Derek Webb: A New Law

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I've talked my fair share on the topic of alcohol, legalism, etc (see here, here, and here).  Here's a new Derek Webb song that speaks to the topic of legalism.  If you haven't heard Webb's new CD, Mockingbird, I encourage you to get it.  It's very good.

"A New Law"

don’t teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for

don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music

don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law

i don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy
so just bring it down from the mountain to me

i want a new law
i want a new law
just gimme that new law

don’t teach me about moderation and liberty
i prefer a shot of grape juice

don’t teach me about loving my enemies

don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit
just give me a new law

i don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy
so just bring it down from the mountain to me

i want a new law
i want a new law
just gimme that new law

cause what’s the use in trading a law you can never keep
for one you can that cannot get you anything
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
oh, do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
oh, do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
oh, do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid

oh, do not be afraid

John Piper Has Cancer

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Please pray for John Piper as he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.  Here's his letter to Bethlehem, his church.  All pastor's should strive to live in a way that result in letters like this in times of walking through the valley of the shadow of death.  (HT: JT)

Tuesday,

January 3, 2006

Dear Bethlehem Family,

I hope this letter will encourage your prayer, strengthen your hope, and minister peace. I am writing with the blessing of the other elders to help you receive the news about my prostate cancer.

At my annual urological exam on Wednesday, December 21, the doctor felt an abnormality in the prostate and suggested a biopsy. He called the next day with the following facts: 1) cancer cells were found in two of the ten samples and the estimate is that perhaps 5% of the gland is affected; 2) my PSA count was 1.6, which is good (below 4 is normal); 3) the Gleason score is 6 (signaling that the cancer is not aggressive). These three facts incline the doctor to think that it is unlikely that the cancer has spread beyond the prostate, and that it is possible with successful treatment to be cancer-free.

Before going with Noël to consult in person with the doctor on December 29 about treatment options, I shared this news with the Bethlehem staff on Tuesday morning, December 27, and with the elders that evening. Both groups prayed over me for healing and for wisdom in the treatment choices that lie before us. These were sweet times before the throne of grace with much-loved colleagues.

All things considered, Noël and I believe that I should pursue the treatment called radical prostatectomy, which means the surgical removal of the prostate. We would ask you to pray that the surgery be completely successful in the removal of all cancer and freedom from possible side effects.

With the approval of the executive staff and elder leadership, we are planning surgery in early February. The recovery time is about three weeks before returning to a slow work pace, and six weeks to be back to all normal activities.

This news has, of course, been good for me. The most dangerous thing in the world is the sin of self-reliance and the stupor of worldliness. The news of cancer has a wonderfully blasting effect on both. I thank God for that. The times with Christ in these days have been unusually sweet.

For example, is there anything greater to hear and believe in the bottom of your heart than this: “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)?

God has designed this trial for my good and for your good. You can see this in 2  Corinthians 1:9, “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” And in 2  Corinthians 1:4-6, “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God . . . If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.”

So I am praying: “Lord, for your great glory, 1) don’t let me miss any of the sanctifying blessings that you have for me in this experience; 2) don’t let the church miss any of the sanctifying blessings that you have for us in this; 3) grant that the surgery be successful in removing cancer and sparing important nerves; 4) grant that this light and momentary trial would work to spread a passion for your supremacy for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ; 5) may Noël and all close to me be given great peace—and all of this through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.” I hope God will lead you to pray in a similar way.

With deep confidence that

 “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."

1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Pastor John 

With Sam Crabtree, Lead Pastor for Life Training

Kenny Stokes, Lead Pastor for Spreading

Tim Johnson, Chairman of the Council of Elders

Ross Anderson, MD, Bethlehem Elder

                                                                                                               

Brokeback Pastors

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Brokeback_pastors2_400Two circuit riding preachers in the Midwest met years before in seminary.  One tall, dark, and rugged, the other stocky and gruff.  Both passionate about the same theology and ecclesiology, which drew them closer to one another. 

But when they decided to "team up" to take on fundamentalism in the SBC, they found that mountain hard to climb.  Together, they tried the impossible.  Will their relationship last?  Will the SBC change?

Coming to theaters in 2006.  You've seen Brokeback Mountain (or you are too grossed out to see it), now see Brokeback Pastors. 

Brokeback Mountain Review

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I told myself the only way I would watch Brokeback Mountain at the theater is if Joe Thorn went with me.  Then I questioned what that would communicate and decided it would be better to pretend the movie didn't exist long enough to make it to the DVD release date.

But after reading this review I'm now actually very interested in watching it.  A blurb...

Brokeback Mountain is the story of two young cowboys, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, who meet in a 1960s summer job tending sheep on the mountain. They fall in love, then upon returning to the world, go their separate ways, marry and start families. A few years later, they resume their intensely sexual affair – visually, this is a rather chaste film – but with terrible consequences for themselves and the wives and children they deceive. The film climaxes violently and tragically, and it's this that has the critics lauding it as a cinematic cri du coeur for tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality.

But Brokeback is not nearly that tidy. True, the men begin their doomed affair in a time and place where homosexuality was viciously suppressed, and so they suffer from social constrictions that make it difficult to master their own fates. But it is also true that both men are overgrown boys who waste their lives searching for something they've lost, and which might be irrecoverable. They are boys who refuse to become men, or to be more precise, do not, for various reasons, have the wherewithal to understand how to become men in their bleak situation.

It is impossible to watch this movie and think that all would be well with Jack and Ennis if only we'd legalize gay marriage. It is also impossible to watch this movie and not grieve for them in their suffering, even while raging over the suffering that these poor country kids who grew up unloved cause for their families. As the film grapples with Ennis' pain, confusion and cruelty, different levels of meaning unspool – social, moral, spiritual and erotic. In the end, Brokeback Mountain is not about the need to normalize homosexuality, or "about" anything other than the tragic human condition.

(HT: Matt Crash!)

Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God

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Romance_1A few days ago I read C.J. Mahaney's Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God: What Every Christian Husband Needs to Know.  It's a little book (125 pages counting everything) and I was very pleased with it.

I heard C.J. talk on the topic at a conference in 2004, which was very good.  The book is a nice compliment to that talk.  It is biblically helpful as he spends a little time in Song of Solomon, and it is gem on practicals.  There are some things he suggests (no, not positions) that I have started to use. 

If you are a married man and want to think about how to make your wife feel special, this is a quick read that has enough substance to chew on for a while.

Coming Home

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I love being home.  It's home, for crying out loud.  Christmas is a good time with family, but I look forward to getting the house back to normal and moving on. 

Over the past week we have received news that the first man I ever discipled, a good guy in Colorado, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  It's looking like only months left for him.  We also found out just today that my wife's former boss in Colorado recently lost his wife in incredible circumstances.  They are both near our age and also have four kids.  She was climbing a mountain with a friend in CO, got separated from her climbing partner somehow, and went missing.  It was a massive search for her and she has yet to be found.  She went missing in September. 

Over Christmas at my parent's house we were able to visit four very old relatives, my Great Aunt, my Grandmother (mom's side) and Grandparents (father's side).  The aging process is taking a large toll on them and we always try to see them never knowing when it will be the last time.

So we have found some reasons to think about our own mortality this Christmas, which is always a good thing.  We are also praying for friends and family with renewed vigor.

We got a few nice presents, but the kids really made out like villains. It was a good time at my parent's house, good food, and I got to watch cable TV (a treat for me).

I was able to get out and take some nice pictures of barns in rural IL as well as some stuff in my hometown (Pontiac, IL).  You can see them on my Flickr page.

Merry Christmas

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We will be out of pocket and I don't know when I will post again.  Hopefully before New Year's.  I'm preaching tomorrow morning and then we are off to be with family.  Enjoy your Christmas celebrations.

Her Best Life Now

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Red_eye_osteen_2It appears the whole Osteen airline incident has sparked a feeding frenzy for the movie rights on the story. 

Fortunately for all of us, I have prevailed.

For people like Joe Thorn who haven't even heard of this incident, you can read about it here, or here, or maybe here, or here.

Confessions of a Reformission Rev.

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Driscoll_confessions_250I just received my pre-publication copy of Mark Driscoll's new book Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church.  Mark asked me a couple of months ago if I would read and review this book and another one on emerging church theology (esp Scripture, Trinity and atonement).  It will include stuff from Doug Pagitt, Karen Ward, Dan Kimball, and John Burke.  Each are writing sections and then commenting on & critiquing one another.

So I hope to begin the Confessions book very soon and plan to blog on it sometime after the holidays.  I'm not sure when I will get the theology book, but I'm looking forward to that one too.

Technorati Mini

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Do you obsess over who is linking to you and wish you could know as soon as possible?  Well someone is always willing to do the work to feed your obsession.  Enjoy Technorati Mini which updates every 60 seconds automatically.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Technorati Mini may be habit-forming. Do not operatea motorized vehicle while using Technorati Mini. May cause excitement and/or nostalgia for Web 1.0. Minors should discuss using Technorati Mini with their parents. Technorati Mini may annoy popup-blockers. Do not taunt Technorati Mini.

Photoblogging

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Snow and Stairs

You might have noticed on the left sidebar that I now have a photoblog and a Flickr site for some more artistic photographs I'm taking.  This is a fairly new art for me, so I'm doing a lot of experimenting with colors and shapes and perspectives.  I will basically put up one pic a day on the photoblog, and Flickr houses most of my stuff that you can peruse.  Enjoy.

You can also subscribe to my Flickr RSS 2.0 or Atom feeds.

Emergent's Tony Jones at SBTS

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Tony Jones writes of his trip to SBTS (Boyce College, really).  He met with some of the college faculty including two guys I know, Randy Smith and Jimmy Scroggins.  I'm very glad to see that something connected to SBTS is at least in dialogue with EC (Emergent) guys.  I believe that's a good sign.

Also, notice Tim Keller finds his way into the comments on Tony's post on inerrancy and atonement issues.

Side note: I think the best thing that can happen to SBTS/Boyce (or conservative evangelicalism) and the EC is if they mate and have tons of offspring.  Then we will fill the earth with a bunch of (hopefully credobaptistic) Tim Keller's.  Oh, a man can dream.

Piper Resources

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Piper_handsMonergism is doing some great new stuff, including adding a page of John Piper resources that gives easy access to tons of stuff: books, mp3's, sermons, essays, stuff by topic, etc.  Bookmark it and use it often.

By the way, we need to name this Piper picture.  My best three: "The Piper Moose," "Piper plays paper football," or "Piper asking God for a 'high ten'"