Reformissionary

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Crossway has put out a wonderful, small book for Advent called Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas . It contains 22 4-8 page readings from sermons and works of dead folks (like Martin Luther, J.C. Ryle, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and more) and living folks (like Tim Keller, J.I. Packer, R.C. Sproul, Joni Eareckson Tada, John Piper, and others). Pick it up.

Here's an excerpt from Tim Keller's chapter, "The Gift of Christmas"...

When September 11th happened and New Yorkers started to suffer, you heard two voices. You heard the conventional moralistic voices saying, "When I see you suffer, it tells me about a judging God. You must not be living right, and so God is judging you." When they see suffering they see a judgmental God.

The secular voice said, "When I see people suffering, I see God is missing." When they see suffering they see an absent, indifferent God.

But when we see Jesus Christ dying on the cross through an act of violence and injustice, what kind of God do we see then? A condemning God? No, we see a God of love paying for sin. Do we see a missing God? Absolutely not! We see a God who is not remote but involved.

We sometimes wonder why God doesn't just end suffering. But we know that whatever the reason, it isn't one of indifference or remoteness. God so hates suffering and evil that he was willing to come into it and become enmeshed in it.

Keller: Preaching to the Heart

Thanks to an email from Wodu Majin (obviously a made up name or a Witch Doctor) you now have new Tim Keller audio, namely two lectures at Oak Hill College called "Preaching to the Heart"...

Lecture 1
Lecture 2 

You will learn from these lectures if you just listen to your heart...

Music Monday 11.24.08

Some best of the year lists are starting to come out, like Blender's top 33 (meh) and Paste (Paste website appears to be down, but the link should work again at some point).

I can't listen to Christmas music until I've eaten Thanksgiving dinner, but the minute I belch I'm playing Dunham Van Durham's Christmas from the Heartland.  I'm a bit biased since this album's artwork is one of my photos, but it's a really enjoyable and unique Christmas album.  It may be the perfect Christmas album for use during work because there's no singing.  It has a folksy, Americana flair.  I'm telling you, I think you'll like it.

I'm checking out a bunch of new music lately, mostly due to a friend passing me some Paste magazines from a couple of months ago.  One band that has me very pumped is Right Away, Great Captain! Check them out on MySpace.  Check out their new album, The Eventually Home at Amazon.

My computer speakers have been an embarrasing part of my music enjoyment.  The built in speakers in my Gateway Notebook are terrible so I always use external speakers, which are probably 6 years old.  For a year they have been continually cutting out because of multiple frayed wire issues.  So I went to pick up another cheapo pair of externals and discovered a whole new world of computer sound systems that I didn't know existed.  Shame on me.  Thanks to some birthday money (given by people who love me!) I purchased the Logitech Z-2300 THX-Certified 200-Watt 2.1 Speaker System (click for proper response). I didn't go surround 5.1 or anything, but I can now rattle the windows upstairs with an 8-inch long-throw subwoofer (click).  One of the best purchases I've made to increase my enjoyment of great music. 

Here are two of the first songs I played to see how great this system sounds. First, Elbow: "Grounds for Divorce" (warning: come chick is dancing around in a bar)...

Radiohead: "The National Anthem"...

Phriday is for Photos 11.21.08

Yeah, I needed a pretzel rod and I had a camera phone. So what? See all my photography.

Frightened, Confused, and Broken Leaders

God loves reluctant leaders and, even better, he loves reluctant leaders who know they are frightened, confused, and broken.  In fact, he seems to have a special fondness for rebels and fools.  Does God choose troubled leaders because few other people are foolish enough to say yes, or does he choose weak, troubled people because they serve a unique purpose in their broken state?  The answer is yes.

Dan Allender in Leading With a Limp, p 54.

Chief-Sinner Leaders

Paul calls leaders not merely to be humble and self-effacing but to be desperate and honest.  It is not enough to be self-revealing, authentic, and transparent.  Our calling goes far beyond that.  We are called to be reluctant, limping, chief-sinner leaders, and even more, to be stories.  The word that Paul uses is that a leader is to be an 'example,' but what that implies is more than a figure on a flannel board.  He calls us to be a living portrayal of the very gospel we beseech others to believe.  And that requires a leader to see himself as being equally prone to deceive as he is to tell the truth, to manipulate as he is to bless, to cower as he is to be bold.  A leader is both a hero and a fool, a saint and a felon.

We are both and to pretend otherwise is to be disingenuous.  The leader who fails to face [his] darkness must live with fear and hypocrisy.  The result will be a defensiveness that places saving face and controlling others as higher goods than blessing others and doing good work.  Clearly, the biblical model of leadership is odd, inverted, and deeply troubling.  It is so troubling that most churches, seminaries, and other religious organizations would never hire a 'chief sinner.'  The only one who thinks to do so is God.

Dan Allender in Leading With A Limp, p 57.

Lots-o-Links 11.18.08

Quick Molly & Elijah Update: Molly has had a few really great days.  Better balance, more energy, more driving with less danger, etc.  Very excited.  Maybe finally catching up on sleep is doing something.  Elijah had a 102+ fever for 6 days, which included several hours at the hospital for IV fluids, but is back to his normal self.  So glad for that.

In 2 days the Catalyst One Day Conference hits Granger, Indiana.  If you are nearby you should go.  Should be great, and I believe registration is still open.  I'm actually still considering going, but haven't decided yet.

I've been dealing with male leadership in the home with some church members recently.  Here are some complementarian resources I've found helpful on this issue from The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood website...

    Fifty Crucial Questions (John Piper)
    Summaries of the Egalitarian and Complementarian Positions (Bruce Ware)
    We Need Some Leaders! (Bob Lepine)

Download Driscoll's Porn-Again Christian in full.

Desiring God's 2009 Pastor's Conference is on evangelism.

Tim Chester has provided a narrative statement of faith. (HT)

Resurgence; Six ways to engage culture.

Music Monday 11.17.08

RUN to Amazon and download Justice: Cross for $5. Just do it. Awesome.  Ends Thursday, I think.

Some good news for people with ears: A new Bon Iver EP comes out in January. By the way, I have a bunch of readers in Louisville, KY and Bon Iver is playing there in December at Headliners. Well worth the effort.

Here's and interview of Okkervil River in which the questions and answers take place in song.  Weird, a bit annoying, but also sorta funny and creative.

I've heard from several Reformissionary readers who have discovered Fleet Foxes here and just love 'em.  Here's a new Pitchfork interview of the Fleet Foxes, and an amazing Take Away Show...

Fleet Foxes - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Here's a great video and a kickin' song from the Raconteurs, "Old Enough." Crank it up!

The Raconteurs "Old Enough"

I have to admit that the literal music videos are kinda funny. My whole family enjoyed the Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"...

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Phriday is for Photos 11.14.08

Here's little Elijah near the beginning of the worst week of his life so far. Thank God his fever is gone and he is full of energy today. See the rest of my photography.

The End of an Era

Mayor of Pontiac, Illinois, Scott McCoy, will not be seeking a second term.

As a small-business owner, I am the business,” he said. “I have a lot of flexibility owning my own business, but with the massive time I’ve put in [as Mayor] with the very important and demanding situations this year, it has severely impacted my business. And I have an obligation to my employees and my family.

[...]

I’ve never considered myself a politician. And all I see are politicians working hard to keep their jobs instead of doing their jobs. So, I’ll give up my job in order to be aggressive and do my job. It’s not about me, it’s about Pontiac and saving this prison!

Read the entire article.  Scott, the perks of having my brother as Mayor (that were never realized, honestly) will be sorely missed.  Glad to see you focus on what's important in your life and for our hometown.

Lots-o-Links 11.12.08

Brief Molly Update: We are not going to Chicago tomorrow for Molly's spinal tap because of Elijah's ongoing sickness. Unsure whether the next step will be the spinal or second opinion. Stay tuned and thanks for praying. By the way, we will be looking into a handicapped tag for the van as navigating 1/2 a parking lot is quite a chore for her.  But we are grateful she is going to be able to start driving a little.

Looking forward to the ESV Study Bible going mobile soon. 

If you have no style or need something better, here are three steps to building your individual style. 

Learn to give and take criticism like a man.

Second Rate Snacks = Awesome.

Saralyn really likes Practical Theology for Women by Wendy Alsup.  We have copies (unless they are sold out) on our church book table.

Ed Stetzer: Simply Missional.

Tim Chester: Creating Communities of Grace.

The Reluctant Leader

We should bless men and women who have done their level best to escape leadership but who have been compelled to return and put their hand on the tiller. We should expect anyone who remains in a formal leadership context to experience repeated bouts of flight, doubt, surrender, and return. Why would this be God's plan? Why does God love the reluctant leader? Here is one reason: the reluctant leader is not easily seduced by power, pride, or ambition.

Dan Allender in Leading With a Limp, p18.

Music Monday 11.10.08

Massive Attack has just come onto my radar, which means something is wrong with my radar. I heard of them through a KEXP live performance by Elbow. Check out some MySpace tracks. Here's "Teardrop"...

I've been diggging the new Music Tapes CD. I'll admit it struck me a bit weird at first, but it's an album made with old recording devices and strange instruments. It's worth checking out, just for the experience. Reminds me a bit of Danielson. And just maybe some of you will fall in love with it, as I am...

A little "War Song" post-election by Nudge. It's depressing, in a way I appreciate.

And lastly you may have heard of Mosaic Whispers before. They are an a capella group from Washington University in St. Louis. I've embedded their "Fix You" performance before. Here's another song I REALLY love from Imogen Heap called "Hide and Seek." First, go watch Imogen. Second, enjoy Mosaic Whispers below. They turn the lights off for effect, so it's not much to watch. But it's beautiful.

Attracting the Irreligious

Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we'd like to think.

Tim Keller in The Prodigal God, 14-15.

Lots-o-Links 11.5.08

Quick Molly Update: Molly is about to lose it.  She is averaging somewhere around 3 hours of sleep a day or less for the last 6 weeks.  No joke.  She has maybe had two nights where she slept at least 6 hours.  She has had several nights where she didn't even doze off.  We thought it was the steroids taken in the first few weeks.  It's clear that it's so much more than that.  This morning was a breaking point.  She has gone from acting sluggish and tired to wanting to punch me in the face.  That's not all that uncommon, but it's much more than normal.  Let me explain how bad things are...

This morning we sat down to talk and she started to tear up.  I said what I always say when Molly cries, "You know, Jesus didn't cry" (my "Away in a Manger" reference).  Most of the time that makes her laugh and then we figure things out.  Not this time.  This time she barked back at me right away, "MAYBE JESUS DIDN'T CRY, BUT JESUS SLEPT!"  Touche. 

Links...

Lessons from a failed church plant (HT)

5 cool church tools

I know it's last minute, but if you are near Columbia, Missouri you need to check out Karis Church's Theology Weekend.  It's this weekend and the speaker is Bruce Ware.

Jonathan Dodson: Deacon Training I, Deacon Training II, Increase the community in missional communities, Wisdom for planters, especially bivocational

Speaking of missional communities, consider Alan Hirsch's four points: INCH

The art of thank you note writing

Election Night stuff...

I enjoyed Obama's speech last night. It gave me goosebumps. It was like a Disney moment. I watched a sea of people who had the Obama-shaped hole in their hearts filled and wondered what the next four years will look like.

I just hope that Obama doesn't continue in the direction of his voting record. It's remarkable to me and deeply ironic that our first African-American President will be our country's strongest defender of treating unborn babies as less than fully human.

And I'm sorry, but Michelle Obama's dress was awful. 

Did you see the CNN election night hologram? Pretty cool...

Anyone miss Dan Rather? Me too...

Music Monday 11.3.08

Looking like another photo of mine will become the new album cover of Dunham Van Durham's Christmas album.  Very cool.  Love their music. The album cover will look something like this...

Beirut is coming out with some new stuff in the late winter, early spring. Look for it. Until then...

Ryan Adams (aka Rick Moranis) plays "Fix it" on Letterman...

Wilco on The Colbert Report...

Ahh, a wonderful oldie from my college days. Back then I saw Jesus Jones and Ned's Atomic Dustbin in concert. But right here, right now, it's just a fun memory...