Communion & Imagination

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Yesterday I read J. B. Phillips little book from 1956, Appointment With God: Some Thoughts on Holy Communion. Phillips is best known for his interpretive translation of the New Testament. He was an Anglican priest so I knew I would have some differences with him on this topic, but I have appreciated his writing ability so I was intrigued by the book when I saw it. In the end I was not disappointed. I plan t post a few quotes over the next few days.

In this post, I will just draw attention to an introductory comment Phillips made. He mentioned that he wrote the book “to show how, for Christians who are prepared to use their minds and imaginations, it [communion] can deepen and enrich their spiritual lives” (vii). This comment grabbed me. Surely this exposes one reason why so many today fail to see the value or to appreciate the wonder of communion. We are not training people in the biblical value of and use of the imagination. You can’t read the imagery of the Psalms, the prophets, the parables of Jesus or Revelation and miss the use of words to stir the imagination. Too many evangelicals are scared of the imagination, imagining it to be in opposition to historical fact. But there need be no contradiction here. We have abandoned one important aspect of the mind and are the poorer for it. We desperately need to reclaim a sanctified imagination.

(previous post on preaching & imagination)

Jonathan Park and the Secret of the Hidden Cave

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Jonathan Park and the Secret of the Hidden Cave, Sandy & Pat Roy
(Master Books, 1999), pb., 110 pp.

This is a fun little story which is intended to teach some points about creationism and the biblical flood. It is not great writing. The plot is obvious and the stereotypes in the characters are so clear that even my boys were amazed. At times even the most obvious things seem to escape notice by the characters. I also found myself editing the children’s responses to their parents, wishing for more respect to be shown

Still, it was a fun read with adventure and a good tie-in with our current discussion of fossils in school. Also points were made about the value of friendship and God’s providential care. It read like a series from Adventures in Odyssey (in fact the villain seemed almost intentionally modeled after Dr. Blaggard).

.A series of radio dramas have been created as sequels to this book, but we have not heard any of them yet.

2009 Bibles and Bible Reference Survey Article

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This year’s article surveying new study Bibles and Bible reference works for Preaching Magazine has just gone online.As with previous articles I have focused on study Bibles and commentaries though I also comment on surveys, dictionaries, and some works of biblical theology, biblical languages and church history.

By necessity the comments are brief.I hope that the article will be helpful to pastors and others teaching the Bible as they consider which of the recent books might be helpful to them in their ministries.

Our Favorite Advent Book

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It is a little late to be recommending Advent resources, but in case anyone is searching, our favorite resource continues to be Christ in Christmas: A Family Advent Celebration. We don’t really use the four main stories by the prominent authors. What we like is simply the daily Scripture readings and the two carols a week. The readings have been well selected touching many of the prophetic passages- more than are typically noticed. Reading these together provide opportunity for rich discussion. Then it is nice to sing two carols each week. Singing the same ones through the week gives enough time to learn or refresh your memory on the song and to let its truths sink in.

Many more advent books have come out in recent years and I am glad for them. Our favorite, though, is still this one.

The Forgiveness of Sins Covers It All

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A few days ago I saw this quote on Ray Ortlund’s blog.It has given me so much enjoyment and blessing that I wanted to pass it along. This is classic Luther!

 

It is the supreme art of the devil that he can make the law out of the gospel. If I can hold on to the distinction between law and gospel, I can say to him any and every time that he should kiss my backside. Even if I sinned I would say, “Should I deny the gospeI on this account?” . . . Once I debate about what I have done and left undone, I am finished. But if I reply on the basis of the gospel, “The forgiveness of sins covers it all, I have won.”

Martin Luther, quoted in Reinhard Slenczka, “Luther’s Care of Souls for Our Times,” Concordia Theological Quarterly 67 (2003): 42.

Value of Family

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“When the Bible paints the picture of the happiest men on Earth with the most far-reaching impact on history, it does so in the context of family life, meal time, and the blessing of children (Psalm 127, 128). . . . Sometimes the most important thing happening in the world is the couple deciding to adopt a baby, or the child honoring his mother, or the daughter repenting to her father. Sometimes it is a little boy who waits patiently down the road for his daddy to return form work so that he can simply hold the hand of the most important man in his life. These are the moments that really matter – the ones that will count in eternity. They are the everyday victories of the Christian life that will one day fill the heart of the old man with joy as he looks back on a life well spent. That is why, when the world has passed away, and the trends of this present culture are long since forgotten, those simple acts of love, done in the name of Christ and for His sake by a mother to her child, or a brother for his sister, will retain value with the saints in eternity.”

Douglas W. Phillips, The Little Boy Down the Road: Short Stories & Essays on the Beauty of Family Life (xxi-xxii)
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Value of the Psalms

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Richard Hooker on the Psalms:

The choice and flower of all things profitable in other books the Psalms do both more briefly contain, and more movingly also express, by reason of that poetical form wherewith they are written . . . What is there necessary for man to know which the Psalms are not able to teach? They are to beginners an easy and familiar introduction, a mighty augmentation of all virtue and knowledge in such as are entered before, a strong confirmation to the most perfect among others. Heroical magnanimity, exquisite justice, grace moderation, exact wisdom, repentance unfeigned, unwearied patience, the mysteries of God, the sufferings of Christ, the terrors of wrath, the comforts of grace, the works of Providence over this world, and the promised joys of that world which is to come, all good necessarily to be either known or done or had, this one celestial fountain yieldeth. Let there be any grief or disease incident into the soul of man, any wound or sickness named, for which there is not in this treasure-house a present comfortable remedy at all times ready to be
found.

(cited in A. F. Kirkpatrick, The Book of Psalms. Reprint. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1982; viii)

The Value of the Rural Church

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For a few years now I have been wanting to write an essay on the value of rural churches and the need to appreciate them- for pastors to see them as valuable and not simply stepping stones to something really important.

So I was delighted to see Tim Keller’s recent post on this very topic and Eric Smith’s reflections of Keller’s comments. I encourage you to read both (neither are very long).

Beware Presumption

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Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is truly a treasure trove of practical and pastoral wisdom for the Christian life. I am reading it again to my boys, this time in the new edition edited by C. J. Lovik. Tonight we read the following portion which is really a good reminder:

“But as for footmen like you and me, let us never desire to meet with the enemy or presume ourselves able to do better when we hear about the struggles of others. When we hear of others who have been sorely tested, let’s not be deluded by thoughts of our own manhood, for those who do so are often the ones who have the worst time of it when they are tested.” (p. 182-83)