Primal Prayer
I don't think I've read a better blog post on ministry than this one. I get emails and see tweets linking blog posts about ministry growth all the time. I'm tired of them. But I'm refreshed by Jon Tyson's approach to ministry.
You're Invited
Today, I got to live an illustration of God's grace. I didn't extend grace. It was given to me. Some of you might find my use of the word "grace" tenuous but hang with me anyway. I won't tell the whole story but Ellsworth Kalas invited me to lunch today. If there is a more concrete example of "unmerited favor" in my life this week, I can't think of it (though several are close while I'm here at Asbury.) If you don't know who Dr. Kalas is, he is an author, a preacher, a beloved professor of preaching, and a past president of Asbury Seminary who guided the seminary through a tumultuous time like a pastor. I know it sounds like bragging, but I can't help it. He invited me. I experienced that as love and grace. I can't do anything for Dr. Kalas. Having lunch with me is doesn't provide him with anything special. For me, though, it is a thrill. I will benefit. I will remember it. It's a gift that I didn't earn or deserve. Dr. Kalas gave me a very gracious invitation to join him.
In the American church, we often speak of beginning a relationship with Jesus in this way: "I invited Jesus into my heart." There are a lot of reasons I don't like this idea. For one thing, we are called to follow Jesus, not ask him into our lives and forget that he is there. Another reason I don't like the idea of inviting Jesus into our hearts is because there is often an initial thrill associated with that moment that often fades out quickly. This is really different than actually following Jesus who invites us to do just that. Think of it this way, what do we do when we invite another person to join us for a meal or an activity and they agree? There might be a thrill if they say yes, or maybe some stress in getting the house ready or in making restaurant arrangements. After that, what? We might occasionally remember the time spent together. It might even be a fond memory, but does it really make a difference in the grand scheme of our lives?
What about the invited person? From this afternoon, I can tell you it's thrilling, it's humbling, and it comes with the experience of being loved. Think about how you feel when you are invited to participate in something by one or more people. Don't you feel grateful? Don't you feel loved? The reality of the Christian life is that we do not invite Jesus into our hearts. Jesus invites us to follow him. Jesus invites us into his life. Undeserving people who have nothing to offer the Creator King respond to that invitation with gratefulness, humility, and a whole heart. This kind of response is the kind of life I desire. What an invitation!
First Fruits
During the past few years I've read blog posts written by some of my Calvinist friends about some of the old Puritan writings that were shaping their souls as they read. These books were written by people I'd never heard of before like Richard Sibbes, Andrew Bonar, Thomas Brooks, and others. At the time I lamented the fact that my friends were able to drink deeply out of their own tradition while I had little outside of John Wesley and Francis Asbury - they are no slouches but they are only two. I assumed, incorrectly, that there weren't any inspiring older resources out of the Methodist tradition that could do the same for me. I had a bunch of Francis Asbury Society titles, which are great, but nothing that went back much farther than the last twenty or thirty years. Where are those resources?
Thankfully, Seedbed now provides that which I've been looking for. In cooperation with Asbury Seminary we now have available a new set of resources that satisfies my desire and nourishes my soul. It's called First Fruits and they are free PDF versions of titles from people like Henry Clay Morrison (founder of Asbury Seminary) and J.C. McPheeters. I hope you'll go there, download some of them, and read. I can't wait to see what comes next.
Round Two
Tomorrow, long before the sun comes up, I will travel to the airport to begin my journey back to Asbury Seminary for my second round of classes for the Beeson Program I started last summer. A lot has happened since I went for the term last year. The people who were strangers to me on that first day are now family. I don't say that tritely. They are brothers and a sister I dearly love and cannot wait to see again. We've texted, emailed, communicated on Facebook, and even Skyped. We've prayed for and with each other. We've encouraged one another. I can't believe that God has blessed me as much as he has.
On top of all this, we begin a new adventure with new classes, new people to meet, and even a trip to Seattle the last week. I'm excited. I will miss my wife and daughter dearly, but thankfully they are going to come see me the second week to break up the drought of their presence in my life which will be a nice change from last year.
I don't know who reads my blog, but I hope that you will pray for me, my family, and my classmates as we continue our journey together to grow as people, followers of Christ, and pastors.
My blog posts from school last summer:
High Calling
I was given a tract when I graduated from seminary from the Francis Asbury Society that I've kept with me for ten years. I don't think they print it any more, but someone posted the content online and I thought I'd share it as it's been an important reminder for me from time to time.
So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you. God will take you at your word; if you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot. Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others are not dealt with. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.
Thursday Link Round-up
Some more links to check out.
- Discipleship for Grownups By Stephen Rankin.
- Matt O'Reilly links to some Francis Absury Society videos on Arminian Theology.
- Another link from Matt, this time one he shared on Twitter on intellectual virtue.
- Finally, are you a clergy nerd? You might enjoy this episode of the Systematic podcast. It's great podcast, especially if you're a Mac/iOS user, but this week's episode features TUAW contributor and Presbyterian pastor TJ Luoma.
Wesleyan-Holiness Digital Library
Oh my, friends. This is an amazing resource and I encourage you to read through the works available to download. Happy reading.
Some good links to check out
In order to keep my blogging drought to a minimum, I'm reposting good reads I've come across lately. Enjoy these.
- Matt Judkins on What really happens when we pray?
- Bishop Mike Coyner shares some good things he learned from some African Methodists. I'm a big fan of African Christians. Good observations.
- Another solid post on social holiness. It might not be what you think.
- A good reminder about loving people and keeping a reviewable record of those we serve and connect with.
Pastoral Care and Wesley’s Methodism
This is just excellent. Andrew Thompson takes a look at how John Wesley cared for his societies and makes some important points about pastoral care and discipleship.
Faith in Action: Is doctrine making a comeback in Methodism? - The United Methodist Reporter
Andrew Thompson writes an encouraging post on the "comeback" of doctrine in the United Methodist Church. I welcome this kind of renewal.
Recommended Resources for Wesleyan Theology | Vital Piety
Kevin Watson provides links to some great resources for getting into Wesleyan theology if that sort of thing interests you (it does me). Andrew Thompson persuaded me to buy the collection of Wesley's sermons Kevin lists first, but I'm also looking forward to Collins' collection coming out in August.
The water is fine
One of my favorite movies is the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou?. One scene always makes me smile and that’s when the escaped convict Delmar tries to convince the other two-thirds of his group to jump in the waters of baptism by exclaiming, “C’mon in, boys, the water is fine!”. I grew up in the South but I never witnessed a crowd of people going into a river for baptism. I only saw pictures of days gone by.
Since August of 2012 I have baptized nine youth or adults by immersing them completely in water, one of them in a portable baptismal and the rest in the flowing waters of the surrounding country. I am a cradle Methodist and an elder in the United Methodist Church. I had never seen an immersion baptism done by a Methodist until I was 27 years old and almost one year into my first appointment as a pastor. In the last five years of my current appointment, I have baptized 15 people by immersion. It thrills me to see people respond to Jesus’ call to “follow me” and ask, “what shall we do?” like the people who heard Peter’s Pentecost sermon in Acts 2. I tell them the same thing Peter said, “Repent and be baptized.” So, that’s what they’ve done.
As I baptize more and more people by immersion, people ask me “Why are you immersing them? We are Methodists and I thought it was the Baptists who immerse people.” It’s a fair question. Given our demographics and decline as a denomination in the last forty-five years, I suspect that many United Methodists have never seen one of their own baptized by immersion. Many United Methodist Churches do not see even one baptism a year and as paedobaptists (infant baptizers), it is even more rare to see a person baptized by immersion[1]. So, I want to answer the question that has been raised in my church and for all of us who call ourselves United Methodist.
On page 81 of the United Methodist Book of Worship, we read:
United Methodists may baptize by any of the modes used by Christians. Candidates or their parents have the choice of sprinkling, pouring, or immersion; and pastors and congregations should be prepared to honor requests for baptism in any of these modes. (Emphasis mine)
A Methodist might think immersion is what the Baptists do (as if what our Baptist brothers and sisters do is repulsive to us - it’s not - but that’s a topic for another post), but as our Book of Worship notes, we can and do practice baptism by immersion. Those who think immersion “isn’t Methodist” are wrong and one doesn’t have to look too hard to find instances in which John Wesley or Francis Asbury supported this practice[2]. As far as I’m concerned, if they did it, that’s as Methodist as it gets and I’m proud to stand as one of their spiritual and ministerial heirs.
This is a cut and dried case as far as our worship practices go as a denomination, but that’s not the answer I typically give when I’ve been asked this question. When asked, “Why are you immersing people?” I usually respond by saying, “Because the Holy Spirit is working in the hearts of the people of our church.” That’s a much better answer because that’s exactly what is happening. The love of God is poured into hearts (“shed abroad” in Wesley’s King James Bible) “by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5).The Spirit calls men and women, making alive those who are dead in their trespasses, and makes them new creations. Since they’ve never been baptized before, we baptize them because through baptism they are initiated into Christ’s holy church. That is an amazing thing and I rejoice in it.
The confusion as to why Methodists are immersing people points to something else altogether. The reason adult baptism by immersion is so alien to our congregations is because we do not see dead people come to life through the grace of God given to us by the atoning work of Christ on the cross, the power of the resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We assume that everyone around us is a Christian or that they go to church so we shouldn’t bother them. Our assumptions are wrong and when we share the good news of Jesus Christ with our neighbors and even those in our worship services there is no predicting how God might work and move in our hearts.
I want to perform more baptisms by immersion because I want to see people come to faith in Jesus Christ and follow him for the rest of their lives. This is what we’ve been called to do and we must be faithful.
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Adult baptisms by immersion are not only rare because we baptize infants, but also because we do not re-baptize anyone. Re-baptism is a chargeable offense in our Book of Discipline. ↩
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From memory, there are a couple of accounts concerning immersion in the southern Methodist churches in Wigger’s biography of Asbury, but since it’s at my house you’ll just have to get a copy for yourself and look it up. ↩
Disappearing Faith
So all evangelistic work depends on the ministry of people who themselves have a strong faith. But can we always count on that in the church?
It’s not always clear that those in the church have a strong faith. That’s true even for some people who did have a strong faith in the beginning.
A big part of John Wesley’s own concern was around the danger of “dissipation.” He used that word to describe what can happen to faith when it is not continually nurtured over time. Neglected faith can dissipate like a pool of water under a glaring sun.
Friend and colleague, Andrew Thompson, writes a thought-provoking post about cultivating a vibrant faith
Jesus, Priceless Treasure
Jesus, priceless treasure,
source of purest pleasure,
truest friend to me,
long my heart hath panted,
till it well-nigh fainted,
thirsting after thee.
Thine I am, O spotless Lamb,
I will suffer naught to hide thee,
ask for naught beside thee.
In thine arms I rest me;
foes who would molest me
cannot reach me here.
Though the earth be shaking,
every heart be quaking,
Jesus calms our fear;
sin and hell in conflict fell
with their heaviest storms assail us;
Jesus will not fail us.
Hence, all thoughts of sadness!
For the Lord of gladness,
Jesus, enters in.
Those who love the Father,
though the storms may gather,
still have peace within;
yea, whate'er we here must bear,
still in thee lies purest pleasure,
Jesus, priceless treasure!
-Johann Franck United Methodist Hymnal 532
Smart Playlists in iTunes and Dr. Kinlaw
My last post contained what's becoming an increasingly popular link among the #andcanitbe crowd on Twitter. That link was to Dr. Dennis Kinlaw's sermon page and in the spirit of sharing wonderful online goodies, I thought I'd share a trick I picked up reading Merlin Man's smart playlist tutorial for iTunes.
This may not be that important for many of you but if you're a regular iTunes user and especially if you're using iTunes Match for your music library you'll find this advice helpful. I'm using iTunes Match and one of the great things about Match and the sermon archive I linked in the first paragraph is that the bit rate on the downloaded files is higher than 96kbps which means they are eligible for Match. That's great news. What's not great news is that if you're like me, you probably won't be running or driving your vehicle enough a span of time that will allow you to listen to a whole message (they are close to an hour a piece). No problem, right? You'll just pause the message and listen to it later. The problem with that is that on iOS devices the music player doesn't always remember where you paused it. That's a frustrating problem that I've not found a solution for. What I have done is to try and mitigate that frustration at least a little.
Many times I'd scan through the list of messages and pick one but if I paused in the middle of it and came back to the music player later I'd even forget which message I'd started to listen to or which messages I'd already listened to. What to do? Thanks to smart playlists in iTunes I've figured out a listening pattern that I can live with. What I did was to create a smart playlist in iTunes I called "Unplayed Kinlaw". In it I set a rule that the artist must be "Dr. Dennis Kinlaw". That put every message into this particular playlist. But, I wanted to eliminate messages that I had already listened to so I set another rule "Plays is 0". Starting at the top of that playlist I'll listen to the next message in the queue. When I've completed it, the message magically disappears from the playlist.
What happens here is that even if the music player forgets where I paused a message, I can scrub forward until I roughly find the place where I paused it and since I'm listening in order I know it's always the message at the top of the playlist.
It may not be pretty or even all that helpful, but it's cut down on my frustration in trying to listen to these wonderful messages from one of my spiritual heroes.
A Book Recommendation for Wesleyan-minded People
This isn't a book review but it is a recommendation. The reason it's not a review is that I need to reread it. No, I must reread this book. The book is Prayer: Bearing the World as Jesus Did by Dennis Kinlaw who is one of the founders of the Francis Asbury Society and former president of Asbury College (now University). I would rank Dr. Kinlaw as the most influential Christian in my life even though we've never met. I've read nearly all his books (I'm working through two right now) and I've downloaded for free a slew of his sermons from Sermon Index. No one I know has challenged my thinking and my heart the way this man has and I thank God for his witness.
I would have purchased this new book for no other reason than the fact that Dr. Kinlaw wrote it. I had an additional reason which was that I wanted someone I felt I could trust to instruct me in the life of prayer, especially since I felt like I was in another dry spell. I got instructed all right; I found out pretty quickly that the problem wasn't a dry spell but the state of my heart. This book is probably the best and clearest explanation of entire sanctification that I've read in my life and I've read a few being a son of Asbury Seminary. Dr. Kinlaw's book challenged my mind and moved my heart. I could sense the work of the Holy Spirit in my soul, calling me to confess and repent that I might be cleansed like God promised in 1 John 1:9.
That's all I'm going to say for now, at least until I get the chance to read it one or two more times. I'm going to buy several to make available for the folks in my church. You won't regret picking up a copy for yourself.
Gas Station Ashes
Four years ago, the church I serve had an Ash Wednesday service for the first time that anyone could remember. We had about fifteen people show up for a short and simple service in which the Scriptures were read and ashes imposed. I'm pretty sure I remember we had a tornado warning that night, too. Thankfully, it didn't scare anyone off and we've seen an increase in Ash Wednesday attendance each year. I love Lent and its beginning on this Wednesday.
This morning I tried something new. After reading this article a month ago, I asked the owner of the convenience store where many in our community get their morning coffee and breakfast if I could come on Ash Wednesday and impose ashes on people who wanted to come by on their way to work. He's a member of our church and I wanted to make sure he felt free to tell me no and he said he couldn't think of a reason to say no, so we were off and running!
This morning I arrived at 6:30 and for the next hour and a half I ate, visited, and imposed ashes on about a dozen people. We got some strange looks and a few questions, which I expected. We also experienced together the power of being a part of the body of Christ in our community. We were able to be the church outside of our building. What an amazing feeling!
Most of them will be back in about 40 minutes as we have our regular Ash Wednesday service, but I can't help but imagine what the next few years will bring in terms of participation and witness as we openly practice our faith outside of our building.
What are we for?
Excellent post from Kevin Watson:
There is no hope for The United Methodist Church unless what we are for is adequate to the gospel that justifies our existence.
Cleaning out Instapaper
I'm going through my Instapaper account and thought I'd share some interesting links:
- 10 Tips for a Holier Communion
- How to be a likable pastor. As one of my twitter friends noted, this is invaluable for introverted pastors.
- A common worship calendar from the Church of England (iOS).
- How to kill a church.
- Top 100 most dangerous cities in America.
- A church that lets homeless people sleep in the pews.