between Islam and Western Civilization

Living with Kudzu: A Life Smothering Vine

2011-06-09T07:37:00.003-05:00

Recently, while traveling from Tennessee through Alabama to reach the Florida coast for vacation, we encountered much kudzu growth which piqued my interest in the vine. This short video news clip explained much about the origin of kudzu in the southeast.

Treasures from Across the Pond

2011-06-02T14:48:00.002-05:00

"Of the Imitation of Christ" by Thomas A Kempis

New College Franklin Commencement 2011

2011-05-13T23:08:00.003-05:00

Congratulations, Class of 2011! Photos compliments of Amy Shore

David with the NCF banner

David Swift and Kelsey Dokkestul

Chancellor George Grant delivers the charge

Praying for the graduates

David signing the register

A faithful mentor

David and Kelsey

Beauty, Goodness and Truth

Jonathan, David and Nathan

Nathan, David, Keith, and Jonathan

The cake

The fruit pizza

Repentance

2011-04-18T10:06:00.003-05:00

The following was an original post by George Grant on his blog dated August 23, 2005. The years have layered the richness of my understanding of this content and as we press to extend the boundaries of the kingdom in ever- widening circles, the timelessness of this message seems particularly relevant and refreshing today.

At the beginning of every academic year I like to remind myself and my students that true education is a form of repentance. It is a humble admission that we've not read all that we need to read, we don't know all that we need to know, and we've not yet become all that we are called to become. Education is that unique form of discipleship that brings us to the place of admitting our inadequacies. It is that remarkable rebuke of autonomy and independence so powerful and so evident that we actually shut up and pay heed for a change.

C.S. Lewis said it well: "The surest sign of true intellectual acumen is a student's comprehension of what it is he does not know; not what he does know. It is a spirit of humility that affords us with the best opportunity to grow, mature, and achieve in the life of the mind. It is knowing how much we do not know that enables us to fully embark on a lifetime of learning; to recover to any degree the beauty goodness and truth of Christendom."

Likewise, G.K. Chesterton asserted: "I am always suspicious of the expert who knows he is an expert. Far better to seek the wisdom of the common, the ordinary, and the humble--for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble."

So I tell my students again and again that we have been given much--and that since we have been given much we ought to be able to move to that place of profound gratitude and humility. We have received an amazing inheritance of Art, Music, Literature, Ideas of Philosophy, of Science and Mathematics. We have received a tradition of excellence. We have been taught what it means to have both passion and purity. We have learned of the essence of chivalry, valor, and godly servant-leadership. All this and more have we received in the remarkable bequest of Christendom's great flowering.

We have also been the beneficiaries of an extraordinary web of relationships. We have begun to understand that true education is more about a culture than it is about a curriculum. It’s more about a way of life than it is a way of doing. A vision of what God’s called you to than it is about a mechanical set of prescriptives that are to be implemented in your life. It is about relationships, about community, about the rich covenant into which you have been grafted by God’s good providence.

Arthur Quiller-Couch, the mentor of a host of literary luminaries including C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Maurice Baring, and Dorothy Sayers once described what we have received in this fashion, “You are indeed the heirs of a remarkable legacy--a legacy that has passed into your hands after no little tumult and travail; a legacy that is the happy result of sacrificial human relations, no less than of stupendous human achievements; a legacy that demands of you a lifetime of vigilance and diligence so that you may in turn pass the fruits of Christian civilization on to succeeding generations. This is the essence of the biblical view, the covenantal view, and the classical view of education. This is the great legacy of truth which you are now the chief beneficiaries.”

All this ought to be more than a little humbling. Of course, humility is not exactly a popular concept these days. We are taught to take pride in ourselves, in our accomplishments, in our stature in this poor fallen world. Humility seems to be little more than glorified insecurity—or worse, a lack of ambition. Fernanda Eberstadt, in her brilliant coming-of-age novel Isaac and His Devils, captured this sentiment, "Humility has a dank and shameful smell to the worldly, the scent of failure, lowliness, and obscurity."

But how different is the Biblical perspective. A nation whose leaders are humbled in fear before God will suffer no want (Psalm 34:9). It will ever be blest (Psalm 115:13). It will be set high above all the nations of the earth (Deuteronomy 28:1). Similarly, families--and even individuals--that walk in humility will be exalted and lifted up in due time (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6).

Thus, the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession properly begins by asserting that, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." The English reformers that composed that venerable tome, recognized that the beginning of any serious endeavor must necessarily be rooted in a humble and holy fear of our Gracious and Almighty God--that worship of Him, fellowship with Him, service to Him, and communion in Him, must be the vortex of any and all other activities. The Biblical faith is a circumspect fear of the Living God. That is its essence.

“But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or letter. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, who has loved us, and has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work. Standfast and walk humbly in what you know” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17).

Herein is the heart and soul of education. Herein is the beginning of repentance.

Yes and Amen

2011-04-07T08:24:00.001-05:00

"For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to the glory of God through us." 2 Corin 1:20

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:11

Refuge

2011-04-07T08:01:00.001-05:00

"In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge." Proverbs 14:26

Do As Jesus Did

2011-03-29T20:30:00.003-05:00

"Jesus lived in a cruel, unthinking world, and his life and death formed an eloquent protest against it. He offered an alternative: not an outward life of revolution and reform but an inner life of humility and love. . . we live in a cruel world, too. . . that is why his biography, in our terrifying twenty-first century, is so important. We must study it and learn." ~Paul Johnson

I am only twenty pages into this biography of Jesus by modern historian Paul Johnson but I am loving it already! My barren, hungry heart is soaking up His goodness, soaking in the total wonder, the absolute astonishment again of his life on this earth. Just listen to the clean beauty of Johnson's prose from the Introduction:

"The problem with writing the life of Jesus the man is not so much the paucity of sources as their abundance, and the difficulty in reaching behind the written text to the full meaning of sayings and episodes which need to be explained afresh to each generation. There is the further problem of presenting to readers, two millennia later, the personality of a man so extraordinary and protean, passionate yet deliberative, straight-forward and subtle, full of authority and even, at times, stern, yet also infinitely kind, understanding, forgiving and loving, so dazzling in his excellences that those close to him had no hesitation in accepting his divinity" (page 5).

I confess to being one of those people who has no hesitation whatsoever with reading the beginning and then the ending of a book and am still quite capable of feasting on the middle with undiminished joy. Therefore, you are about to be treated to the ending of the book along with me.

"Amid all this teeming humanity is the gregarious, friendly figure of Jesus: always there, teaching, listening, sometimes just chatting at a well or when dining or supping with people of all kinds. Occasionally he was stern. Once or twice he showed righteous anger. But he was usually soft-spoken and genial; images from the fields and groves, or from animal life, were always on his lips. He was a fascinating, irresistible figure, radiating love, benevolent, forgiving, talking always of mercy, smiling often. He was a serious man nonetheless, one who spoke with authority; a man to respect, obey, follow; a man who seemed to, perhaps occasionally really did, emanate light -- one of his favorite words -- and dispel the dark side of life. He was clearly a man who, despite his meekness, challenged official authority, especially that of those who dealt in spiritual matters. So they had him watched. Always, at his elbow, were agents, spies, informers, and provokers, committing his words to memory so that they could be twisted when used in court. He was a man rarely alone. But when he was solitary, he prayed, kneeling. He prayed often, even on the cross: 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.'

Jesus lived in a cruel, unthinking world, and his life and death formed an eloquent protest against it. He offered an alternative; not an outward life of revolution and reform but an inner life of humility and love, of generosity and mercy, of forgiveness and hope. We live in a cruel world, too, one just as unthinking, though teeming with knowledge, universities, communications, expertise. So Jesus's alternative is still relevant: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." If Jesus were to appear again today, we can be sure not only that he would find countless followers but equally that he would be persecuted and killed. The Christianity he bequeathed has not been tried and failed. As G.K. Chesterton once wrote, it has been found difficult and left untried. But it remains at our disposal. Its message, at its simplest, is: do as Jesus did. That is why his biography, in our terrifying twenty-first century, is so important. We must study it, and learn."

Photo Commentary

2011-03-29T16:07:00.005-05:00

Trampling the Constitution

SUMMAR LIBRARY BLOG: Classical Education

2011-03-25T21:40:00.001-05:00

SUMMAR LIBRARY BLOG: Classical Education: "The books housed in the display case outside the of library include a 1942 First Edition of T.S. Eliot's The Classics and The Man of Lette..."

Tender Mercy

2011-03-25T15:42:00.002-05:00

In response to the gracious invitation and hospitality of a new friend that I am just beginning to know, I traveled to the intersection of Franklin Road and Moores Lane and pulled into the Camden Commons right in front of MacK & Kate's promptly at 11:00 am. As if Spring was having a temperamental moment after all, the day had turned off cold and was drizzling rain.

My friend and I were lunching together to enjoy the fellowship of swapping stories and to nurture the germinating seeds of friendship. Being unfamiliar with MacK & Kate's, I slung my camera over my shoulder as I often do in gleeful anticipation of the adventure of experiencing a new place for the first time. As one always seeking to capture what I see in digital format, always seeking to give expression to the way things fit together and make sense in this world, I was not disappointed. The ambiance of the cafe was crisp, upbeat, uncluttered. White cotton tablecloths hinted at the formality of a fully dressed table but the rich warm woods of farmhouse tables intimated an unlikely romance between the blending of the historic and the modern.

The food was delicious and impeccably served with thoughtful attentiveness. My friend and I shared a generous spinach salad graced with strawberries, mandarin oranges and pecans drizzled with balsamic vinegar and Lobster Mac, a warm and satisfying buffer to the chill of the day. There were several appealing dishes on the menu but afterwards, we felt as if we had chosen well. Fresh warm cobbler topped the meal off with the relaxed comfort of a familiar farm kitchen.

Mostly the meal served as the perfect setting around which good, inspiring conversation could and did take place, a place of hope and encouragement that accompanies the joy of a new friendship. Sandwiched in like it was in the midst of a "working" Spring break, I consider the whole affair to be one of those tender mercies that are new and fresh every single morning.

The Oxygen of Grace

2011-03-24T15:59:00.005-05:00

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning." Psalm 130:6

This week we have expectantly, joyfully thrown open the doors and windows of the house and welcomed springtime into our lives once again. Vernal Equinox. The streaming sunlight. The fresh scent of growing grass. Flowers stirring, awakening. The long winter rest of dormancy being pushed aside as the ground yields up its hidden life. O, blessed refreshment, blessed renewal, don't pass me by! This past season of long obedience in the same direction has wearied me to the bone.

Inevitably, Spring means the upstart of my sons' business, Swift's Lawn Service. This week they have dutifully hitched the heavy spiked aerator to the four wheeler and loaded it on the trailer, morning after morning. The benefit of running the aerator over a lawn lies in poking holes into the ground that allow oxygen to reach the roots to improve the health of the grass.

O, oxygen, vitality, take root in my heart and spring forth with the tender newness of life! My soul yearns for nourishment of the fresh air of grace.

Egypt: How Obama Blew It

2011-02-28T11:30:00.005-06:00

Whoever comes out on top, Obama loses.

"America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles—principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings." ~Barack Obama, June 2009 in Cairo

Really? I don't think so. Apparently, neither does Newsweek columnist Niall Ferguson who penned the following quote in his article Wanted: A Grand Strategy for America:

"Those lines will come back to haunt Obama if, as cannot be ruled out, the ultimate beneficiary of his bungling in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood, which remains by far the best organized opposition force in the country—and wholly committed to the restoration of the caliphate and the strict application of Sharia. Would such an outcome advance “tolerance and the dignity of all human beings” in Egypt? Somehow, I don’t think so."

Grace: Sovereign Mercy

2011-02-28T08:46:00.001-06:00

The heavy gray clouds passing by the picture window in my kitchen alcove since early this morning have appeared ominous, pregnant with rain and threatening to deliver the torrential load at any moment. Finally, the moment of relief has arrived. The rain is now pelting furiously against the panes of glass. The spectacle of it with the hungry ground gulping in the water has reminded me of a recent devotional in Spurgeon's Morning by Morning.

"Here is sovereign mercy - "I will send down the showers in their season" (Ezekial 34:26). Is it not sovereign, divine mercy? For who can say, "I will send down showers" except God? There is only one voice that can speak to the clouds and bid them send the rain. "Who sends down the rain upon the earth? Who scatters the showers upon the green herb? Do not I, the Lord?" So grace is the gift of God and is not to be created by man.

It is also needed grace. What would the ground do without showers? You may break the clods, you may sow your seeds, but what can you do without the rain? Just as absolutely needful is the divine blessing; you work in vain until God bestows the shower and sends salvation down.

Then, it is plenteous grace. "I will send down the showers." It does not say, "I will send down drops," but "showers." So it is with grace. If God gives a blessing, He usually gives it in such measure that there is not room enough to receive it. Plenteous grace! We need plenteous grace to keep us humble, to make us prayerful, to make us holy; plenteous grace to make us zealous, to preserve us through this life, and at last to land us in heaven. We cannot do without saturating showers of grace.

Again, it is seasonable grace. "I will cause the shower to come down in their season." What is your season this morning? Is it the season of draught? Then that is the season for showers. Is is a season of great heaviness and black clouds? Then that is the season for showers. "As your days, so shall your strength be."

And here is a varied blessing. "I will give you showers of blessing." The word is in the plural. All kinds of blessings God will send. All God's blessings go together, like links in a golden chain. If He give converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send "showers of blessing."

Look up today, O parched plant, and open your leaves and flowers for a heavenly watering."

Contentment in Adversity

2011-02-26T14:43:00.003-06:00

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." ~Phil 4:12

The Apostle Paul had such a passionate, steady love for the Lord and single-eyed devotion to Him that it rendered him wholly independent of all that was happening, or that might happen to him. In everything, in all things, wherever he might be, whatever was happening to him or around him, Paul had learned the secret of being content. Abased or abounding, in need or abundance, it simply did not matter, he had this rich, constant, satisfying, hidden life with Christ.

Paul's statement that he "learned the secret of being content in any and every situation" implies that this is not a natural state and begs the question: how did he come to learn contentment?

First, Paul learned contentment through sheer experience of God's dealings with him. He did not like the thorn in his flesh. He struggled against it. He prayed three times for it to be removed from him. But of course, it was not. And through that experience he learned that God's grace was sufficient for him. Additionally, there were other life experiences, things like shipwrecks, beatings, betrayal of friends, imprisonment, etc. that would yield benefits to him in the school of experiencing God's sufficient grace.

Secondly, Paul learned contentment through the renewing of his mind and the preaching of the gospel to himself. His logical argument may have sounded something like the following:

Conditions and circumstances are ever-changing and I have no control over them. Therefore, I must not be dependent upon life's conditions.
The most important and vital thing is the condition of my soul and my relationship to God. Therefore, I must keep and guard this as my first priority from which all else will flow.
God has demonstrated His faithful love to me and is concerned about me as my Father. Therefore, because He is trustworthy, I can trust that nothing happens to me apart from God.
God's will and His ways are a great mystery but I trust that He is fiercely good. Therefore, whatever He wills or permits is of necessity for my good.
Every situation in life is the unfolding of some manifestation of God's abundant love and goodness. Therefore, it is my responsibility to discern the particular manifestation of God's grace to me in a particular circumstance.
I must consider my circumstances and conditions, not in and of themselves, but as a part of God's gracious dealings with me in the work of perfecting my soul and conforming me into the image of Christ. Therefore, I must trust Him completely.
Whatever my conditions may be at this present moment in linear time, they are only temporary. Therefore, they cannot rob me of the joy and the glory that awaits me with Christ.

Principally speaking, what Paul had learned was to find his pleasure, his satisfaction, his identity in Christ and always in Christ. He had learned the value of trusting in Him and the beauty of abandonment to Him. By becoming dependent on Christ he became independent of everything else!

The disciplines that helped Paul learn the lesson of contentment will also help us to learn contentment in our circumstances. We learn it by looking at the great and perfect example of Christ Jesus himself. "Looking unto Jesus. . .who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:1-4)". Paul not only looked unto Jesus but he saw Him for what He is and then he applied what he saw to his own life.

We are transformed when we behold Christ and lay hold of Him and His promises for our lives. "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord (Christ), are being transformed into the same image from one degree to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Value of Story

2011-02-23T16:08:00.005-06:00

"The King's Speech" is topping the lead to win the Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards Sunday night. As a lover of well-told stories, I found this film delightful with much to love about it. So naturally, I have followed with interest the controversy from the film critics over how much of the historical drama in the movie is actually historically sound. What's the True History Behind 'The King's Speech'? provides a fascinating look at fact vs. fiction for each historical character that includes a video clip of King George VI's actual recorded speech and reveals where Hollywood took creative license for the sake of the story.

From there I briefed an opinion editorial from both sides of the argument. A compelling argument was made by Peter Brown why 'The King's Speech' shouldn't win the Oscar for Best Picture, primarily because it leaves the false impression that King George VI was the historical figure who rallied the British people during their darkest hours of World War II. He wasn't, of course. That man was Winston Churchill whose own story is wonderfully inspiring in itself.

On the other hand, Richard Rushfield argues why 'The King's Speech' should win along the line of the Academy of Motion Pictures role to honor the best of their business. He contends that "the painful road he (King George VI) must go down to overcome his stutter, his very private humiliation, is as subtle and sensitive a portrayal of the old "Ask not what your country can do for you. . ." theme as has ever been put on film."

While I totally agree with Mr. Rushfield's assessment that the film is a "quiet, intimate, beautifully told story of a man forced by circumstance to overcome private torment to serve a public cause," I have this rather rascally penchant for rabbit trails. I was intrigued with Lionel Logue, the failed Australian actor and non-credentialed speech therapist whose experience working with shell-shocked war veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder equipped and prepared him to be of help and service to the king, though the king's advisors attempted to discredit him. Their unlikely friendship is chronicled in some recently discovered letters from the king's wife, Elizabeth to Logue.

Do I think 'The King's Speech' is worthy of the Oscar for Best Picture? Most assuredly so.

The movie is spectacularly enjoyable and entertaining with a noble theme and a great story which is, after all, the purpose of film. If accurate history is what I want, then I should be researching primary sources and following the footnote trails. An exercise, by the way, that I find equally enjoyable and entertaining. What's up, Doc?

A Challenge to the Christian Home

2011-02-23T10:07:00.002-06:00

FORMING THE LEADER

"The Christian home has its influence also upon the state. It forms the citizen, lays the foundation for civil and political character, prepares the social element and taste, and determines our national prosperity or adversity. We owe to the family, therefore, what we are as a nation as well as individuals. We trace this influence in the pulpit, on the rostrum, in the press, in our civil and political institutions. It is written upon the scroll of our national glory.

"The most illustrious statesmen, the most distinguished warriors, the most eloquent ministers, and the greatest benefactors of human kind, owe their greatness to the fostering influence of home. Napoleon knew and felt this when he said, 'What France wants is good mothers, and you may be sure then that France will have good sons.'The homes of the American Revolution made the men of the revolution. Their influence reaches yet far into the inmost frame and constitution of our glorious republic. It controls the fountains of her power, forms the character of her citizens and statesmen, and shapes our destiny as a people."
Slater, Rosalie J. ; Hall, Verna M.: Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History. American Revolution Bicentennial ed. San Francisco: Foundation for American
Christian Education, 1975, p. 11.

Can Righteousness be Done in a Land of Forgetfulness?

2011-02-19T22:03:00.003-06:00

"The greatest advances in human civilization have come when we recovered what we had lost: when we learned the lessons of history." ~Winston Churchill

A decade ago, the following call to remembrance of long-forgotten facts of history issued forth eloquently from the pen of pastor and historian George Grant in the wake of one of the most brutal, violent terrorist attacks ever to take place on American soil, referred to now as simply 9/11.

These words were lifted and reprinted below from a book Dr. Grant wrote entitled The Blood of the Moon: Understanding the Historic Struggle Between Islam and Western Civilization. Its purpose at the time of its writing? To help provoke a stunned and startled nation into a new attitude of responsibility that might help us to avoid the disaster that always awaits the oblivious.

A full ten years later, the world and the West are still grappling with different manifestations of the same issues outlined in this book. On the homefront, our nation faces a crisis of a different sort, a constitutional crisis, but its roots are similarly entangled and woven deeply down into the soil of cultural oblivion, the state of being unaware or unconcerned about what is happening around us.

Arthur Quiller-Couch once stated:

"You are the heirs of a remarkable legacy--a legacy that has passed into your hands after no little tumult and travail; a legacy that is the happy result of sacrificial human relations, no less than of stupendous human achievements; a legacy that demands of you a lifetime of vigilance and diligence so that you may in turn pass the fruits of Christian civilization on to succeeding generations. This is the essence of the biblical view, the covenantal view, and the classical view of education. This is the great legacy of truth which you are now the chief beneficiaries."

The responsibility for vigilance and diligence to pass the fruits of Christian civilization on to succeeding generations rests not on the nation but squarely on the shoulders of the Christian church. Can righteousness be done in a land of forgetfulness?

Not surprisingly, the question the nation faced in 2001 is likewise being asked today in relation to our national constitutional crisis as it appears that our republic, formed on the basis of solid Biblical principles, is unraveling at the seams in the face of gross historical ignorance: where can we turn for answers?

Dr. Grant's counsel is as relevant today as it was ten years ago. "Perhaps the best place to start looking for answers is not tomorrow's newspaper, but yesterday's history books," he stated, "It may well be that insights into a whole host of the plaguing dilemmas of both the present and foreseeable future may be discerned best as we carefully study the events of the past."

Since God's people are charged with the duty to remember God's providential hand in history, it seems fitting that the church would thus faithfully labor to undertake the task of re-educating her people in the long-forgotten and often obscured history of the founding era of our nation. Of the historical circumstances surrounding the origination of the covenant lawsuit sequence that produced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, still currently the law of the land. Of the formation of the governmental structure of the republic. Of the biblical principles that gave rise to the great experiment in gospel liberty.

If understanding the past is the key to understanding the future and if remembrance and forgetfulness are the measuring rods of faithfulness, then the church has a sacred duty, a serious responsibility before God to educate and equip her people with a thoroughly Biblical worldview in these areas toward the end of covenantal succession.

The following is an excerpt from Dr. Grant's book, The Blood of the Moon.

"History is bunk." When Henry Ford said that, he was not only stating an opinion about his least favorite subject in school; he was expressing an American state of mind. We are not particularly fond of the musty, dusty past. and whatever fascinations we may continue to harbor, we relegate to the realms of sentiment or nostalgia. As William Shakespeare memorably asserted, we tend to believe that the record of events long past is as relevant to our lives as "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Or as Guy de Maupassant said, we are prone to think of history as little more than a "dust heap."

The renowned historian Daniel Boorstin has pointed out:

"In our schools today, the story of our nation has been replaced by social studies - which is the study of what ails us now. In our churches, the effort to see the essential nature of man has been displaced by the social gospel -- which is the polemic against the pet vices of today. Our book publishers no longer seek the timeless and the durable, but spend most of their efforts in a fruitless search for la mode social commentary--which they pray will not be out of age when the item goes to press. Our merchandisers frantically devise their New Year models, which will cease to be voguish when their sequels appear three months hence. Neither our classroom lessons nor our sermons nor our books nor the things we live with nor the houses we live in are any longer strong ties to our past."

The result, according to Boorstin, is that "we have a nation of short-term doomsayers. In a word, we have lost our sense of history. Without the materials of historical comparison, we are left with nothing but abstractions."

It seems that in our mad rush toward progress and prosperity, we have become afflicted with a malignant contemporaneity. We don't really have time or patience to ponder the lessons of our legacy. We are too busy with the present to bother much with the past. As a result of this morbid preoccupation with ourselves, and its resulting historical ambivalence, if not ignorance, we have virtually locked ourselves into a recalcitrant present.

Thus, the English author and lecturer John H. Y. Briggs has poignantly argued that a historical awareness is essential for the health and well-being of any society; it enables us to know who we are, why we are here, and what we should do. He says, "Just as a loss of memory in an individual is a psychiatric defect calling for medical treatment, so too any community which has no social memory is suffering from an illness."

Lord Acton, the great historian from the previous generation, made the same point, saying, "History must be our deliverer not only from the undue influence of other times, but from the undue influence of our own, from the tyranny of the environment and the pressures of the air we breathe." The venerable aphorism remains as true today as ever: "He who forgets his own history is condemned to repeat it."

The fact is, history is not just the concern of historians and social scientists. It is not the lonely domain of political prognosticators and ivory tower academics. It is the very stuff of life.

In the volatile, headline-grabbing conflict between Islam and the West, for instance, the importance of history ought to be obvious to even the most casual observer. Not only is the region steeped in glorious traditions that reach back to the very dawning of civilization, but more often than not, it is still governed by those ancient ambitions and rivalries. Islamic fundamentalists have seen the application or misapplication of American foreign policy through the lens of the medieval Crusades; Israelis have tenaciously held on to the occupied territories of the West Bank not only because of security concerns but also because of promises made millennia ago to the patriarch Abraham; Iraqis invaded the lands of fellow Muslims in Kuwait, Iran, and Kurdistan to settle grudges that date back to the time of Nebuchadnezzar; Iranians have stirred up revolutionary passions that have lain dormant since the demise of Ali and Hussein late in the seventh century; and Egyptians, recalling the former glory of pharaohs and pyramids, have issued calls for a revitalized military and a pan-Arab revival of their former empire.

The conflict between the cultures of the largely Islamic East and the largely Christian West is, of course, terribly complex. It involves questions of geopolitical security, economic development, market globalization, national sovereignty, racial rancor, religious contention, imperial ambition, and military prowess. But central to each of these questions is the primordial importance of history. Even the question of prophetic fulfillment revolves around various and sundry historical concerns. After all, the prophetic passages of the Bible are inextricably linked to the peoples, issues, and events of those ancient times when they were first recorded under the superintendence of our sovereign God. Prophecy is, in fact, history foretold-utilizing the same structure, language, and facility of history retold.

In addition, biblical prophecy is almost always fulfilled in three different ways across the span of time. There will be an initial fulfillment. There will be an ongoing fulfillment. And there will be an ultimate fulfillment. Therefore, understanding how prophecy has been fulfilled before is the most important key to understanding how prophecy will be fulfilled yet.

There can be little doubt, then, that understanding the past is the key to understanding the future. Especially when it comes to the conflict between Islam and the West, to ignore history is to invite disaster.

The Bible heavily emphasizes historical awareness--not at all surprising considering that the vast proportion of its own contents records the dealings of God with men and nations throughout the ages. Again and again in the Scriptures, God calls on His people to remember. He calls on us to remember the bondage, oppression, and deliverance of Egypt (Ex. 13:3; Deut.6:20-23). He calls on us to remember the splendor, strength, and devotion of the Davidic kingdom (I Chron. 16:8-36). He calls on us to remember the valor, forthrightness, and holiness of the prophets (James 5:7-11). He calls on us to remember the glories of creation (Ps. 104:1-30), the devastation of the Flood (2 Peter 2:4-11), the judgment of the great apostasies (Jude 5-11), the miraculous events of the Exodus (Deut. 5:15), the anguish of the desert wanderings (Deut.8:1-6), the grief of the Bablyonian exile (Ps.137:1-6), the responsibility of the restoration (Ezra 9:5-15), the sanctity of the Lord's Day (Ex. 20:8), the graciousness of the commandments (Num. 15:39-40), and the ultimate victory of the Cross (I Cor. 11:23-26). He calls on us to remember the lives and witnesses of all those who have gone before us in faith--forefathers, fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, ascetics, and every righteous spirit made pure in Christ (I Cor. 10:1-11; Heb. 11:3-40).

God calls on us to remember. As the psalmist has said,

"I shall remember the deeds of the LORD;
surely I will remember Thy wonders of old.
I will mediatate on all Thy work,
And muse on Thy deeds,
Thy way, O God, is holy;
What god is great like our God?
Thou are the God who workest wonders;
Thou hast made known Thy strength among the peoples.
Thou has by Thy power redeemed Thy people,
The sons of Jacob and Joseph. (Ps. 77:11-15)

Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples.
Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;
Speak of all His wonders.
Glory in His holy name;
Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad.
Seek the LORD and His strength;
Seek His face continually.
Remember His wonders which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth."
~Psalm 105:1-5

When Moses stood before the Israelites at the end of his long life, he did not exhort them with polemics or moralisms. He reminded them of the works of God in history. He reminded them of their duty to remember (Deut. 32:1-43).

When David stood before his family and friends following a great deliverance from his enemies, he did not challenge them with logic or rhetoric. He simply reminded them of the works of God in history in a hymn of wisdom. He reminded them of their duty to remember (I Kings 8:15-61).

When Solomon stood before his subjects at the dedication of the newly constructed temple, he did not challenge them with logic or rhetoric. He simply reminded them of the works of God in history in a hymn of wisdom. He reminded them of their duty to remember (I Kings 8:15-61).

When Nehemiah stood before the families of Jerusalem at the consecration of the rebuilt city walls, he did not bombard them with theology or theatrics. He reminded them of the works of God in history in a song of the covenant. He reminded them of their duty to remember (Neh. 9:9-38).

When Stephen stood before an accusing and enraged Sanhedrin, he did not confront them with apology or condemnation. He reminded them of the works of God in history in a litany of faith. He reminded them of their duty to remember (Acts 7:2-53).

Remembrance and forgetfulness are the measuring rods of faithfulness throughout the entire canon of Scripture. A family that passes its legacy on to its children will bear great fruit (Deut.8:2-10). A family that fails to take its heritage seriously will remain barren (Deut. 8:11-14). A people that remembers the mighty deeds of the Lord will be blessed (Deut.8:18). A people that forgets is doomed to frustration and failure (Deut. 8:19-20). In fact, the whole direction of a culture depends on the gracious appointments of memory:

Will Thy wonders be made known in the darkness?
And Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
(Psalm 88:12)

That is why the Bible makes it plain that there are only two kinds of people in the world: effectual doers and forgetful hearers (James 1:25). And that is why the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers is primarily to bring to our remembrance the word of truth (John 14:26).

Philip Schaff, the prolific church historian during the previous generation, argued stridently that we must be eternally vigilant in the task of handing on our great legacy--to remember and then to inculcate that remembrance in the hearts and minds of our children:

How shall we labor with any effect to build up the church, if we have no thorough knowledge of its history, or fail to apprehend it from the proper point of observation? History is, and must ever continue to be, next to God's Word, the richest foundation of wisdom, and the surest guide to all successful practical activity.

If we are to negotiate the dangerous shoals of Middle Eastern diplomacy with any degree of success, we cannot simply match our adversaries, army for army and missile for missile. We cannot responsibly hope to bring resolve to eons-old conflicts if we do not comprehend their roots. David R. Carlin said,

The best way to develop an attitude of responsibility toward the future is to cultivate a sense of responsibility toward the past. We are born into a world that we didn't make, and it is only fair that we should be grateful to those who did make it. Such gratitude carries with it the imperative that we preserve and at least slightly improve the world that has been given us before passing it on to subsequent generations. We stand in the midst of many generations. If we are indifferent to those who went before us and actually existed, how can we expect to be concerned for the well-being of those who come after us and only potentially exist?

Egypt: A Contrarian View by Stephen Mansfield

2011-02-18T06:45:00.004-06:00

Democracy has become the American religion. There is little doubt about it. We take the lesson from our founding that a popular colonial uprising overthrew an unjust king and the most powerful nation on earth arose as a result. This leads us to believe that popular uprisings in pursuit of freedom are always to be preferred in other nations and that it is the calling of America to encourage these democratic revolts. George W. Bush often made this case and did not shrink from making the meaning of America synonymous with the spread of democracy in the world.

Our founding fathers would have disagreed. They feared democracy as the tyranny of majority rule, the domination of 50% plus 1 over the minority. Instead, they hoped for a republic in which those gifted to lead are entrusted by the people to decide affairs of state in a manner that the people themselves never could. In short, our founders were deeply suspicious of democracy. John Adams wrote, “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” Thomas Jefferson would have agreed: “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%.” And John Marshall captured the consensus of the founding generation when he wrote, “Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.”

It is an important point to make as we consider Egypt. We are all touched by a people yearning for greater freedom and willing to risk their lives and sacred honor to reshape their nation. It is particularly moving to see this occur in Egypt where the median age is 24 years old and young men hungering for economic opportunity and protection from tyranny and corruption lead the uprising. All of us surely hope that a new and nobler nation is being born.

Still, our government’s rush to support the Egyptian uprising despite warning from our allies in the region may, ironically, serve the cause of both freedom and American interests poorly in the days to come. Hosni Mubarak, for all of his flaws, was pro-American, willing to be governed by a peace treaty in his dealings with Israel and a restraining force against radical Islam. His government was also corrupt and inept and needed to go, but this might have been handled by Washington with less adolescent zeal for change of any kind and more statesmanlike prudence in managing the needed transition. What has resulted is confirmation of the principle that rapid social change is destabilizing social change. Already the Egyptian military, in which the Western nations have placed their trust for the future of the country, has suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament.

Waiting in the wings, of course, is the Muslim Brotherhood. Though the U.S. director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told the House Intelligence Committee recently that the Muslim Brotherhood is both “secular” and “nonviolent,” the Brotherhood itself shouts the cause of a thoroughly Islamic Egypt. Its slogan is simple: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. The Brotherhood’s second in command, Rashad al-Bayumu, recently told Japanese television that if the movement comes to power it will suspend Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. The Brotherhood’s first in command recently told the leading Egyptian newspaper that it would make an Islamic and not a Western style democracy its goal.

This would mean a government exactly the reverse of Mubarak’s pro-American, moderate on Israel, firm against radical Islam reign. It would also be horrible news for Egypt’s Christians. Already they have watched as Christians in supposedly democratic Iraq have been persecuted, murdered and driven abroad. Before the invasion, 1.4 million Christians lived in Iraq. Now, half have fled, the rest are endangered. Late last year, gunmen took 100 Christians hostage of Our Land of Perpetual Help church in Baghdad and slaughtered more than 40 of them. One convent in the north has been attacked 20 times since the start of the war, and as recently as last spring, according to USA Today, it was down to four nuns last year out of an original a55. Last year was undoubtedly the deadliest year ever for Iraq’s Christians. And so it goes in the democracy that U.S. warriors bled to build.

Then consider this: According to a Pew Forum survey last year, 84 percent of Egypt’s Muslims support executing apostates. This means Christians, among others. It is the democratic will in Egypt. Vox populi, vox dei. The voice of the people is the voice of God.

It does not take a perpetual pessimist or a rightwing lover of dictatorships the world over to conclude that soon we may be facing an Egypt that is anti-American, anti-Christian, immersed in radical Islam and a dire threat to Israel. May it not be so, but we might well have expected better of our nation’s foreign policy architects: that they rise above the populist zeal of the moment and consider the long range good. This is what it means to be statesmen rather than zealots, realists rather than misty-eyed populists. It is also what it means to live in the wisdom we have received from our founder’s generation.

~Stephen Mansfield

Stephen is the founder of the Mansfield Group, a firm that creates and manages literary projects. For more information, log onto MansfieldGroup.com.

The Truth About Me

2011-02-17T17:54:00.003-06:00

"Brother, if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are worse than he thinks you to be. If he charges you falsely on some point, yet be satisfied, for if he knew you better he might change the accusation, and you would be no gainer by the correction. If you have your moral portrait painted, and it is ugly, be satisfied; for it only needs a few blacker touches, and it would be still nearer the truth." ~Charles Spurgeon

Fountain of Life: The Fullness of Christ

2011-02-13T13:09:00.003-06:00

"And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John 1:16-17

Scripture teaches that it is through "beholding the glory of God" (Christ) that we are changed and so, in the midst of the daily activity and responsibilities of life it is good to meditate upon the finished work of the cross thereby continually preaching the gospel to ourselves.

Christ is that ever-flowing, inexhaustible fountain of Life, that infinite, unchanging source of grace and truth chosen from before the foundation of the earth to lay aside his deity to be sent into the world by the Father to redeem a people unto Himself.

What is this "fullness of Christ" that John tells us we have all received?

1) The Fullness of His Deity: Christ is both fully God and fully man, a full representation of the Father's image and His agent in creating and upholding all things. Christ's high and holy priesthood declares the full deity and unique dignity of the Son of God.

"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority." Colossians 2:9

2) The Fullness of Atoning Efficacy in His Blood: As the sacrificial Lamb of God, the shedding of Christ's blood on the Cross paid the full penalty of our sin, cleansing us of it, and thereby making way for peace with our holy God.

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." I John 1:7

3) The Fullness of Justifying Righteousness: The redeemed have experienced an exchange almost too good to be true. Christ took our unrighteousness upon himself and exchanged it for his own righteousness, a righteousness wholly alien to man.

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

4) The Fullness of Divine Prevalence in His Plea: His intercession for us is effective.

"Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25

5) The Fullness of Victory in His Death: Through His death He destroyed him that had the power of death, the devil.

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil." Hebrews 2:14

6) The Fullness of the Efficacy in His Resurrection from the Dead:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." I Peter 1:3-5

7) The Fullness of Triumph in His Ascension:

"Therefore it says, 'When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." Ephesians 4:8

8) The Fullness of Blessings of Every Sort and Shape

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." Ephesians 1:3

9) The Fullness of Grace to pardon, Grace to regenerate, Grace to sanctify, Grace to preserve, and Grace to perfect

"And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." I John 1:16

10) Fullness at all Times: Emmanuel, God With Us. His comfort in affliction, His guidance in prosperity.

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us). Matthew 1: 23

11) The Fullness of Every Divine Attribute: Wisdom, power, love.

"For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross." Colossians 1:19

In light of this overwhelming evidence of God's great love toward us, what trial, temptation, sin, circumstance, disappointment, heartbreak, loss, failure, or storm can hold sway over our emotions or the affection of our hearts?

Nay, let us behold the glory of God in Christ and fervently preach the gospel to ourselves until our minds are renewed in the truth of God's loving care for His own and of the realization that no matter what is happening in our lives at present, underneath are the Everlasting arms. Then will our hearts respond in worship of so great a God, the everlasting fountain of Life, and say, "All is well with my soul."

Winter Comfort: Potato Soup

2011-02-09T11:50:00.001-06:00

Creamy, rich, warm, and wonderful, this potato soup served with buttery garlic bread and a fresh garden salad will welcome the Swift clan to gather around the table this evening.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
18 scallions (white and light green parts), sliced
1 1/2 pounds new potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
kosher salt and black pepper

Directions

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the scallions and cook for 1 minute.
Add the potatoes, wine, cream, broth, 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Ladle the soup into individual bowls and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Principled Leadership

2011-02-06T22:04:00.001-06:00

The following seven points about principled leadership are as relevant today as they were when I first wrote them down a few years back. One of the value of keeping old notebooks is that of constantly reminding oneself of the truth of the journey.

1. Leaders are always controversial.

2. To affirm one thing is to deny another.

3. Accept the nature of the struggle. It’s hard.

4. If we have to fight, fight fairly.

5. Admit the mystery and complexity of the world.

6. Run toward the roar.

7. Leadership is an inherently dangerous affair.

Pragmatism at its roots is a lie. To do whatever works will cause you to compromise your principles along the way.

Making Peace with Proximate Justice

2011-02-04T11:26:00.003-06:00

"Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God? Please, grow up. That's for the young and idealistic."

A few years ago a pastor in the city asked if I would meet

someone in his congregation whose work was in the world of

national security. A senior official with complex responsibilities,

he knew that his deepening faith required him to “think Christianly” about his life and labour, but he did not know where to begin. What

could he read? With whom could he talk? As he put it,

“Day by day I have unimaginable evil coming across

my desk. What am I supposed to do? How do I respond

in light of my faith? I cannot do nothing—but what am

I to do?”

And so we began to think together. I arranged a

conversation with a handful of friends from across the

city whose theological instincts I trusted, but whose

own work ranged from the U.S. Congress to a Cabinet

office to the State Department to a think tank: all people

who with fear and trembling have given themselves to

working out the meaning of their salvation in the world

of politics.

We began with Augustine, and made our way

through the centuries, eventually coming to the

contemporary political philosophers Hannah Arendt

and Jean Bethke Elshtain, intriguingly both scholars

of Augustine’s political vision, 1500 years later. As we

got up to leave after several hours, the friend whose

questions had brought the meeting into being said,

“Thank you for taking my vocation seriously. That has

never happened before.”

The stark simplicity of his statement stuck with me. How

is it possible to find our way into great work, even great

work in the realm of politics, without the collegiality

of kindred spirits who will pray with us, think with us,

work with us, as we give heart and mind to living the vision of the coming of the Kingdom?

There is not a week in my life when I do not

think about the tensions of the now-but-not-yet

nature of the Kingdom, where Jesus has made

all things new, and yet where we still do not

see that reality completely incarnate in history.

I have to make peace with proximate justice,

even as I ache for hope and history to finally

and fully rhyme.

Something is better

than nothing

For many years, I taught in the American Studies

Program on Capitol Hill, an interdisciplinary

semester of study focused on nurturing in

undergraduates the vision and virtues required

to take up vocations in the public square.

Formed by a deeply wrought understanding of

Christian responsibility, the curriculum centred

upon an exploration of the themes of truth,

justice, shalom, and hope, set amidst concrete,

contemporary policy debates ranging from

welfare reform to Middle East politics.

If one issue perennially reared its head among

the students it was this: I used to believe that

doing justice was possible. In fact, that brought

me to Washington. But now I see that hope is

naïve: it just isn’t going to happen. It was as if

we were always living and learning within the

tension created by the Machiavellian temptation,

which lurks for anyone who dares to care about

the polis, viz. “Please grow up, will you? Do

justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God?

That’s for the young and the idealistic. If you are

going to make it here in the city, you will have

to leave that innocence behind.”

And so, semester-by-semester

I would reflect on the hard-won

and, perhaps, even,

hard-bitten wisdom of Lord

Bismarck: If you want to

respect sausage and law,

then don’t watch either being

made. There is a truthfulness

about the aphorism that

is more than just realpolitik. Bismarck offers

a window into the reality of political life in a

fallen world, even though his story is not the

whole story.

I know of no one who has honestly tried to

be politically faithful—in the general vocation

of God’s people to be the salt and light of the

Kingdom in every sphere of human concern

nor in the more specific occupation of politics,

whether as elected official or in some other

manifestation of public service—who has not

navigated through the shoals of the conflicting

calls of the city of God and the city of man. The

calling implicit to that quest requires that we

ponder the sausage-making with our eyes wide

open, and still choose to act with a responsibility

marked by love. I do not know of any challenge

that is more difficult than to really know the

world, and still choose to love it.

It is one thing to come to a capital city like

Washington with great hopes of change. If I

work hard, then it will be different—at least

in a year or two or, at the most, maybe five.

But putting one’s shoulders to the wheel of

history more often than not produces a bruise

to one’s spirit, not the advent of the Kingdom

in all its fullness.

Augustine understood this a long time ago.

Wrestling with the ruination of the Roman

Empire—what we now know as its decline

and fall—he searched Scripture for a way of

understanding his own moment. How do the

people of God remain faithful to the vision of the

Kingdom, when evil and injustice seem to rule,

when there is more heartache than happiness

in being citizens set in time and space, in finite,

fallen cities and states?

The now-but-not-yet of the

Kingdom was his bread-and-

butter and, therefore,

he gave us proximate justice

as a way of finding our way

amidst the ruins of political

economies anywhere and

everywhere.

Proximate justice realizes that something

is better than nothing. It allows us to make

peace with some justice, some mercy, all the

while realizing that it will only be in the new

heaven and new earth that we find all our

longings finally fulfilled, that we will see all

of God’s demands finally met. It is only then

and there we will see all of the conditions for

human flourishing finally in place, socially,

economically, and politically.

Living between times

When we pray, “Your Kingdom come, your

will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we

are yearning for the way things ought to be, and

someday will be—even as we give ourselves

to what can be in a world where evil persists,

sometimes very malignantly. If we think that

the Lordship of Christ over every square inch

of the whole of reality means that we can settle

for nothing less than explicit recognition of that

claim and its reality in public life, then we will

never be able to sustain the vocations that are

required for meaningful political witness in the

face of the continuing injustice which comes

from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

A couple of years ago during Advent I offered

a meditation in the White House that I called

“Always Syriana But Never Christmas.” The film

Syriana had been out for several months, and

it seemed to fall into line with other stories of

cinematic cynicism that were recent box-office

hits. I saw them all, and strained against them

each time. On the one hand I do remember

Bismarck and sausage-making—all too well,

given my years in Washington. Like everyone, I

feel the weight and complexity of our globalizing

world, and I am aware of some of its terror and

distress. The love of money and power is the

root of all kinds of evil.

And yet, and yet… I protested the end-of-thestory

“realism.” That if we watch long enough,

then everyone will finally sell out, the last

man will finally be compromised because,

of course, no one has any real integrity, and

truth, justice, and mercy are never really

part of the political equation. Therefore, our

cynicism is justified.

Always Syriana but never Christmas? I was

thinking of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and

the Wardrobe, and the yearning for the White

Witch’s cursed rule, “Always winter, but never

Christmas,” to finally be overruled by the coming

of Aslan into his kingly glory, making all things

new and right. All Narnia longed for that, and

then, one day, winter finally became Christmas.

My desire was to set before the group of White

House staff a vision of vocation that was both

honest and hopeful. The spirit of Syriana is a

perennial temptation, even as the siren call of

Machiavelli’s realpolitik and realeconomik seem

more real than the voice of Israel’s prophet,

Micah of Moresheth. Do justice, love kindness,

walk humbly with God!? Where and when and

how? Isn’t it all a bit naïve, given what we know

about politics in the push-and-shove of the

Washingtons of the world?

I recently read the prophet’s words, wanting to

hear him speak into my heart, into my time and

place. The prophet is also a poet, seeing visions

of God, human nature, and history all entwined

together “during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz,

and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Nation against

nation, the peoples of the earth and the people

of God called to the very high standard of the

character of God himself, and judged in history

for failing to do what God requires of Everyman

and Everywoman, “It is ruined, beyond all

remedy,” Micah laments. But also there is the

clear vision of what will someday be true:

He shall judge between many peoples,

and shall decide for strong nations far away;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore;

but they shall sit every man under his vine and

under his fig tree,

and no one shall make them afraid,

for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

We long for that day. It will surely come. The

hard part is living between times, honestly taking

account of what is in the light of what ought to

be, believing that someday in history it will be

seen and heard, known and experienced, by

every son of Adam and every daughter of Eve,

viz. “Every knee will bow and every tongue

will confess that Jesus is Lord of lords and King

of kings,” and there will be no more tears and

sadness, evil and injustice, disappointment

and grief.

Hope in repairing

the ruins

In the here-and-now, I vote—but always with a

torn heart. I have not yet met a candidate or a

political proposal that embodies all that I dream

for as one whose deepest loyalties are grounded

in the hope of the Kingdom. But I do vote. As

William Imboden wrote in the Public Justice

Report, “It is clear that the precepts and practice

of proximate justice are deficient when judged

by the standards of the City of God, but they

may be superior to no justice at all.” We take up

our responsibility as citizens, realizing that our

best efforts are clay-footed, our best insights are

flawed. And yet it matters for this earth and the

one that it is to come that we work alongside

others to establish what Walker Percy called

“signposts in a strange land” of what is already

real and true and right in the now-but-not-yet of

the Kingdom.

To keep on keeping on in our callings is the

hard thing. Crucial to that ability is a theological

vision shaped by Scripture, one that gives us the

cast of heart and mind to understand the frailties

of our own selves, as well as those of our

societies. And, still, to hope for the reality and

meaning of the way things ought to be in every

area of life, from painting to play to politics, and

on and on and on.

What keeps us going is the possibility of

proximate justice—of something rather than

nothing—knowing ahead of time that it will never

be everything on this side of the consummation.

Francis Schaeffer called this the vision and hope

of substantial healing, arguing that it was the

antidote to the all-or-nothing syndrome that so

afflicts us, whether in the most personal parts

of life, as with marriage, or the most public,

as with political engagement. I really hoped, I

really tried, and it didn’t work—so I’m done. His

words have been a great grace to me for a long

time. A person can touch and feel something

that is substantial; it is real, even if it is not

everything—but it is not nothing, either.

My own reflection over the years has also

persuaded me that in addition to the vision,

those who carry on find teachers who embody

the vision. Words must become flesh for us to

understand them. It is only as we find mentors

who offer us that over-the-shoulder and through-the-

heart learning that we begin to “get it.” And

finally, those who sustain their commitments

time and again embed themselves in

communities of kindred spirits where, in Lesslie

Newbigin’s words, “the congregation becomes

the hermeneutic of the gospel in and for the

world,” keeping our hearts alive to what matters

most. It is one thing to sense a call to political

engagement. It is something else altogether to

develop the habits of heart that can sustain that

call over a lifetime.

When I graduated from college I was given the

award for the senior student most concerned for

political responsibility. It surprised me, and I was

glad—even as I felt the weight of its implication.

Years later, I have never run for office, or even

worked in a political role, but I have cared

about our life together, the polis, passionately.

That commitment has been a thread through all

that I have done vocationally. It still gets me up

in the morning, giving me energy to keep trying

to care for my culture, as well as cultures all

throughout the world. It is the work of repairing

the ruins, the calling to act with responsibility

for history, hoping for the renewal of all things,

even as I know that at my best I am a pilgrim in

the ruins.

Even after a lifetime of bumping up against the

brokenness of life, seeing and hearing the wounds

of both persons and polities, I still believe that the

vision of vocations as salt and light—John Stott

calls them affective commodities, transforming

their environments—sends us into the world

week by week, year after year, with callings to

care about the way things are and ought to be.

Bono echoes this vision in his reflection on his

own vocation: “I’m a musician. I write songs. I

just hope that when the day is done, I’ll have

torn a little corner off of the darkness.”

If that can be true of me, of you, then we will

have made peace with the doing of proximate

justice. And that is not a small thing for people

who yearn for the whole cosmos to be made

right, and who know that someday it will be.

Steven Garber directs

The Washington Institute,

helping young and old

understand the seamless

relationship between

faith, vocation, and

culture. The author of

The Fabric of Faithfulness:

Weaving Together Belief

and Behavior, he lives,

worships, and works

in Virginia.

The Franklin Dialogue "Thinking Through Health Care Reform"

2011-02-04T08:11:00.002-06:00

"Greed, market pressures, government bureaucracy, and intrusion of outside powers have made a mess of our healthcare industry. . . There is a need for the transformation of healthcare. It just doesn't need to be by the Federal government and by adding another layer of bureaocracy and intrusion." ~George Grant

The Fruit of Ungodliness

2011-02-02T10:52:00.003-06:00

"From the time of temptation in the Garden to the present, the great satanic conspiracy has always been first and foremost to offer some sane, attractive, and wholesome counterfeit to the kingdom of God.

We must be clear on this matter: the consummation of evil is not best attained by getting us to drink blood from roiling cauldrons in debauched occult rites. Rather, it is as we are distracted from our providentially ordained callings -- distracted by some interesting and enticing alternative.

Satan hopes to realize his ambition not merely by plunging individuals into bottomless pools of concupiscence but by gaining sway over the deepest affections and highest aspirations of this poor fallen world. He thus masquerades as an "angel of light," and his demonic minions appear as "servants of righteousness" (2 Cor 11:13-15).

As Oswald Chambers has asserted: 'This is his most cunning travesty. . . to counterfeit the Holy Spirit. . . to make men upright and individual -- but seemingly self-governed and with no apparent need of God.'" ~Dr. George Grant, The Blood of the Moon

Gratitude

2011-01-31T23:57:00.001-06:00

Figuring Life Out - One Thousand Gifts (720) from Jacob Forrest on Vimeo.

Dispatch: Regime Change in Egypt and a Radicalizing Region | STRATFOR

2011-01-31T18:35:00.000-06:00

"Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?" Psalm 2:1

Dispatch: Regime Change in Egypt and a Radicalizing Region | STRATFOR

Life Source

2011-01-31T18:05:00.002-06:00

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." ~ Jesus Christ

Teach Me to Hear the Song of the Morning

2011-01-28T12:44:00.003-06:00

"From the rising of the sun to the setting of the same, the name of the Lord is to be praised." Ps 113:3

"The brave who focus on all things good and all things beauty and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light to the all the world."~Ann Voscamp

The American Patriot's Handbook

2011-01-22T14:41:00.001-06:00

Dr. George Grant: The American Patriot's Handbook from King's Meadow on Vimeo.

Harmony

2011-01-15T08:42:00.004-06:00

"Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth." ~Psalm 57:5

"The pursuit of God will embrace the labor of bringing our total personality into conformity to His. And this not judicially, but actually. I do not here refer to the act of justification by faith in Christ. I speak of a voluntary exalting of God to His proper station over us and a willing surrender of our whole being to the place of worshipful submission which the Creator-Creature circumstance makes proper.

The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this determination to exalt God over all, we step out of the world's parade. We shall find ourselves out of adjustment to the ways of the world, and increasingly so as we make progress in the holy way. We shall acquire a new viewpoint; a new and different psychology will be formed within us; a new power will begin to surprise us by its upsurgings and its outgoings. Our break with the world will be the direct outcome of our changed relation to God. For the world of fallen men does not honor God.

'Be thou exalted' is the language of victorious spiritual experience. It is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is central in the life of God in the soul. Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually, "Be thou exalted," and a thousand minor problems will be solved at once. His Christian life ceases to be the complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his course, and on that course he will stay as if guided by an automatic pilot. If blown off course for a moment by some adverse wind, he will surely return again as by a secret bent of the soul. The hidden motions of the Spirit are working in his favor, and "the stars in their courses" fight for him. He has met his life problem at its center, and everything else must follow along." ~A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Antithesis: No Place at the Table

2011-01-13T07:50:00.006-06:00

A Place at the Table by Peter Liethart, Blessed are the Hungry

"Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank." Daniel 1:8

Modest though it is as a political slogan, "We just want a place at the table" has become the guiding principle for much of the Religious Right. Uninspiring rhetoric such as this is, in part, a conscious effort to soothe secularists who are spooked by even the most modest gesture toward public religion; even the simple addition of "In God We Trust" seems to them to pollute coins that bear the American eagle. But the slogan and the attitude it embodies also illustrate the widespread Christian acceptance of liberal political order, an order in which there is only one rule governing access to political power: anyone can have a place at the table as long as he renounces any effort to take over the table. As Stanley Fish has put it, Christian activists and political theorists who agree to play by this rule have become adepts at "playing not to win."

Seeking a place at the table is attractive partly because it seems achievable. When you play not to win, failure is success. But even playing not to win has its own temptations, as the story of Daniel and his friends in Babylon implies. This story provides a model for faithfulness in the midst of unbelief that we do well to examine afresh; it shows us a group of Jews that plays to win, but whose paradoxical tactics look more like refusing to play at all.

As a young man, Daniel found himself in Babylon, the capital city of the greatest world empire of the day. Innate intelligence and handsome appearance won him a coveted spot at the "university" of Babylon where he was trained in all the literature and language of the Chaldeans, in preparation for entering the king's service (Daniel 1:1-5). It was an enviable opportunity for a young foreigner. Nebuchadnezzar, like Eve, saw something pleasing to the eyes which was able to supply wisdom; he picked these choice young men from the vine of Israel. As it turned out, he got more than he knew, for the wisdom that came from this fruit far transcended anything that Babylonian wisdom could provide (see Daniel 2).

Daniel and his friends, though picked by Nebuchadnezzar to be the king's servants, also knew that they remained servants of Yahweh, King of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar was hoping that the four young men would be consumed with his service, and they had to resist the temptation to forget the King in their service to the king. Their battle with Nebuchadnezzar took place on two symbolic fronts. First, Daniel and his friends were all given new names, Bayblonian equivalents for their given Hebrew names. Each of their Hebrew names included a name of God (Daniel 1:6; El means "God", and Iah is a form of "Yahweh"), and their Babylonian names all referred to Babylonian gods. Here, the battle was about their identity: which name manifested who they really were? Would they name themselves by Yahweh or by some idol?

The other area of conflict had to do with food. Quite literally, Daniel had won a place at the table of the most powerful ruler of his time. But Daniel had already determined that he would not defile himself with "the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank" (1:8). It is not clear why the king's food was defiling. There is no hint that the food was unclean according to the standards of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14; nothing is said in the text about unclean fish or birds. Even if the food had been sacrificed to idols, as some have suggested, it would not have been sinful to eat it (see I Cor. 8). Daniel, it seems, did not refuse the king's food because there was anything particularly wrong with the food, but because of the more general symbolism of sharing the table. To eat with someone, to share his food, is to be united and bonded with him. Daniel and his friends would eventually become servants of Nebuchadnezzar, but they wished to make it clear at the outset that their ultimate King and Master was not the Bablyonian emperor, but the Lord of heaven and earth who ruled the eastern land of Bablyon as well as Israel's land toward the sunset. Whatever food they shared with Nebuchadnezzar, they were first of all table companions of another King.

These young men from Judah were surely surrounded by ambitious young Bablyonians, all using their access to the king to increase their access to the king. To such colleagues, it must have seemed that Daniel and his friends wanted to lose, as their odd religious scruples endangered what minimal access they achieved. But Daniel knew what he was doing. Instead of taking the king's food, Daniel, significantly, asked for "seeds" (1:12; not "vegetables," as in many translations). Daniel and his friends formed the cornerstones of a new house of Israel, an Isreal that would endure the Babylonian exile and return to the land. From these "seeds" Israel would spring up anew, and so asking for "seeds" was an appropriate symbol of their moment in history. Eating seeds was, moreover, the corollary of refusing Nebuchadnezzar's food. Daniel and his friends could only be the "seeds" of a new Israel if they held themselves aloof from the king's table. Had they compromised with Nebuchadnezzar, they would have produced thorns and thistles; by devoting themselves to Yahweh, they ensured that Israel, once replanted in her homeland, would flourish with grass producing seed and fruit trees with their seed in them. To all appearances, they were refusing to follow the rules of political advancement, but what looked like "playing to lose" was, in fact, the opposite. Daniel knew that advancement does not come from east or west, but from the Lord of heaven, and it was Daniel, not one of his assertive Babylonian counterparts, who eventually rose to become the third ruler of Bablyon.

Jesus said that we cannot serve two masters, and Paul applied this prinicple to table fellowship when he said that we cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons (1 Cor. 10:21). The mere fact that "tables of demons" exist should make us cautious about adopting an agenda whose goal is to secure a place at the table. However strategic it may seem, acquiring a place at the table of demons never advances God's kingdom, and it is a betrayal of the confession we make when we sit at the Lord's table.

Not every king is demonic, of course, but even if we should enter service to a righteous king, we must always insist that our primary loyalty is to Jesus. And we must always remember that this is a meal memorializing the crucified Jesus, who died as a victim of the combined injustice of Jerusalem and Rome. Christians who feast at this table will know that playing to win sometimes means that we must refuse a place at the table.

Strangers and Sojourners

2011-01-10T07:50:00.006-06:00

"For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding." 1 Chronicles 29:15

These sojourners passed through Franklin at exactly the right time.

Had they arrived on their journey a mere 24 hours later, they would have been greeted by a snowy winter wonderland.

When Words Can't Suffice

2011-01-10T00:32:00.003-06:00

"I'm really trying to understand," strained the voice at the other end of the phone line, "but this really hurts me." Inwardly, I wince at my friend's pain, raw and unbridled spilling out like an overturned coffee cup of burning liquid.

I wonder if I should try again to explain the decisions made, fearing that my words will fall on ears that cannot yet hear, for the noise of raging emotions will drown out any kind of reasonable explanation. Silently I ache for and with her. The disappointment, sharp and prickly is hot, stifling, real. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick," the scriptures teach us for just such a time as this. A hoped for ideal appears to have been shunted. Loyalties seem to have been skewered sideways and flipped upside down altogether. Equilibrium has pitched and rolled until nothing makes sense at all. My words seem totally inadequate. I am silenced by ineptitude. And compassion, which desires not to insult.

And into the gaping abyss echoes treasured words, covenant words, life-shaping words.

I will be your God. You will be my people. I will live among you.

Community life is really hard. It's messy. It rubs us raw in places. It hurts. It intensifies the guerilla warfare that wages inside the human heart on a daily basis; the ongoing battle of our sinful desires joining forces with an alien culture, betraying the life of the Spirit within us at every turn. Challenging God's grace claim on our lives.

My friend and I know we are to maintain and nurture the holy fellowship that is a responsibility of covenant living. In the midst of conflict, confusion, misunderstanding, and outright disagreement, we must persevere. We know, too, that in ourselves we are impotent and fully incapable of the task.

But, into our inability echoes those haunting life-giving words. I will be your God. You will be my people. I will live among you.

Yes, Lord, we acknowledge our desperate need of you. Come, walk among us, and shepherd your people with your rod and your staff.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

2011-01-07T08:21:00.009-06:00

"We are in the predicament of the sorcerer's apprentice; almost anywhere we turn our horrified eyes, we see that the welfare state has a built-in, irresistible tendency to further growth. More and more areas of compulsory aid keep being discovered; more and more population groups are drawn in; the assistance rendered grows more comprehensive and the projects adopted more elaborate. . .The welfare state is the favorite playground of a cheap sort of moralism that only thoughtlessness shields from exposure. But what is equally bad is that to turn back on this path is as difficult as to turn a car on a narrow, steep Alpine road. This is what we realize to our consternation once it is beyond doubt that the road leads to the abyss." ~Wilhelm Ropke

Yesterday, the U.S. Congress heard the words of the United States Constitution, along with the Preamble to the Bill of Rights, read aloud from the floor for the first time since the 18th Century. Maybe, just maybe, this seemingly insignificant step marks the beginning of a nation afflicted with amnesia recovering its memory and turning back to its roots, back to the foundational understanding embodied in the Constitution that the creation account in Genesis was the origin for the idea of human rights in the West. That the foundation of human rights is the self-revelation of God's character, and does not originate in the depraved heart of man. That the first principles of the Bible provide the basis for justice in the world.

Maybe, just maybe. . .

1/1/11: A New Year

2011-01-01T11:20:00.008-06:00

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16

A Puritan prayer for the New Year from The Valley of Vision:

O Love beyond compare,

Thou are good when thou givest,
when thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me,
when night gathers over me.

Thou has loved me before the foundation of the world,
and in love didst redeem my soul;

Thou dost love me still,
in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, and distrust.

Thy goodness has been with me during another year,
leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance,
when beaten back making sure headway.

Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor,
With thee as the blessed pilot of my future as of my past.

I bless thee that thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If thou has appointed storms of tribulation,
thou wilt be with me in them;

If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,
I shall not drown;

If I am to die,
I shall see thy face the sooner;

If a painful end is to be my lot,
grant me grace that my faith fail not;

If I am to be cast aside from the service I love,
I can make no stipulation;

Only glorify thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for thy use.

Favorite Books of 2010

2010-12-31T16:54:00.004-06:00

1. Changing of the Guard, George Grant
2. Heirs of the Covenant, Susan Hunt
3. Bonhoeffer, Eric Metaxis
4. Generous Justice, Tim Keller
5. Bringing in the Sheaves, George Grant
6. The Kuyper Center Review, Vol I: Politics, Religion and Sphere Sovereignty
7. The Hawk and the Dove Trilogy, Penelope Wilcock
8. General Washington's Christmas Farewell: A Mt Vernon Homecoming 1783, Stanley Weintraub
9. In the Company of Others, Jan Karon
10. Blessed are the Hungry, Peter Liethart

A Reflection of Glory

2010-12-30T09:50:00.003-06:00

This is how the Master Creator and Designer of the Universe adorns Christmas. . .
. . .and this is how the Master Creature reflects His beauty and His glory.

(wreath at Green Bank, downtown Franklin, TN)

Convenience or Conviction?

2010-12-28T09:16:00.010-06:00

". . .death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."
I Corinthians 15:54-58

A Country Christmas

2010-12-26T09:15:00.005-06:00

The Twelve Days of Christmas

2010-12-22T20:43:00.015-06:00

This week, a friend of mine gave me this beautiful tree ornament of a partridge in a pear tree. Curious about its symbolism, I did a little research and was intrigued to discover a bit of on-going controversy over the song's historical underpinnings.

The song to which this ornament alludes is the popular, "Twelve Days of Christmas." In the liturgical church tradition, the 12 days of Christmas begin on December 25th and continue to Epiphany (January 6th). Therefore, the Twelfth day of Christmas is January 5th, the last day of the Christmas season before Epiphany.

There is a wide populace that believe the song to be simply a "secular song that celebrates the Christmas season with imagery of gifts and dancing and music."

Others claim that the "Twelve Days of Christmas" was written as one of the catechism songs to help young Christians learn the tenets of the faith. According to Dennis Bratcher of The Voice Institute, "some have suggested that "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a song of Christian instruction, perhaps dating back to the 16th century religious wars in England, with hidden references to the basic teachings of the Christian Faith. They contend that it was a mnemonic device to teach the catechism to youngsters. The "true love" mentioned in the song is not an earthly suitor, but refers to God Himself. The "me" who receives the presents refers to every baptized person who is part of the Christian faith. Each of the "days" represents some aspect of the Christian faith that was important for children to learn."

The symbolism of the verses is explained as follows:

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
A Partridge in a Pear Tree . The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate on December 25, the first day of Christmas. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge that feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, recalling the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem: "Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered you under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but you would not have it so . . . ." (Luke 13:34)

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Two Turtle Doves . The Old and New Testaments, which together bear witness to God's self-revelation in history and the creation of a people to tell the Story of God to the world.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Three French Hens . The Three Theological Virtues: 1) Faith, 2) Hope, and 3) Love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Four Calling Birds . The Four Gospels: 1) Matthew, 2) Mark, 3) Luke, and 4) John, which proclaim the Good News of God's reconciliation of the world to Himself in Jesus Christ.

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Five Gold Rings.  The first Five Books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah or the Pentateuch: 1) Genesis, 2) Exodus, 3) Leviticus, 4) Numbers, and 5) Deuteronomy, which gives the history of humanity's sinful failure and God's response of grace in the creation of a people to be a light to the world.

On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Six Geese A-laying . The six days of creation that confesses God as Creator and Sustainer of the world (Genesis 1).

On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Seven Swans A-swimming.  The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: 1) prophecy, 2) ministry, 3) teaching, 4) exhortation, 5) giving, 6) leading, and 7) compassion (Romans 12:6-8; cf. 1 Corinthians 12:8-11).

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Eight Maids A-milking . The eight Beatitudes: 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, 2) those who mourn, 3) the meek, 4) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 5) the merciful, 6) the pure in heart, 7) the peacemakers, 8) those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. (Matthew 5:3-10).

On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Nine Ladies Dancing . The nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) patience, 5) kindness, 6) generosity, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, and 9) self-control. (Galatians 5:22).

On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Ten Lords A-leaping.  The ten commandments: 1) You shall have no other gods before me; 2) Do not make an idol; 3) Do not take God's name in vain; 4) Remember the Sabbath Day; 5) Honor your father and mother; 6) Do not murder; 7) Do not commit adultery; 8) Do not steal; 9) Do not bear false witness; 10) Do not covet. (Exodus 20:1-17).

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Eleven Pipers Piping.  The eleven Faithful Apostles: 1) Simon Peter, 2) Andrew, 3) James, 4) John, 5) Philip, 6) Bartholomew, 7) Matthew, 8) Thomas, 9) James bar Alphaeus, 10) Simon the Zealot, 11) Judas bar James. (Luke 6:14-16). The list does not include the twelfth disciple, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders and the Romans.

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Twelve Drummers Drumming.  The twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed: 1) I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 2) I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 3) He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 4) He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell [the grave]. 5) On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 6) He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 7) I believe in the Holy Spirit, 8) the holy catholic Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life everlasting.

For my part, I tend to agree with Mr. Bratcher that historical accuracy is not really the point in this controversy. Those who love history know full well that the study of history is at the very least as much an art as a science. Those who rub up against controversy (which would be all of us in a fallen world) know full well that there can be fragments of both truth and error on all sides of an issue. Those who celebrate the true meaning of Christmas know full well that Christ the King is Lord of all and that His redemptive grace is presently at work in the world transforming and reclaiming all the fullness of the earth to His glorious reign.

G.K. Chesterton, that jovial enthusiast of all things Christmas once stated, "The great majority of people will go on observing forms that cannot be explained; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and some day suddenly wake up and discover why."

I suspect this may be more true on more levels than any of us can even hope to imagine. All attributable to that wonderful Christmas spirit called Grace, manifested in that lowly babe born in a stable in Bethlehem, under a star that led earthly kings to seek to find and worship Him as the long-promised, long-awaited Messiah.

Simple Christmas Joy

2010-12-22T11:33:00.008-06:00

". . .And we were deeply aware that the spirit of Christmas is a paradox; its largeness is made manifest in the smallest of ways; in little kindnesses, tiny pleasures, and obscure delights among ordinary people in the simplest of circumstances."~George Grant and Greg Wilbur on Christmas, Christmas Spirit

Happy Birthday, Keith!

2010-12-21T13:03:00.012-06:00

Every year it comes at the same time, December 19th. We always do celebrate him, whose birthday comes the week before Christmas, some years more simply than others. This year Keith's parents and his siblings traveled here for an evening of fun, feasting and fellowship. Alas, the Country Swift's came to the City Swift's to join in happy celebration of another grace-filled year. The children with their friends all gathered around. Everything was, really. Simply. Wonderful.

Keith with his Mom & Dad
Keith's Family: Dale, Lisa, William, Keith, Margaret & Jerry
Chelsea, David, Keith, Jonathan, Evelyn, Nathan & Paige

Yuletide

2010-12-20T08:43:00.004-06:00

"The true Christian religion is incarnational and thus does not begin at the top, as all other religions do; it begins at the bottom. You must run directly to the manger and the mother's womb, embrace the Infant and Virgin's Child in your arms and look at Him--born, being nursed, growing up, going about in human society, teaching, dying, rising again, ascending above all the heavens, and having authority over all things." ~Martin Luther

"Maker of the sun, He is made under the sun. In the Father He remains, from His mother He goes forth. Creator of heaven and earth, He was born on earth under heaven. Unspeakably wise, He is wisely speechless. Filling the world, He lies in a manger. Ruler of the stars, He nurses at His mother's bosom. He is both great in the nature of God, and small in the form of a servant." ~Augustine

"Christmas is coming; the goose is getting fat;
Please put a penny in the old man's hat;
Jesus would have us celebrate --just like that." ~Charles Dickens

Sound Thinking

2010-12-14T13:56:00.003-06:00

"A Christianity which will bear witness to God's Word in Jesus will be a speaking, thinking, arguing, debating Christianity, which will not be afraid to engage in intellectual and philosophical contest with the prevailing dogmas of its day."~Oliver O'Donovan

First Advent

2010-12-06T09:05:00.009-06:00

In a lot of ways it had been my first Advent, for though I had lived through many Advent seasons in days past, I had been wholly ignorant of the significance of this ancient liturgy of the church.

It had been very dark and very cold the night my family and I slipped quietly through the doors of the little downtown chapel for that first Advent service. My heart, too, had been dark and cold, wearied from beating back the chaos that defines life outside The Garden. With no historical tradition of Advent, we had no idea what to expect. Nevertheless, destined for what we knew not we had come limping, stumbling, famished for bread, yearning for the hope we knew the Christ Child promised.

I was taken aback that night. Never had I seen anything so beautiful. The oaken pews. The arched ceiling. The simple, unpretentious elegance of a single candle amid a bed of fresh greens and berries alight in every window sill.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The faintest flame of light flickered in my discouraged and stone cold heart as we slid into the back pew. I held my breath, daring not to breathe in the holy hush. The sweet sound of music filled the air. The service unfolded. A sword pierced through the darkness, slicing open my soul with an ugly gaping gauge, unleashing a howling, pent-up terror, a shrieking fear of my own brokenness, a silent aching hunger. Much later, in the darkened stillness of a sleeping house, tears of repentance washed in torrents over me until the aching was silenced.

He who hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled.

And even the hunger and the thirst are gifts from His hand. Since that first Advent, He has granted me an epiphany of His grace. I am no longer afraid of broken things. Of being a broken thing. God ordains broken things so that His broken Son might be lifted high and made ruler of everything. It's the broken-hearted He binds up, swaddles near, the weak that He wields as His strength.

With joy unspeakable, I have grown to love the magnificent beauty and goodness of the Yuletide to the human spirit. First comes the lesson of Advent, that holy season of preparation and repentance. Following comes the joy, Christmas, that wonderful time of generosity and celebration. And finally, Epiphany, the glorious time of remembrance, redemption, and thanksgiving.

He is the Light of the World. . .

Abba, Father. Thank you, thank you.

Symphony

2010-12-02T11:56:00.001-06:00

"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common--this is my symphony." ~William Henry Channing 1810-1884

Farmhouse Chicken Soup for the Soul

2010-11-29T15:18:00.005-06:00

"It is in the old Christmas carols, hymns, and traditions--those which date from the Middle Ages--that we find not only what makes Christmas poetic and soothing and stately, but first and foremost what makes Christmas exciting. The exciting quality of Christmas rests on an ancient and admitted paradox. It rests upon the paradox that the power and center of the whole universe may be found in some seemingly small matter, that the stars in their courses may move like a moving wheel around the neglected outhouse of an inn." ~G.K. Chesterton

The pitch of the stall was glorious
Though the straw was dusty and old
The wind sang with orchestral beauty
Though it blew bitter and cold

The night was mysteriously gleaming
Though the earth was fallen, forlorn
For under the eaves of splendor
A child-The Child-was born

Oxen Sheep and doves
Crowded round Nativity's scene
Though the world still failed to grasp
T'was here that peace had been

Cast out into a cave
When no room was found for Him
His coming was a scourge
That cleansed a robber's den

While the Temple's become a cattle stall
Where beasts and such are sold
The Child's turned Manger into Temple
And changed the base to gold

Tis the paradox of the ages:
Worldly wisdom will ne're relent
To notice signs of visitation
Nor the cords of the whip of Advent

~Tristan Gylberd

A Birthday Blessing

2010-11-28T23:54:00.007-06:00

Nathan Edward Swift

Gregarious. Affectionate. Servant-leader. Comfortable. Courageous. Compassionate. Encourager. Insightful. Lover of football. Resolute. Honest. Generous. Noble. Cavalier. Patient. Merciful. Lover of Beauty. Pursuer of Goodness. Proclaimer of Truth. Disciple of Christ. Faithful son.

You were named after the prophet Nathan in the Holy Writ, mouthpiece of God, upholder of Justice, proclaimer of Truth. It was Nathan who boldly confronted King David with the heinousness of his sin, through whose words the unction of the Holy Spirit drew forth the King's repentance.

You bear the middle name of both your maternal and paternal grandfathers, thereby uniting the distinctiveness of two bloodlines into one of an altogether newness. Your name means, "Gift of God", and so you are for "every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17-18). Your father and I receive the gift of you with grateful and thankful hearts to the Lord, for He is good in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. We celebrate all that is you with unrestrained hope and unconstrained, messy joy. Happy Birthday, dear Son!

Norman Rockwell on Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T11:16:00.013-06:00

I have a confession to make right up front. This entire post is a rabbit trail. I intended to write about the bittersweetness of the holidays, an inescapable fact of living life this side of heaven. You know what I mean. Sadness over the loss of loved ones who once shared our Thanksgiving table, but no longer. The quiet desperation of broken dreams, broken hearts, broken lives. Aching loneliness more pronounced in a crowd. The nagging suspicion that you are somehow less than what you could be, or should be, or are expected to be.

The image that kept rising from the archives of my mind was the Norman Rockwell painting depicting that wonderfully idyllic scene of a family at the Thanksgiving Day table. Norman Rockwell was a master storyteller with a brush. After all, it was the power of the story that caused me to recall the painting that evoked emotions of family life. An educator friend of mine often tells his students who are deviating down the path of curiosity, "The rabbit trail is the point." So, I googled the image and shortly thereafter departed wildly down the rabbit trail myself. The following discourse is what I discovered along the way.

Often considered Norman Rockwell's definitive Thanksgiving painting, Freedom from Want first appeared on the pages of The Saturday Evening Post on March 6, 1943. This painting was actually inspired by a speech given before the US Congress on January 6. 1941, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In that famous speech, President Roosevelt enumerated four basic freedoms to which every person was entitled. Norman Rockwell was inspired by this speech to produce his famous Four Freedoms series of paintings: Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.

Freedom from Want (#1) was his third installment of the Four Freedoms series and appeared on the pages of The Saturday Evening Post on March 6, 1943. It is said that Rockwell fussed over this cover for a long time before he completed it. He was very concerned that it would convey overabundance instead of freedom from want. Mrs. Thaddeus Wheaton, the Rockwell family cook, was actually the model for the grandmother serving the turkey. Rockwell was known for using friends and family as models in his paintings.

In the next painting (#2), Thanksgiving:Girl Praying(1943), a young refugee during World War II is found amidst broken columns with both hands clapsed under her chin with eyes closed, praying. An American soldier's field jacket draped over her provides warmth. The frying pan that sits beside her provides a meal for which she is thankful. A powerful reminder of being grateful for God's simple grace in any circumstance.

Another favorite Thanksgiving painting by Rockwell is Thanksgiving: Mother and Son Peeling Potatoes (1945) #3. In this painting, we can see a son, recently returned from the battles of World War Two, enjoying the company of his mother as they prepare for a Thanksgiving Day dinner. The models for the illustration are also real life mother and son. Richard "Dick" Hagelberg is the soldier and Saara Hagelberg is the mother. The story of how the Gagelberg's came to be Rockwell's models is an interesting one.

Rockwell was almost at his deadline when he found the models he wanted to use for this Thanksgiving classic. He had already posed two sets of models that didn't quite fit his idea of what he wanted the picture to say.

As luck would have it, though, Dick Hagelberg was the owner of an Arlington, Vermont dairy farm and the Rockwell's family's milkman. Hagelberg had recently returned from active duty and was delivering the weekly milk supply. Norman Rockwell knew immediately that Dick was the model he wanted for the painting. He was delighted to find that Dick's mother, Saara, might also pose. Both models were reluctant to pose. Rockwell finally convinced the pair when he offered them $15 each for about an hour's worth of posing. That adjusts for inflation to over $180 in 2010 dollars.

The final painting I have posted here was produced and published for the 1951 Thanksgiving edition of the Post. It was the last year that a Norman Rockwell painting appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. Saying Grace reminds us to stay true to our beliefs, traditions and faith, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. The grandmother and the little boy are giving thanks for the food they are about to receive. Meanwhile, their immediate world watches, almost in awe. The scene of Saying Grace is the Horn and Hardart cafeteria on Juniper Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At least two of the models are known by name, the two young men sitting at the table with the grandmother and the boy. Farthest to the back is Jarvis Rockwell, the artist's oldest son. Closer to us, with darker hair, is Don Winslow, a one time summer intern that became Rockwell's apprentice. The model for the older lady passed away before the picture was published.

So, does this post have anything at all to do with the experience of the holidays being bittersweet sometimes, in some seasons? Well, maybe in a round about sort of way. Yes, living in a fallen world is often painful. Yes, holidays absolutely can spotlight the dark and wounded places in our hearts. But beauty, like a determined sapling pushes ever upward through the ground seeking the sun, as a reminder of the great eternal hope of the gospel, that God is ever at work reconciling all things to Himself. Thanks be to God!

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Romans 8:18-22

A Birthday Tribute

2010-11-21T08:19:00.003-06:00

Jonathan Cross Swift

Thoughtful. Determined. Servant-leadership. Content. Kind. Loyal friend. Industrious. Dependable. Lover of basketball. Helpful. Courteous. Chivalrous. Wise. Responsible. Practical. Rooted and grounded. Substantive. Man of few words but deep thoughts. Champion of justice. Lover of mercy. Walker in humility. Disciple of Christ. Faithful son.

Jonathan, you were named with both a biblical name and a family name. You were named after Jonathan in the Bible, son of Saul, Prince of Israel, friend to David who, with principled valor, desired and defended the will and purposes of God in establishing the kingly line of the Messiah above his own personal and familial interests.

You were chosen to bear the Cross surname, my maiden name, to carry the legacy of the Cross family which has no living male heirs in the lineage. Your name means "Given by God", and so you have been all the days of your life, a rich deposit and a precious treasure to us, a deep, abiding, continual gift. Your father and I are ever grateful and thankful to the Lord for you as we celebrate your birthday today. May it be a day of peace and blessing for you and one of joyful, unabashed celebration for the rest of us. Happy Birthday, dear son!

66 Years of Married Bliss

2010-11-20T22:18:00.001-06:00

Margaret and William Swift
Bumpus Mills, Tennessee

Casey at the Bat: Political Satire

2010-11-17T08:43:00.002-06:00

Lord's Day Morning

2010-11-14T07:43:00.002-06:00

O Maker and Upholder of all things,
Day and night are thine; they are also mine from thee--

the night to rid me of the cares of the day,
to refresh my weary body,
to renew my natural strength;

the day to summon me to new activities,
to give me opportunity to glorify thee,
to serve my generation,
to acquire knowledge, holiness, eternal life.

But one day above all days is made especially
for thy honor and my improvement;

The sabbath reminds me of thy rest from creation,
of the resurrection of my saviour,
of his entering into repose,

The house is mine,
but I am unworthy to meet thee there,
and am unfit for spiritual service.

When I enter it I come before thee as a sinner,
condemned by conscience and thy Word,

For I am still in the body and in the wilderness,
ignorant, weak, in danger,
and in need of thine aid.

But encouraged by the all-sufficient grace
let me go to thy house with a lively hope of meeting thee,
knowing that there thou wild come to me and give me peace.

My soul is drawn out to thee in longing desires
for thy presence in the sanctuary, at the table,
where all are entertained on a feast of good things;
Let me before the broken elements, emblems of thy dying love,
cry to thee with broken heart for grace and forgiveness.

I long for that blissful communion of thy people
in thy eternal house in the perfect kingdom;
These are they that follow the Lamb;
May I be of their company!

~The Valley of Vision

The Rule of Law

2010-10-29T07:54:00.007-05:00

The Law That Governs Those Who Govern Us

written by Randy E. Barnett

The Constitution is the law that governs those who govern us. It is devised to address the age-old problem: Who guards the people from their guardians?

The Founders believed with John Locke and other liberal theorists of their day that “first comes rights; and then comes government.” Given the nature of human beings and the world in which we live, the pursuit of happiness requires persons to put their personal and local knowledge into action using scarce resources in the world. Natural rights define the space within which each person is free to choose how to pursue his or her own happiness while living in close proximity to others, where the actions of each person can potentially affect the welfare of others. Natural rights are a social concept defining the prerequisites for interpersonal cooperation and assistance necessary for individual survival and flourishing.

So the challenge is to define a space within which individuals are free to choose their courses of actions while reducing to the extent possible any negative effects on the like pursuit of happiness by others. Societies that have successfully solved this problem have converged on respecting the right to acquire, possess, and use private property; the right of freedom of contract—both the “freedom to” enter into consensual agreements and the “freedom from” having obligations imposed without one’s consent; the right of self-defense; and the right to restitution from anyone who interferes with one’s other rights.

The basic vulnerability of individuals also begets the need for the assistance of others in the protection of the individual’s rights from violation by individual predators or by groups. In the words of the Declaration of Independence, “to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.” But this solution to the problem of human vulnerability gives rise to a new and different problem: how to create a government powerful enough to protect the rights of man without itself posing a grave threat to these rights?

One potential solution is to impose a rule of law constraining the power of those who are empowered to protect rights. And one way to accomplish this is to express these constraints on government power in a written constitution. For this to work, however, the meaning of the writing cannot be revised by those who are to be bound by it, any more than individual citizens can unilaterally alter the meaning of statutes imposed on them. So the meaning of the constitution must remain the same until it is properly changed.

Of course, a writing does not interpret or enforce itself and can be ignored by rulers, just as they ignore or deny the right retained by the people. For this reason, James Madison referred to written bills of rights as “parchment barriers.” So a lot depends on what a particular written constitution says and the mechanisms by which it is enforced.

The written U.S. Constitution attempted to address the problem of constraining government power by dividing powers horizontally and vertically among a number of different groups. Horizontally, there are three branches of the federal government—legislative, executive, and judicial—with the legislative branch itself divided into a Senate and a House of Representatives. Vertically, power is divided between the national government and the governments of the several states, each of which contains its own internal division of power.

Members of each of these bodies are selected in a variety of ways by a variety of constituencies. The Constitution does not adopt a model of direct or majoritarian democracy. Indeed, at the founding, the term democracy was considered a pejorative term like the term demagogue is today. As Madison explained, in every government the greatest danger lies in the body with the most power, and in a republican government that body is the majority of the people themselves. So the Constitution was not designed for the majority to rule directly; instead it attempts to select from among the people individuals who will serve as the faithful agents of the people in governing while at the same time providing the majority with ways to “check” the governance of their agents.

In addition to this formal division of powers, the Constitution identifies the specific powers delegated to the Congress of the United States, leaving all remaining powers to the states or to the people. And on top of these structural constraints on powers, certain substantive guarantees of individual rights are defined by the original Constitution and its amendments, the first ten of which came to be called the Bill of Rights. To rebut any suggestion that the rights of the people were limited to those expressed in the writing, the Ninth Amendment was included to say, “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

The original Constitution was far from perfect and has been amended in many significant ways. Most importantly, slavery was formally abolished and, when Southern state governments resisted protecting the rights of the freedman and white Republicans after the Civil War, the Republicans in the Thirty-ninth Congress proposed the Fourteenth Amendment to protect the rights of individuals from abuse by their own state governments—a new check on governmental power, this time from above rather than below. Other significant changes included the expansion of the right to vote to blacks and women. In 1913 the Constitution was amended to provide for the direct election of senators, who previously had been selected by state legislatures, and the power of Congress to tax incomes.

These last two changes to the text, combined with the post–New Deal reluctance of the Supreme Court to hold Congress to its textually enumerated powers, have resulted in the enormous growth of federal power. The Supreme Court has allowed Congress nearly unlimited power to regulate economic activity or to tax and spend. Consequently, since the New Deal, far more stress is placed on carving out exceptions to this discretionary power in the form of the rights expressly enumerated in the Bill of Rights and elsewhere in the text. To these express constraints have been added a handful of unenumerated fundamental rights, as well as special protections for state governments. In essence, rather than a government of limited and enumerated powers, we now have a national government of near unlimited power, subject only to special “carve-outs” for individual and states’ rights.

Today, we are witnessing a renewed interest in the original meaning of the written Constitution, which necessarily includes those portions of the text that were supposed to constrain government power but that have been “lost” over the years by judicial construction. Some constitutional law professors are confident that, if the American people were made aware of what the Constitution actually says, they would greatly prefer the expansive government they now have to the original scheme. For this reason, these professors favor what they call a “living Constitution,” by which they mean the Constitution as interpreted by the post–New Deal Supreme Court.

Given the renewed interest in the Constitution by millions of Americans, we shall see whether Americans prefer the government defined by the Supreme Court to the government defined in the actual written Constitution, as amended. Should they prefer the latter, restoring the lost part of the Constitution will not be easy. But the fact that these provisions were put in writing and have never been repealed gives those Americans who desire their restoration a fighting chance.