May 26, 2006
Empty Nesters
For the last year and half Noel and I informally advised, hung out with, fed and occasionally housed "The Kids." "The Kids" primarily referred to Paigey and Yosh, our siblings, but it also included a slew of their close friends, many of whom we RA-ed in our respective reigns.
When Noel and I got married, there were a lot of different people or ministries in which we could choose to invest; we could have focused on our neighborhood, we could have picked a ministry in our church, or we could have gone out and integrated with the young Chattanooga culture.
We chose our siblings and still-student friends.
Sometimes, I wondered if that was the "easy" option. After all, we already knew them; we already loved them. They were comfortably middle-class folk, finishing a degree at a private college. And besides, they were all well-adjusted kids and well-respected on campus as leaders and ministers themselves.
Maybe that's why we picked them.
Three years ago, we were those people. And future leaders -- as well-supported and well-integrated as they may be -- need someone to take care of them, too. We tried to do for The Kids what we had longed for during the end of our undergraduate years.
We didn't always do a good job. We did not always pursue, we were not always available, and we likely did not always dispense wise advice. Still, we sure fed them a lot. We had long talks about romantic relationships, stretched friendships, and future plans. We discussed women in the church, economic development, academic freedom, race, theology, world events, politics, school policies, and culture. There were brownies or cookies when they were stressed, hot beverage or shopping dates, an available washing machine, an inviting trampoline, downloaded soccer games, and an endlessly entertaining cat. While we might not have been as close or connected as when we all lived in Carter together, The Kids occupied a huge place in our hearts.
Almost all of The Kids graduated this year, the last big batch of our close friends to finish their Covenant careers. And though many of them will be in Chattanooga next year, we will likely be in St. Louis. I have little doubt that these Kids will continue to grow into vital leaders in the church. They will change communities, affect their disciplines, minister abroad, pastor churches, and teach others. I will be outrageously proud of them.
Right now, though, I miss them.
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May 22, 2006
A Wedding of Sinners
Weddings are beautiful when the bride and groom are full of fresh, ecstatic love for each other.
Weddings are gorgeous when they are soaked through with a sober joy and an intimate knowledge of redemption's reach.
This past weekend, Noel and I witnessed the latter, and it was, indeed, deeply lovely. As individuals, the bride and groom had lived sharply different lives, but both had been shattered by sin's unrelenting destructiveness. Denial, loss, hopelessness, addiction. Bitterness, betrayal, desperation. In these lives, Christ took His quiet, tender love; He opened eyes, changed hearts, bound wounds, and placed hope inside aching, gaping holes.
And then, He gave each to the other.
He had restored them separately, but when He brought them together with brilliant grace, there seemed to be an explosion of new life. No one claims that this marriage will be blissfully smooth, but the grace they know is wrapped tightly around their hearts. Their love is humble but eager.
Because of these friends, Noel and I have come to understand better how completely and restoringly Christ loves the church. In turn, we have new knowledge of the call for our own marriage to reflect that love. It is a call to acknowledge our devastating failures and to sacrifice ourselves, making beauty in brokenness.
Redemption is gorgeous indeed.
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March 28, 2006
Roommates... in the Lord
Being known is a life-giving thing.
Our culture has great expectations for college friendships. These friendships, you are told, are the ones that will last forever. These are the friends you tell stories about for the rest of your life. And yet, forming these fabled relationships can be a bit tricky. In one sense, you become extraordinarily close, extraordinarily quickly because you seemingly cannot escape each other. You eat the same meals, share a bathroom, and see each other in pajamas. You begin to know every detail of each other’s daily life. But that’s where the struggle lies as well – you only know the details of daily life. College students are very much out of context. They are thrust into an entirely different location and mode of life, surrounded by strangers who know nothing of their past.
For some, this is exciting – a chance to recreate themselves however they want! For me, it was inordinately frustrating. I wanted people to know why I was who I was; I wanted them to know my family and my life long friends; I wanted them to know all the little victories in my life; I even wanted them to know my failures. Something, anything, that would hint at the grace that formed my person. Somehow, I forgot that I was still living -- still achieving, still falling, still being broken and rebuilt.
Into this new muck of life entered the girls who would become my roommates, walking with me, crying with me, confronting me, and affirming me. And then, suddenly, there were more of us, more than could live in just one or two rooms. Beth called us "Roommates in the Lord."
As I sat in Rachel and April's living room this past weekend, watching Betsy open pink bridal shower gift after pink bridal shower gift, I was surrounded again by some of the girls who know me best. Ironically, "being known" so well actually changed me. In many ways, my exuberant, tearful, honest, messy, confusing, giddy relationships with the Roommates in the Lord prepared me for marriage. I don't think that I actually knew *how* to love with such willing and self-aware commitment until I was loved by these girls. To different degrees and in different capacities, we pushed and waded and skipped through broken hearts, broken bodies, uncertain futures, dark pasts, academic trauma, new love, confused love, inside jokes, ridiculous stories, and personal victories. Now, three of us are married and two more are engaged. We have new, "grown up" lives in education, politics, counseling, recruitment, drama, and ministry. And, soon, we'll be proud aunts of the first Roomates in the Lord baby.
I suppose it would all be a sappy, Hallmark-worthy thing...if only it weren't so full of continuing aches, struggles, and questions. But, this is real. The hurt only reaffirms our reality as needy women at the foot of the Cross, the only place where we can ever be fully known.
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March 10, 2006
Reading a Theology of Art
I spent most of today sitting out on my trampoline, chomping away at my new pile of books-to-read-for-personal-and-professional-development. Noel and I are planning on going to the Wheaton Theology Conference (The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts)* in a few weeks, and, in preparation, I asked one of Covenant's Bible professors to suggest some pre-conference reading material.
He responded with a roughly three page bibliography.**
My trimmed -- and hopefully manageable -- list now contains:
Theology and Culture
Begbie, Jeremy. Beholding the Glory : Incarnation through the Arts. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000.
Dyrness, William A. Visual Faith : Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue, Engaging Culture. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001.
Holness, Lyn. Theology in Dialogue: The Impact of the Arts, Humanities, and Science on Contemporary Religious Thought. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman's Publishing, 2002.
The Trinity
Augustine. The Trinity. Translated by Edmund Hill, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century. Brooklyn, N.Y.: New City Press, 1991.
Vanhoozer, Kevin J. The Trinity in a Pluralistic Age. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman's Publishing, 1997.
Christology
Greene, Colin J. D. Christology in Cultural Perspective: Marking out the Horizons. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2004.
Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. The True Image: The Origin and Destiny of Man in Christ. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1989.
The idea, should you be wondering, is to think about framing a broader and more theologically rich view of the visual arts. Ever since I took Historiography and read "Traditional Christianity and the Possibility of Historical Knowledge" by Mark Noll, I've been fascinated by the idea that the key doctrine for understanding and participating in culture may be the Incarnation -- not just "God as Creator" or the cultural mandate, as Reformed folk often suggest.
So far today I've finished off the Begbie book and have waded a couple of chapters into Dyrness. Oh, graduate school. Could you really offer such cerebral pleasures on a daily basis?***
--- Footnotes ---
* If you would like to help us fund this endeavor, feel free to buy this fabulous pressure cooker that we have up for sale! Just in time for all those summer weddings you have to lug a gift to!
** Christology and Trinitarian theology are, after all, two of his primary areas of interest.
*** Well, not the theology side. But I could be paid to read all day, and that would be awesome.
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March 03, 2006
Echo, Wow, and Flutter
Echo, Wow and Flutter, 2000, Leaves, pills, photo-collage, acrylic. resin on wood panel, 84 x 120
Since being married, I have become more acutely aware of the odd collection of "ways that I am." There seems to be a push for people, particulalry in the Reformed community, to designate a specific "calling" as their primary focus. (I might blame this on a typically western need to create hierarchy.) For married women, it tends to go something along the lines of "being a wife/mother is your primary calling...and don't worry about where everything else goes because you probably won't have time anyway." I'm not sure what the representational graphic would look like, but I'm guessing that folks would either go with a stepladder or solar system arrangement.
Although Fred Tomaselli's collage "Echo, Wow, and Flutter" doesn't function particularly well as a theologically-correct diagram of relational, vocational, and spiritual calling, it does resonate with me as a quirky representation of my past week. This week, all the colorful, cherished, and sometimes separate strands of what I do and what I love overlapped into a dynamic explosion of, well, living.
I taught writing and tutored students. I studied German, read Gadamer, and discussed Heidegger and philosophical hermeneutics. I received good news from a graduate school. I designed invitations for a friend's wedding. I designed logos for a national homeschooling leadership organization. I planned paintings. I threw a party. I cooked meals. I baked bread. I visited with good friends. I wrote and sent out our church's weekly newsletter. I watched baseball while eating Cracker Jacks. I watched soccer while drinking beer. I swept our floors. I folded laundry. I bought a plant.
It was a fairly typical week, but it felt extraordinarily full and rich. Perhaps it was the particularly meaningful juxtaposition of being accepted by a graduate school... and then going home and cooking dinner. Domestic, scholarly, educational, artistic, and relational pursuits packed in tightly this week. And instead of crashing or elbowing for space, instead of me being forced to turn internal switches on and off, all the ways of being added depth and significance to each other.
It's not neat, it's not straightforward, and it's definitely not easy to unpack. But it is real -- incarnational, even -- and I want to live like that.
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February 22, 2006
Generosity in Contentment
God gives His mercies to be spent;
Your hoard will do your soul no good.
Gold is a blessing only lent,
Repaid by giving others food.
The world's esteem is but a bribe,
To buy their peace you sell your own;
The slave of a vainglorious tribe,
Who hate you while they make you known.
The joy that vain amusements give,
O! sad conclusion that it brings!
The honey of a crowded hive,
Defended by a thousand stings.
Oh fearful thought! be timely wise;
Delight but in a Savior's charms,
And God shall take you to the skies,
Embraced in everlasting arms.
-- William Cowper, "God Gives His Mercies to be Spent"
I enjoy Cowper; he is somehow able to articulate and answer the anxieties that I often weave about myself. The first two stanzas here just make sense to me. I'm learning to live the last two.
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February 16, 2006
"God Be With You Until We Eat Again"
Last night, Paige and I cooked two huge pots of Italian Sausage Soup as dinner for our hungry small (read, twenty something people) group. After everyone had finished eating and we settled down for our Bible study, our leader, Henry Henegar, remarked that eating together has an almost sacramental quality for Christians.
Henry reminded us that Jesus, after His resurrection, was recognized by his disciples when he "broke the bread" with them. And in Acts 2:42 we read, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." In the early church, food and fellowship were tied closely together; the daily reality of our physical need for sustenance intertwined with worship to the One who provides.
Noel and I both grew up in families that emphasized the ministry of food and hospitality. At my church in Honolulu, the congregational motto could be summed up as "God be with you until we eat again." Since getting married, Noel and I have made a practice of having Covenant students over for Sunday dinner on a regular basis. (Before he moved, our friend Jason alternated hosting duties with us.) It is not the most elegant of settings. With twelve of us packed around the table in our mismatched kitchen, demands for personal space fall to the wayside. But, we make a point of making the food special or, at the very least, a celebration of not being in the cafeteria. We've had a Chinese feast, a gourmet pizza extravaganza, spicy curries, savory soups and stews, and a spread of desserts. And the conversation always delights, rolling from smaller clusters to tablewide discussions on the day's sermon, politics, culture, the church, future plans, or tales of childhood derring-do. There is something intimate about feeding others. The food meets such a basic need, but somehow it also becomes a conduit of grace. There is rare concord in conviviality.
Not to say that it always comes naturally. My introverted self grows weary at the thought of my house flooding once again with people; my cautious purse balks at the thought of once again buying food for fourteen. But once I am cooking, I am delight again in a rejection of gnosticism and asceticism. The rhythm of cutting and preparation, the aroma of garlic and onions sizzling on the stove, and the steaming, colorful spread set on the table are good things, things rich with anticipation and joy. The food and companionship of Sunday dinners and Wednesday small groups foreshadow the greatest feast to come, the wedding banquet of Christ and His bride.
(I hope there's sushi there).
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February 13, 2006
Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Chuch: Gender and the Arts
The "faculty forum" on Gender and the Arts brought together art professors Jeff Morton and Kaybe Carpenter with English professors Pat Ralston, Gwen Macallister, Clif Foreman, and Jim Wildeman. Each gave a brief (okay, so Morty's wasn't that brief) statement and then the panel entertained questions from the audience.
Morton began by giving a brief visual history of 20th century feminist art. During a time when "pure form," minimalism, and literalism was all the rage, women artists reintroduced the body and the personal to art. Feminism, Morton argued, "can teach us something about how the Word became flesh." We have a God who is both God and human, and there is something significant in how that affirms the body. There is something about being human and exploring our differences.
Wildeman barked, "Imagine a life that you can live." When pressed to expand on this idea, he explained his fascination with Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre and how, in his view, it allows young women to imagine a life that they could live, a life where the heroine turns down two different men, once for moral reasons and once because her suitor "could not love her as she deserved to be loved." Reading such things, Wildeman argued, allows a young woman to say, "I can choose a path that is unpopular in my circles, but the important thing in the end is my integrity."
Ralston related some of her experiences in teaching Medieval and Renaissance Writers for the first time. Students, male and female, were amazed and skeptical that there were actually enough quality female authors during this time period to merit an entire course on their work. Through the course of the semester, Ralston was encouraged, however, by her students willingness to open the canon and to explore and champion these "hidden" writers. Too many students, Ralston said, think that feminism began in the 1960s and that it is a four letter word. The reality, though, is that many women throughout history have championed the cause of free speech and expression and development for women. We can all be taught by and find delight in these writings. The common notion is that we read in order to join the human race. If we want a clearer picture of the human race and hope to understand it in its wholeness, we need to be listening to the voices of men and women from the past and encouraging the publishing of women's voices from the past.
Carpenter began by framing the value of art. We know things by our experience, she said, and writers and artists give us a picture of experiences that we ourselves may never have. Thus, we need to hear (or see) women speak because it gives us a fuller picture of the human experience. Furthermore, the images that artists are creating affect what we expect of ourselves as men and women. The arts, whether we realize it or not, affects our views of gender and identity.
Macallister echoed Ralston and Carpenter, relating her own story of teaching 20th Century American literature and having a male student complain over how "many" female authors he had been required to read. (Four). She emphasized, too, the significance of reconsidering the canon.
Foreman mused on the strange contradiction that appears when we consider male and female writers: if women are generally considered to have superior verbal skills to men, then why have there been so many great male writers, given the fact that they are handicapped? He answered his own question. "Mainly because of a longstanding affirmative action program. We men engineered it so that we men got a better education than the women had... But, as we all know, affirmative action really doesn't work well." There have been a number of women writers that have snuck through and established themselves at being important in the American tradition (Anne Bradstreet, Phyllis Wheatly, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Emily Dickinson, etc.) So what do men do with the fact that some women have slipped through? They redefine literature so that writing by women can no longer considered "literary." For example, sentimentalism was painted as a cardinal sin of true literature. Women were essentially defined-out of the American canon. Foreman also made an interesting connection between our American "frontier culture" and American writer's inordinate fondness for writing about men. Thus, you have the likes of Washington Irving, Herman Melville, and Mark Twain, among others. Nathaniel Hawthore is an exception to this tendency, but his female characters were still tightly contained within the traditions of the "pure white maiden" or the "evil temptress." Not until Edith Wharton and Willa Cather did we begin to get great female characters. These characters are important because of what they teach us about ourselves as humans.
Though only a few of the questions that followed these statements were directly related to questions of the arts, one did stand out. A young woman asked, "How would you advise young women who are hoping to engage or become successful in the arts?" Carpenter answered, frankly, that sacrifice will be demanded. It's necessary, then, to define what success means to you. Is it being shown at the Whitney or balancing a productive career with motherhood? Most of the women at the top of the arts are either divorced or single and they rarely have children. Dr. Kapic, from the audience, made the helpful point here that men who are at the top of their disciplines often also sacrifice (or ignore) a family life. The issue of sacrificing marriage and family for the sake of career is not a question only for women. It is complicated, however, by the fact that motherhood is tied so closely to womanhood, while fatherhood is not considered a major component of masculinity. (I have more thoughts on this that will likely develop in a later post...)
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Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Chuch: Keynote 2
Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church
Covenant College
February 11, 2006
Frank James gave the second keynote address, unpacking the history of gender and the church. The "more serious the discussion and the debate," he prefaced, "the more important it is to have some sense of historical context." To this end, he began by reading a series of quotes about women from the early, medieval, and reformation church fathers. These were not inspiring words.
The Early Church on Women:
Origin: "Women are worse than animals because they are continually full of lust."
Tertullian: "You are the devil's gateway, you are the first deserter of the divine law, you destroyed so easily God's image: man." And also, "Mankind, not woman, is made in the image of God.
Augustine: "I don't see what sort of help woman was created to provide man, if one excludes procreation. If the woman is not given to man to bear children, for what help could she be? To till the earth? If man needed help for that, man would have been a better help for man. The same goes for comfort and solitude. How much better for two men to live together..." And also, "For woman is not the image of God. Man alone is the image of God."
At a regional theological conference in France, Catholic bishops and laymen came together to decide this question: "Are women human?" In the end, they voted, 32-31, in favor of the fact that women were human.
The Medevial Church on Women
Aquinas: "A woman cannot be trusted... prudent men, therefore, tell their wives as little as possible about their plans. A woman is a botched male and by comparison with him she possesses a defective nature. In short, one should be on guard against any woman as against a poisonous snake."
Otto of Clooney: "To embrace a woman is to embrace a sack of manure."
James paused here to make a caveat: there are always good men out there who do love their wives, but this is a discussion of the trends. And, as we entered the Reformation period, three major trends were evident:
1) women were routinely viewed as seductresses -- dangerous
2) women were inferior by nature
3) women are not made in the image of God
The Reformation Fathers on Women
Luther: "Although Eve was a most extraordinary creature, similar to Adam so far as the image of God is concerned, that is, in justice, wisdom, and happinesss, she was nevertheless a woman. For as the sun is more excellent than the moon (although the moon, too, is a very excellent body), so the woman, although she was a most beautiful work of God, nevertheless was not the equal of the male in glory and prestige.
Calvin: "Woman was created in the image of God but in a second degree."
At this point, the audience was reeling. Yet, as James pointed out, as Christians we are morally obligated to tell the truth even when the truth hurts. In this discussion, we will not be able to make progress unless we tell ourselves the truth. From these quotes, James drew several helpful observations.
First, history reminds us that all our heroes are flawed. The history of the church is full of examples of heroes with feet of clay. The Bible is profoundly honest about the frailty of the heroes of the faith. In the end, there is but one hero: the Lord Jesus Christ
Secondly, history reminds us that we have come a long way on the question of gender. At least we think women are image bearers now! Even better, we are no longer debating whether women are human. Given the history of the church, this is a big deal.
Third, history reminds us that Christian practice is often better than the principles that have been espoused. For example, although Augustine did not believe that women are not made in the image of God and saw her main role as a procreator, his autobiographical Confessions tell a seemingly contradictory story. It is a woman, his mother Monica, who played the central role in his life as a witness and spiritual warrior. Augustine specifically relates a time when he and his mother were praying together and had an extraordinary spiritual experience together, something that he always cherished. Martin Luther, too, said many harsh things about women. But, he loved his wife, Katie, dearly. Luther's whole conception of what marriage was changed the world. In fact, James suggested, "the reformation Luther wrought in the concept of marriage may have actually been greater than the revolution in doctrine." Luther stablished a new, non economic, reason for getting married: love. Furthermore, in his will, Luther makes Katie his executor, even though the practice of the time was to leave one's possessions to the nearest male relative. These men were often better in practice than principle.
Fourth, history reminds us that debate and controversy are not always bad. No one enjoys controversy, but God, in his mystery and wisdom has a way of using controversy to bring about advances for the kingdom. "God has made a practice in history of bringing light out of the darkness of controversy and debate."
Fifth, historically it seems that healthy debate enables us to ask more helpful questions For example, in the American church, the "racial" question has evolved radically over the last three centuries. It went from "Are African Americans property?" in the 1800's, to "Do they have the same civil rights as a white person?" in the 1960's, to "Can we blend our worship services and have African Americans and whites worshipping side by side in the same church?" Similarly, in the PCA, James said, our questions of gender have started to change: from "what are the limitations we place upon women in the local church?" to "What can women do?"
Sixth, and finally, history reminds us who the real enemy is. At this point, James may have been getting a little wired, because relating a post-Reformation controversy over the Lord's Supper he said, and I faithfully quote, "John Calvin got on his horsey," rode to Switzerland, and sat down with his counterpart in Zurich and came to an agreement, putting together a document that both could agree on. What motivated Calvin was the thought of how much he and this other man had in common versus the relatively small amount of differences. They also shared the same enemy.
James concluded, "In this discussion about gender, the enemy is not the complementarians or egalitarians, the ultimate enemy is the devil himself." We must not forget this in the midst of a serious debate that a spiritual battle is raging.
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Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church: Keynote 1
Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church
Covenant College
February 11, 2006
Carolyn Custis James presented a keynote address re-exploring the Bible's "blueprint" for women. She began be sharing the story of her personal struggle to reconcile the paradigm on which she had been raised and the realities of her own life. She had been planning on being a wife and mother, but it she had to wait a decade after graduating from college before she married. During this time, she realized that her theology really did matter. "What did it mean," she asked, "to be a woman, especially if you don't follow the usual path of being married and having children." Even after she was married, a battle with infertility and her husband's insistence that she use her theological training and gifts in the church forced her to ask, "Has God given a blueprint that is too small? One that doesn't fit all woman? Does God do His best and most important work through men?"
In unpacking this question, we begin, of course, with Eve, the first woman. "She is the lens through which we view our lives and the lives of women in Scripture." There are two main components to the prevailing understanding of Eve. The first is that Eve is often seen as "the temptress." If women are not kept in check, we will cause trouble in the church; men and women working together can only end in temptation. Secondly, we view Eve as a wife and mother, but we mistakenly assume that all women will be wives and mothers and we forget that someday the nests will empty or a woman may find herself widowed.
But, James argued, the Bible actually casts "a rich and expansive meaning for us as women." She presented three major things that God says about women. First, women are image bearers. We hear this so often that the shock has worn off, and yet this is the most important truth we can know about ourselves. Sometimes, James said, when we talk about gender as Christians, we are on the defensive from the culture. But, the Bible gives us a message about gender that "we need to go on the offensive with." In this paradigm of woman-in-the-image-of-God, feminism is a low view of women. "We are called to be like God, and there is no higher vision than that."
Secondly, women are to be an ezer. In Genesis, God says "it is not good for man to be alone; I will make an ezer (usually translated "helper") suitable for him." This word describing the woman is used 21 times in the Old Testament: twice for women, three times for nations, and 16 times for God. Some have proposed, given this usage, that the word be instead translated "strong helper." "What does that mean?" asked James. "Is she as strong as she wants to be? Is she strong, but without it affecting her rank?" A more thorough word study reveals that in the 3 occurences where the word is used regarding nations, it is used in a military context. Similarly, the 16 times it is used in relation to God, it is speaking of God as a warrior. Why, then, when we talk about women, do we put it solely in the context of "making babies"? It is appopriate to call a woman a warrior, argued James, because the world has always been a war zone. Other military language is used in the creation narrative: the man and woman are called to "guard" the garden and to "subdue" (meaning "conquer and defeat") the creation. This view of woman as warrior actually elevates both the man and the woman. It means that the man's need for a helper is not trivial and that the woman's call is vital. In this, "the vision that God casts for us is big enough to include every woman."
Finally, women are meant to participate in the blessed alliance. Although it is easy to become cynical about the "battle of the sexes," the Bible sees men and women working together as a "blessed alliance." This is "embedded in God's blueprint for humanity...God's image shines brighter when men and women work together" in relationship. In fact, man and woman were working together -- towards the common goal of cultural dominion and stewardship -- before men worked with other men or women worked with other women. This alliance was "lost in the fall but recovered in the gospel." The gospel not only forgives sins, but transforms relationships. Furthermore, this concept of the blessed alliance was advanced by Jesus in His ministry. Jesus engaged in deep theological discussions with women even when that was taboo in his culture. He called the Samaritan woman to proclaim the gospel to her village; He made known to a woman, first, His imminent arrival on earth; He entrusted a woman as the first eyewitness of His resurrection, even in a society where women were not accepted as witnesses in court. Mary of Bethany performed one of the first truly theological acts when she anointed Jesus' feet with oil in preparation for His sacrificial death. Such work with women continues to be modeled by the Apostle Paul. When Paul arrived in Philippi in Macedonia, the group he first ministered to was a gathering of women. Later, when he writes his epistle fo the Philippians, he thanks God "for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now." The only ones there from the first day were women. Women are described as standing side by side, fighting for the good news.
James concluded, "There is no such thing as a healthy body when only half of the body functions. It is as though we have put a tourniquet on the body of Chirst." Like our brothers, we are called to be like Christ, to be warriors for the gospel. What, then, is our vision for ourselves, for our community, and for our church?
Posted by elissa at 09:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 12, 2006
Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church: Historical and Sociological Dimensions
Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church
Covenant College
February 11, 2006
History professor Dr. Jay Green and sociology professor Dr. Matt Vos did a joint presentation on the historical and sociological context for considering gender and the church. Professor Vos framed the discussion by noting that Covenant is not one big Bible department. Instead, there is a multiplicity of disciplines and in each the joint questions are: how can Scripture help us understand our disciplines and how can our disciplines help us understand Scripture? Punning Radio Shack, Vos quipped, "You have questions, we have more questions." Our disciplines have enabled the right questions to be asked.
Dr. Green continued by presenting what became the central theological insight of this debate: human beings live out their callings in God's world as time and space bound creatures. Theologians are unequal to tackling this question of gender and the church without addressing the time and space bound worlds we inhabit.
But where do rules and roles for masculinity and femininity come from? The traditional answer, still preferred among many evangelicals is biological essentialism. This view suggests that we operate in a fixed, non-negotiable order rooted in natural, biological distinctions between male and female. There is an irreducible essence that defines our identities as men or women. THus, certain pre-determined characteristics are seen as God-given and to transgress these rules is "not only anti-social but unnatural."
In recent decades, though, this idea was questioned as it became obvious that these "rules" seemed to vary based on ethnic identity, class status, location, etc. It was increasingly difficult to deny that ideas of man and womanhood have changed over time. That is, manhood and womanhood have histories. Now, it is generally accepted that conceptions of gender are socio-historio specific, created rather than rooted in some eternal ideal. Humans, then are not merely "biological animals whose sense of meaning emerge from their nature." We receive our sense of what it is to be men and women from the times and places we are born. By affirming this, Green said, one does not render biology irrelevant. Rather, biological features help to inform -- but are not sufficient for completely explaining -- the ways that societies define roles for each gender.
Next, Green addressed the question "what is the difference between sex and gender?" Sex is a biological term, signifying the anatomical and physiological differences that separate men and women. Gender, on the other hand, signifies the various meanings, roles, codes, and symbols that society arbitrarily associates with one or the other of the sexes. It is important, Green noted, to make at least a mental distinction between the things imbued by nature and thsoe that are culturally imposed. If we don't, we "run the risk of baptizing arbitrary rules and roles as if they were God's design." We must beware of theological laziness that gives a narrow concept of biology the task of steering our callings and relationships. Perhaps, Green argued, "while typically claiming a self-evident model rooted in nature, we have actually accepted something that is at least as rooted in our times as those we are critical of."
Today, Green continued, there is a conservative obsession with the "imminent demise of America because of the feminization of the church." This concern has definite historical roots. In the early 20th century, evangelicals proclaimed that a weak, highly sentimental so-called feminine version of the faith had poisoned the church. They called for a strong, virile Christianity. Especially disconcerting to these men were depictions of Jesus as the sweet Savior, gentle and soft, "just a woman in a beard." They reacted by describing Jesus as young, muscular, and fiery, with "shoulders as broad as chest was deep," a man's man. Many modern evangelicals continue to support the rough and tumble model of Christian manhood, teaching that the church is endangered because of its "womanly character." Men must come alive because, as John Eldridge says, they have "a battle to fight, a beauty to rescue, and an adventure to live."
This view, Green cautioned, presumes there is little overlap in how men and women live their Christian lives. We must be honest and discerning when we speak of how much cultural baggage we bring us when we discuss issues of gender. Whatever our stance, we should agree that it should be rooted in the Scripture itself. Green concluded that Christian theology, then, is an "unnatural act." It is not uncovering "how things are" but a project of crafting a Christian identity.
Dr. Vos then submitted the notion that our socially structured world is full of tensions that we, as Christians, must recognize and wrestle with.
Tension #1: Reading and Interpreting
Egalitarians and traditionalists throw verses at each other whenever the opportuntiy arises. This belies our modernist tendency: a penchant for factoids. Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen points out that since the Bible was written by a variety of authors over a long period of time. She suggests that we understand the Bible as a developing narrative and that we can only grasp when we understand it in terms of its unfolding character. A factoid approach is inadequate. Vos wondered if, perhaps, the point is to pick up the narrative, not rotely repeat what has been done before. Of course, if we are going to do things differently, the qeustion is "how can we do them faithfully? How are faithful in a very different society?
Tension #2: Women and the Family
Where does the traditional family comes from? According to Vos, this is a debatable notion. In his view, it can actually be traced to macroeconomic changes in the workplace, sparked by the 19th century Industrial Revolution. Prior to the 19th century, the workplace and the home were essentially the same. The Industrial Revolution split the male/female and public/private domains. If we accept this, argued Vos, then it seems plausible that the family would continue to change as the work place continues to change. There is an increased ambivalence about where women should fit. But, "when we realize our roles reflect the structures of the world we inhabit, how are we supposed to follow the model in Scripture that is grounded in a completely different social structure?"
Tension #3: Women in the Church
Vos suggested that if we do accept essentialist arguments, it seems that women seem to exhibit those counter cultural traits that seem characteristic of a life led by the Spirit. For example, "gentleness" and "kindness," as listed in the fruit of the Spirit, are generally seen to be more typcially female characteristics. Womens seem to be gifted in things spiritual -- "yet we aren't quite sure what to with their gifts or willingness to serve because it doesn't fit with our idea of tradtiional church leadership."
Tentative Conclusion
The hinge is a matter of faith. Vos pointed to several contemporary thinkers who make some helpful suggestions.
Peter Berger cautions that a quest for certainty can eclipse faith. The chief secularizing argument in all spheres is rationality; as we rely more and more on rationality, we eclipse the spirit of God because we can solve our own problems. In such a world we have very little need for faith because we have edited out all mystery and ambivalence. But, Scripture shows us faith that is exercised in the face of mystery. We must live a life transcending the difficulties by faith.
Robert Wuthnow states, "Christianity does not so much supply the learned person with answers as it does with questions." Our faith leaves people with a set of unescapable questions. Most of Jesus' parables end with a question; it is the question that goes on to stimulate discussion and application. If Christianity sacrilizes the daily life, then living the question becomes possible because they have life breathed into them
Vos concluded with the caution that replacing mysteries with answers ends the struggle and replaces complexity with simplicity. This question of gender and the church requires a response of faith; it not a question we can simply solve and move past. "We can solve, avoid, or live the question. The last requires a life of faith....Faith must contain an element of uncertainty, otherwise it is not faith."
In the end, he offered an invitation to us to not resolve the question of gender and the church.
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February 10, 2006
Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church: Chapel Address
The Kaleo Conference on Gender and the Church is going on this weekend at Covenant College, with Frank and Carolyn James as the featured speakers. I have notes.
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"Masculinity"
Chapel Address by Frank James, President, RTS Orlando
Covenant College
Friday, February 10, 2006
Speaking from the perspective of an elder in a reformed church, Frank James explored the idea of Christian masculinity. (He also mentioned that he considered himself capable of speaking on the topic of masculinity since he is, in fact, a Texan.) Numerous lives, he said, have been ruined by a false understanding of what it means to be a Christian man.
In his early years as an elder, six couples in his relatively small church came in for counseling and, eventually, got divorced. The most painful and telling experience involved a former elder who claimed that his wife was "not submissive" while she argued that he was "a tyrant." Eventually, through the tearful testimony of the couple's daughter, the elder board realized that they all, James included, had been functioning on the assumption that the husband was right. They realized, James said, that as elders they had some unrealized gender issues.
In his years of counseling, James has seen a pattern: it was always the wife who initiated the counseling or divorce proceedings, always the husband that opposed or saw "no reason" to do so, and always the wife that pushed forward. Gender, James says, is very often at the center of how men and women relate in marriage. "Gender is not a theoretical question. It touches us where we live everyday." In many cases, it is rooted in a misconception of masculinity. Men seem to think that, as men, they need not take their wives' feelings or ideas seriously. In many counseling sessions, the common refrain from the husbands is, "I don't know what the fuss is about."
James explained that after reading many books on Christianity and gender and pouring over the Scripture passages generally associated with gender, he found an unexpected passage that jumped out at him: Galatians 5:22, 23. The Fruit of the Spirit. This, he says, is what the Christian man should be like. He should show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. The Fruit of the Spirit must inform our Christian understanding of masculinity and femininity. The call of Christ precedes the call as a male (or female). Thus, "who you are as a Christian must inform how you act as a male or female." The Fruit of the Spirit are not "feminine" qualities. When men read this passage, they often skim past traits such as "kindness" and "gentleness," but, James challenged, "you are not less of a man if you are kind and gentle."
James then focused on a view of Christian masculinity with which he disagrees but sees as gaining steam in the reformed community. An "unnamed" pastor wrote an "unnamed" book that purports: "the evangelical church has been feminized." The corrective to this "feminization" is a recovery of "the hardness of masculinity." Men are called to assert their authority and never before and enforce their will on their wives. James argued, however, that such a view is incompatible with Paul's list in Galatians 5. "I do not think 'hardness' is a Christian virtue."
He ended with charges to the young men and young women. He encouraged the men -- who are, at this time in their lives fixing their self-identity --
to embrace the virtues of Galatians 5:22, 23. He reminded the women that their own conceptions of masculinity has "huge implications on the kind of men you will marry" and challenged them to shape their expectations according to Galatians 5:22, 23. He concluded: "marriage may be where gender matters most."
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February 09, 2006
Serrano's Challenge: What Christians Can Learn From "Piss Christ"
While I think that John Piper makes a helpful theological observation in his February 8th article, I wonder if his application is a bit too simplistic. Piper says:
The work of Muhammad is based on being honored and the work of Christ is based on being insulted. This produces two very different reactions to mockery.
After summarizing the divergent Muslim and Christian views of Christ and emphasizing the theological necessity of a humiliated Savior, Piper gives several modern examples of how the (expected) mockery of Christ continues to this day. I haven't watched or read enough to comment on two of his examples, but his mention of Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" is a misapplied criticism.
In 1989, the exhibition of "Piss Christ," a nuanced and richly hued photograph described succinctly by conservatives as "a crucifix submerged in the artist's urine," caused an uproar. Piper fails to mention the evangelical response -- in America and abroad -- to "Piss Christ," a reaction that was far from humble, loving, or winsome. Senator Jesse Helms's diatribe on the Senate floor is well known. The Senator declared that Serrano was "not an artist, he [was] a jerk," and railed, "Do not dishonor our Lord. I resent it and I think the vast majority of the American people do too." Large, not always peaceful, protests were staged, museums that exhibited the piece received numerous bomb threats, and the artist himself received violent warnings. The picture was called a disgrace, irreverent, and profane. But, especially now, we Christians prefer not to think about all that.
We also tend to ignore Serrano's own explanation of his artwork. In an open letter to the NEA, Serrano wrote:
The photograph, and the title itself, are ambiguously provocative but certainly not blasphemous. Over the years, I have addressed religion regularly in my art. My Catholic upbringing informs this work which helps me to redefine and personalize my relationship with God. My use of such bodily fluids as blood and urine in this context is parallel to Catholicism's obsession with "the body and blood of Christ." It is precisely in the exploration and juxtaposition of the symbols from which Christianity draws it strength.
Perhaps in our hurry to be "afflicted" and "insulted," we Christians thoughtlessly assumed that "piss" and "Christ" could not be juxtaposed in a meaningful or reverential fashion. Do we really believe that God became man and participated in all the disgusting, filthy, and thoroughly human stuff that makes up our daily existence? If so, if we do believe in a humiliated Christ, then Serrano's work can actually become convicting... even devotional. God Incarnate means God wallowing in our waste. What if this image was not an attack on our faith, but a challenge to those who claim it? What if we failed? What if we, too, have a history of refusing an insulted Savior?
So, yes, Christians have good theological reasons to react differently than Muslims in the face of humiliation. The reality, though, is that our doctrine often does not inform our actions. We, too, have wrongly tried to preserve a shell of honor, even when true grace springs from ignominy.
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November 02, 2005
Sin Strongly
If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.
Reading Luther always reminds me of how lightly I often take my sin. He pins me, ashamed, when he connects my flippancy with a correspondingly low view of mercy. How odd -- but how needful -- to pray for the grace to "sin strongly." It is not a call to sin more egregiously, but to believe all my sins to be egregious rather than trifling; apart from His illuminating mercy I would not even recognize the strength of my own nature.
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September 20, 2005
Hurt
It's fall, a season still so novel to me that it always inspires delight. But, this year, autumn seems to have brought something else along with the rusting leaves and cooling air. There's a vague ache, a persistent soreness of the soul. This year, my life is lightly touching or softly brushing by lives of others that are soaked in painful loss. Some hurts are recent, others are years old but still throbbing.
Mrs. Duble, Noah's grandmother, has asked me several times in recent weeks: "Does this make you and Noel scared? Troy and Sarah were like you and Noel, with everything going for them. Does it scare you to think this could happen to you?" Anticipating the hurt makes me wince, but I tell her, honestly, that I'm not afraid.
In his book The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis says this about the nature of love:
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket --safe, dark, motionless, airless-- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.
As I've listened to and watched the responses of "those who mourn," it's clear that they would never trade loving and knowing the person they lost for a painless existence. They risked -- and experienced -- tragedy, but escaped damnation. In loving and being broken, they became more like Jesus who, because He knew the Father completely, suffered unimaginably when the Father's face turned away. These friends have also resisted the temptation to protect themselves from further injury. Even as they wrestle with the void of their loss, they persist in take risks with their hearts by continuing to long and love.
When I pray for these people I am humbled. It is an honorable joy to intercede for ones who have silently and unknowingly given me courage by walking in obedient faith.
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August 31, 2005
Help for PCA folk affected by Katrina
From Covenant's all-campus announcements:
"This is a big blow to Southeast Louisiana Presbytery. We may have lost three churches, two church plants and a Ministry. They are: Desire Street Fellowship plant, Desire Street ministries. Three Rivers Presbyterian Church in Covington, Trinity Presbyterian in Slidell, Redeemer Church plant in New Orleans, and Grace Presbyterian Church, Metarie. The fate of all of these is unknown at this time. Life around here has changed for a while. Pray that we will minister and the church should during this lengthy event."
PCA members will be able to provide assistance for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Mission to North America will oversee disaster relief through Ron and Judy Haynes, who will coordinate PCA volunteer efforts. Many types of skills and time commitments will be needed once the assessment of needs is completed. To register to volunteer, go here. You can also e-mail Ron and Judy: rhanes [at] pcanet [dot] org.
Financial donations are also needed. It is anticipated that there will be needs for months to come for direct assistance to PCA families and for relief operations expenses. Donations can be sent by check to MNA designated for Hurricane Relief to 1700 N. Brown Rd., #101, Lawrenceville, GA 30043, or by credit card online. Donations of food, clothes, etc., for now, should be made to other organizations that are making appeals for immediate needs.
And claim the promises of Psalm 46 for everyone still reeling from this disaster.
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August 12, 2005
Updates on the Duble Family
Look at Josiah's blog and at Covenant's update page for more information about the Duble's. This sweet, personal tidbit is from an e-mail from Pastor Eric to the Rock Creek congregation:
I was thankful to encounter the joyful relief of hearing Kyra in the background as Troy was discussing songs that we ought to sing at the funeral. “Nothing but the Blood”, Kyra inserted, “because,” chimed in Troy, “Noah loved to sing that song.” Troy wanted me to distribute his and Sarah’s shared gratitude for your continuous pleading to Jesus for them and their Kyra. “She’s not acting afraid to talk about him (Noah).” Please continue praying for this little girl who is enduring the large, unsettling notion of facing a future without her best friend."
Join us in praying for and with the Duble family, 6:30pm, tonight at Rock Creek!
--- edit ---
A memorial service for Noah Duble will be held at 4:00 pm, Sunday, August 14, 2005 at Rock Creek Fellowship. Map.
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August 10, 2005
Pray for Noah Duble!
The details are still sketchy but the what we do know is frightening. Please cover little Noah Duble in prayer tonight!
The whole family is out of state right now, and Noah apparently had some sort of accident -- possibly hitting his head -- while swimming. He was taken to the emergency room unconscious and on a respirator. The last report we received was that they had cleared out his breathing passages, but he was still unconscious and his lungs were full of water. His condition and prognosis are very, very uncertain.
Pray that God would be working in Noah's body through every person that touches him. Please pray for strength, active peace, and miraculous faith for every member of the Duble family, for freedom from fear, from guilt, and from doubt. Pray that God would grant a true and deep belief when we pray, with pregnant repetition, "Thy will be done."
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by. . . .
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
Psalm 57:1, 3
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August 01, 2005
Opinion Anorexia: The Lure of a Low-Calorie Intake of Alternate Perspectives
If you've been keeping up with The Husband's blog, you've probably read his response to Doug Phillip's essay "Harry Potter and the Lavender Brigade." You may also have read the responses that Doug himself received. And if you did all that, then you probably, gentle reader, noticed the paucityof disagreement from his readers. The choir answered in soaring tones with resounding "amens."
Not that it comes as much of a surprise.
After all, you sign up for e-mail newsletters from people that you trust; you subscribe to magazines that interest you; you buy cd's of lectures from people you respect. When it comes to our money and our time, we often (and I might say understandably so) equate "stewardship" with a strict information-consumption diet of conservative media and a few carefully-chosen Christian commentators. But even within the Christian sphere of cultural-analysis there are a slew of choices, ranging, perhaps, from Doug Phillips-like folk on the vanilla end, World Magazine and friends in the strawberry section, and Relevant Magazine holding down the chocolate. So I like chocolate. I buy chocolate. I don't buy vanilla. Makes sense, right?
It makes so much sense, actually, that I'm fairly confident in suggesting that your run-of-the-mill evangelical is not the only or prime culprit. Opinion anorexia affects all political, religious, and moral persuasions. It's in our nature to desire affirmation. With the constant spray of information shot at us each day, it's simply easier to read people that you feel like you can wholeheartedly trust. There's even, as Richard Posner recently posited in a New York Times essay, economic reasons for the growing movement away from the middle and towards the ends of the political continuum.
Of course, our prediliction for a certain course of action hardly makes it right.
The point of all of this reading should be to fufill at least a three-fold calling:
- a calling to be humble; to recognize my own blindness and the vanity of ever believing that I have attained whole truth
- a calling to be a culture-maker; "subduing the earth" can only happen if we engage the earth
- a calling to be a student of theology; that means reading the Bible itself, not just what other people say about the Bible
And that leaves me with a bundle of questions. I read the New York Times, Salon, and Relevant and listen to NPR; does active humility mean thoughtfully reading Vision Forum as well? (Yech. It's easier to read to my left than to my right.) If I believe that multiple perspectives are an invaluable resource, then how do I encourage other friends and family to consume a multi-course media meal? How do you write and speak with conviction, while encouraging your audience to sift you with the Word of God? How do we consume a hearty, ranging diet of opinions and analysis that strengthens instead of bloats us?
I don't know. But I don't think a skinny mind will do.
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July 25, 2005
Gospels Opposed
No matter how many times you may have discussed and even prayed about the plague of the "prosperity gospel," there is something deeply unsettling about hearing a secular news report on the phenomenon right before you walk into your own church on Sunday morning.
NPR's story focuses on the Neno Evangelism Center in Nairobi, where Pastor James Ng'ang'a plays the electric guitar, performs healings, and tosses money into the crowd as part of the regular Sunday service. Pastor Ng'ang'a points to his personal testimony -- growing up as a street child, serving time in prison, being saved, beginning his preaching career on a bicycle, and now rising to be one of the richest pastors in Africa -- as a model of the change that Christianity can effect. Evidence of his faith and God's blessing can be seen in the $300,000 price tag of his new car.
In a poor city on the poorest continent, there is "little desire to hear about the righteousness of the poor," says the reporter, matter-of-factly. Pastor Ng'ang'a offers a solution to their destitution: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ... and you will be rich and healthy. Perhaps in a country this poor, the reporter concludes, such inspiration and rejuvenation is what is needed most.
Is the gospel of Jesus just a sweepstakes ticket or a bribe?
I entered the church building with a queasy stomach and aching heart, only to be joyfully startled by a different gospel, a gospel of tenderness and tenacity exploding in the life of Marilyn. Our summer Sunday School has simply been different church members recounting the faithfulness of God in their lives. Yesterday was Marilyn's turn.
Jesus came through a neighbor who loved Marilyn's battered soul. The neighbor did not promise solutions to Marilyn's crumbling marriage, material discontentment, or pervading desperation; she simply lived and spoke the love of Jesus. Marilyn's life before and after her conversion was peppered with personal losses, marital struggles, and intense trials. The difference, simply, was that she had Jesus. She never got the material possessions that she had so desired earlier in life. Her daughter's brush with death revealed Marilyn's inability to ensure security for her family. Her husband eventually became a Christian, but even that, she said laughingly, just showed us how sinful we both were! Her tears were almost fierce as she told her story; they were packed with the core-shaking conviction that Jesus had changed her not her situation.
Hers is simply the prosperity of a soul forgiven. Her Savior is one whose blessings have eternal significance, not earthly expiration dates.
So today I'm praying with renewed energy for those friends I have who are working in Africa with honest love, confident that God will propser their ministry in a way unknown to Pastor Ng'ang'a. The complex reality of Jesus' gospel and Satan's cancerous twists of those promises can hardly be boiled down to these two opposing stories. But preaching such a loveless gospel to the poor will only perpetuate an economically-defined self and never plumb the depths of their need.
"Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." -- John 4:14
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July 13, 2005
Midwestard Ho!
This past weekend I discovered the midwest. Although I do not originally hail from either mainland coast, I admit that the midwest has long been a mythical place to me, one of corn fields, cows, and casseroles, and a destination that never figured prominently in childhood dream vacations. Still, I went. And it was good. This trip was a "socialization tour" of sorts (in the interpersonal rather than economic sense), the presentation of the bride to Noel's sometimes-hometown of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
The Journey
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix chapters heard: 26
- Favorite sign: Toad Suck Park
- Funny looks from semi drivers as we filled the Jetta up at the huge diesel pumps: 8
- Greatest discovery: There's a Jack in the Box in north Nashville!
The Midwest
- Biggest surprise: The gigantic Wal-Mart freezer building that's recently been built outside of Bartlesville and looms with menacing iciness as you drive closer
- Biggest bonus: The Casselberry's pool is salt, not chlorine, water!
- Strange resemblance: The contents of the Casselberry's library are eerily similar to that of my parents' in Hawaii
- Favorite repeated comment: "Well, we've heard so much about you, ever since Paige gave her approval."
- Blenders received: 2 (albeit they each have their own specialty)
- Favorite "I've heard so much about it and now I've finally seen it" moment: The Starr's backyard, with its five storage sheds, one of which is equipped with a rain gutter and two of which have spotlights.
- Coolest gift received: Yummy loose leaf tea from Becky and Ryan.
Upon Returning Home
- Cockroaches killed in our absence: 3 (we're a little disappointed)
- Unexpected backyard occurence: The blackberries are ripe!
In the eternal child-development question of nature vs. nurture I tend to pull more strongly to the side of "nurture;" your atmosphere and companions are an incredibly shaping force. Visiting Noel's high school haunts, meeting people that mentored and played with him, and worshipping at his old church all tie me a little more closely to Noel as he is now. The binding twist of marriage seems to be extending backwards, too, like strings wrapping around themselves. The sovereign God who ordered our entire lives now graciously lets us joy in His faithfulness by allowing us to know and love people in each other's pasts.
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July 05, 2005
Cut & Paste: Christianity Meets The Mash-up?
The Husband's latest issue of Wired has The Gorillaz on the cover and a chunk o' fun inside devoted to "remix culture." At this point, "remix culture" might be a rather tame title for the footloose frenzy of sampling, fan-edits, and unpretentious appropriations that are appearing on blogs as bootlegs and in museums as masterpieces. Today is not a good day to worry about recurring bouts of deja vu.
Though announcing, "mash-up, discuss!" could spawn countless conversations in innumerable directions, I just want to wonder about one thing: what could a theological framework for derivative art look like?
Continue reading "Cut & Paste: Christianity Meets The Mash-up?"
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June 30, 2005
A Cup of Water in the Night
Sometimes I wake up in the morning with a definitive desire to reread a particular old book. Usually it's just a chapter or a certain section, whatever piece allows me to relive that moment when, during the initial reading, I realized that this was a good book. Today, it was Sheldon Vanauken's A Severe Mercy:
And there was the principle of courtesy: whatever one of us asked the other to do -- it was assumed the asker would weigh all consequences -- the other would do. Thus one might wake the other in the night and ask for a cup of water; and the other would peacefully (and sleepily) fetch it. We, in fact, defined courtesy as 'a cup of water in the night.' And we considered it a very great courtesy to ask for the cup as well as to fetch it.
When Vanauken and his wife conceived this graceful idea they were still unbelievers. Only later did they learn that, when breathed through by the Spirit, to render such unquestioning acts of service is to minister to Jesus Himself. "I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was stranger and you welcomed Me." -- Matthew 25:35
(And you can bet this is going in to the slew of wedding cards I need to write in the next couple of weeks...)
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June 16, 2005
Kathleen Nielson Rocks My Socks Off
Pastor Eric was right. General Assembly is like Christmas for the PCA.
I’ve fully enjoyed my stint as an unapologetic seminar-glutton for the past few days. Despite the breadth of seminars being offered, I somehow managed to create neat pairs each day: heard Ligon Duncan twice on Tuesday, thought long and hard about visual culture (Morty and Kickasola) on Wednesday, and got all excited about being a woman on Thursday (Nielson and James).
Right before I graduated from Covenant and as I frantically wondered how concurrent desires for graduate school and marriage could possibly coexist, I met with Kathleen Nielson over coffee and tea. I was hungry to pick the mind of a woman so obviously intelligent and so obviously enthralled with being a loving mother and utterly supportive wife. She, of course, responded with wisdom, compassion, honesty, and Word-filled encouragement.
In her seminar “Voices Young Women Are Hearing,” Dr. Nielson spoke to older women in the church, summarizing and distilling the conversations she has had with young women such as me. Speaking as an observer, not an expert (after all, she has three sons!), she sifted out three main issues of concern and suggested a directions for finding a biblical answer for each.
For our struggles with body image, she challenged us to learn and live a theology of the body’s whole story, from creation as an image-bearer to the promise of restoration at the end of time. Living “in light of our eternal hope” reveals the utter foolishness of making our bodies ‘the thing.’ For our fear that intellectual gifts and marriage/motherhood must be pitted against each other, she reminded us that God gives His gifts and callings with sovereign kindness. If we are faithful, our gifts will always be put to use in whatever calling we answer. For our bewilderment over where we belong in the church, she demanded that we learn and do theology. Women need to be students of the Word, eagerly digging into its wisdom and letting ministry grow from that foundation.
I left her a note as I filed out of the seminar room: “I wanted you to know that your advice [from last May] has panned out….Growing my mind is growing our marriage. God’s callings are complimentary, never contradictory.”
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