"Does this stance, this position, this project, this action, this attitude look like Jesus upon the cross?"

Brian Zahnd says that we need artistic "beauty" in our Christian witness, and he says that artistic beauty has to be defined as "cruciform." Interesting take:

Along with Christian apologetics and ethics, we need some Christian aesthetics. In a culture that is suspicious of our truth claims and less than impressed with our claim to a superior ethic, beauty may be a fresh way to communicate our message. Beauty has a way of sneaking past defenses.

But for us to adopt a presence of beauty, we need a form that we can look to as a guide. Whether it’s a painting or a poem, a sculpture or a song, it’s the form that gives a thing its inherent beauty.

So what is the form of Christian beauty? I think it has to be the cruciform—Christ upon the cross, arms outstretched in offered embrace, forgiving the sins of the world. What I’m suggesting is that the body of Christ should be in the world as the beauty of the cruciform. What we say, what we do, what we demonstrate should be in some way an expression of cruciform beauty.

We should ask ourselves, does this stance, this position, this project, this action, this attitude look like Jesus upon the cross? If not, maybe we should rethink it. This would be a helpful step in getting rid of some of the ugly ways we react to what we perceive as wrong with the world.

Read the rest of Trevin Wax's interview with Zahnd.

 

Winning Ways: Proof of Life

How would you convince someone you're alive? It took a Romanian man a year of expensive litigation, and as I read his story it made me think about our life in Christ.

When Gheroghe Stirbu tried to renew his identity card, Romanian officials told him that he was dead. Chalk another one up to government bureaucracy: Stirbu had been confused with another man. It took a year for the government to acknowledge their mistake—and then they charged him for the court costs! "I will of course appeal the imposition of the costs," Mr. Stirbu said, "but I am already beginning to wonder whether or not I would have been better off staying dead."

When I baptize someone I recite a paraphrase of Romans 6:4--"You are buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in a new way of life." The problem is, sometimes we find ourselves in a position like Mr. Stirbu: Our "aliveness" is up for question.

Maybe certain habits that should have been left behind still occupy us.

Or sour attitudes still flow like poison through our veins.

Maybe we can't seem to find enthusiasm for connecting with other believers.

Or, given the choice between reading God's word or a night of idle web surfing, the mouse wins.

Maybe we can't remember the last time we shared the gospel with someone.

What proof could you offer that you are alive in Christ?

Don't get me wrong: no amount of behavior modification or attitude adjustment will set you right with God. It's the other way around: entering into God's grace results in a new way of life. If we have little evidence that we're alive in Christ, the first thing we have to do is reflect on God's amazing grace to us. Every change and every commitment we make after that is just our "thank you" to God.

Find a way to express that gratitude to God today and show someone you're alive in him!

“Note to Self.” Didn’t Suzanne Syptak do a great job with our first “Note to Self” on Sunday! We look forward to learning more about our Hillcrest Family through this project!

More Chairs. We’ve been able to add more chairs to our temporary “worship center” in the gym. Our increased attendance is a wonderful “problem” to deal with, isn’t it!

“Adventures with Tom.” Registration for our first “Adventure” is sold out. Sign up early for the next 3 by using the Connection Card this Sunday.

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 26

National Geographic reports that a language dies every 14 days, and thus by the next century nearly half of the languages now spoken will disappear. Russ Rymer: "Increasingly, as linguists recognize the magnitude of the modern language die-off and rush to catalog and decipher the most vulnerable tongues, they are confronting underlying questions about languages’ worth and utility. Does each language have boxed up within it some irreplaceable beneficial knowledge? Are there aspects of cultures that won’t survive if they are translated into a dominant language? What unexpected insights are being lost to the world with the collapse of its linguistic variety?" Fascinating.

 

Edward O. Wilson has his naturalistic answer to why we are, by turns, altruistic and selfish. I'm staying with Paul's answer in Romans 7.

 

I liked BU prof Thomas Hibbs' observations on comedy in films with religious themes.

 

That's one big honkin' church lobby fish tank.

 

Daredevil Nik Wallenda, who walked a tightrope across Niagara Falls last week, loves Jesus.

 

"For as long as I can remember, he was bubbling over or oozing out, as if his own skin could not quite contain him." Best line in a tragic story by Jeneen Interlandi, describing her manic father, in a NYT article about how his bipolar disorder disordered the family.

 

"Statistical evidence argues that holding up banks is a dangerous and unlucrative career that nets the average bank robber the annual salary of a cafe barista—and at the peril of getting caught or shot" (Scientific American).

 

The Libraries, Studies, and Writing Rooms of 15 Famous Men

 

"What Obama Isn’t: Antichrist, Socialist, Muslim, Kenyan, or Fit for For a Second Term." John Mark Reynolds explains.

 

"James Lovelock, the godfather of global warming, gave a startling interview to msnbc in which he acknowledged he had been unduly “alarmist” about climate change" (Story).

 

Probably not what they meant....

 

We Need Order and Ardor

What's more important: Doctrinal order or emotional ardor?

The best answer would be "yes."

And this is the best answer for convention-wide policies in the SBC as well as personal spiritual formation. When it comes to convention-wide policies, both "Charleston" and "Sandy Creek" are in our heritage.

Writers have long used these two designations as a kind of short-hand for identifying the historical source of Southern Baptist convictions. The terms refer to statements of faith that came out of two historic meetings: one held at First Baptist Church, Charleson, and the second held at Sandy Creek Baptist Church. Here's good example of this use of the short-hand, from the Florida Baptist Convention's "What We Believe" page:

The Charleston group stressed an educated ministry and structured worship. The Sandy Creek Baptists emphasized evangelism, revival and freedom to express feelings in worship. All these elements can be found among Southern Baptists today.

Historians have challenged whether the use of the statements from these two historic meetings can really serve to identify distinct streams of Baptist thought and life. And, admittedly, there are those who have used the "Charleston-Sandy Creek" shorthand irresponsibly to endorse any manner of diversity within Southern Baptist life.

Still, I find it useful to see contemporary SBC life as this uneasy confluence of two streams. The one is more Calvinistic, structured, and intellectual while the other is more revivalistic, free-form, and pietistic.

Order and ardor.

I agree with Trevin Wax that the Southern Baptist family is better for it. In a recent book review Wax wrote:

Being forced to decide which stream I belong to – Charleston or Sandy Creek – is like someone asking me to take sides in Grandpa and Grandma’s divorce. I’m an intellectually-inclined high church guy who loves aspects of Grandpa Charles, but I’ve been nurtured by Grandma Sandy’s distinct version of piety too. I love them both, and I want them to stay married. Keeping them together makes for a stronger Southern Baptist family.

 

Winning Ways: LOL

When you're texting on a cell phone, one response to a friend's joke is "LOL" -- which means, "laughing out loud." (Any teenager will tell you that "ROFL" is also an option to let them know you're "rolling on the floor laughing.")


When was the last time you "laughed out loud" in wonder over God's goodness?

The Canadian musician, Carolyn Arends, recalled a conversation with her three-year-old about a Sunday School craft the child had brought home. Her daughter, Bethany, had cut out and colored pictures of children engaged in different acts of worship, and glued them onto a sheet. As Arends pointed to each picture, she asked Bethany what the people were doing. "Praying! Giving! Reading the Bible!" the girl shouted as Arends pointed to the different activities of a worship service.

Then she pointed to a boy with his mouth open wide in song. "And what is he doing?" she asked, in a way that parents ask obvious questions of 3-year-olds. Arends expected her child to explain that the boy was singing, which was Arends' favorite form of worship.

"Laughing!" explained Bethany.

Arends wrote, "I stood corrected. Laughing is my favorite form of worship."

Laughter isn't always an act of praise, of course. In Genesis 18, in the guise of a traveling stranger, God announced that the son he had promised Abraham 13 years earlier would finally be born before the next year. His wife, Sarah, overheard this and laughed bitterly to herself. She had given up on God long ago, and her laughter was a sign of her cynicism.

But in Genesis 21, Sarah held her little boy in her arms and laughed again. This time, though, she laughed with God, not at him. She named her son "Isaac" and exclaimed, "God has brought me laughter!"

You see, Isaac is a Hebrew word that means... well... "LOL"!

We shouldn't laugh at God's promises in cynical despair, but be sure to laugh with God when he keeps his promises.

Has God answered a prayer? LOL!

Has he surprised you with blessing? LOL!

Has he set you free from a destructive addiction? LOL!

Has he come through for you when you were at your wits end? LOL!

Has he rescued a marriage on the brink? LOL!

Has he given you the hope of eternal joy? LOL!

Singing, praying, giving -- they're all good acts of worship. But don't forget that laughing in wonder is worship, too!

 

 

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 19

"This is not a brave new world of blinding innovation and artistic enlightenment. Rather, you’re looking at a mirror of a Xerox of a parrot inside an echo chamber." Best line from Matt Labash's long-form report on memes, ROLFcon, and serious marketing efforts to find out how things go viral on the Internet.

 

Here's a WaPo story about Fred Luter, set to be the SBC's first black president. And here's what Russ Moore thinks about it:

I’m thrilled about where God might be taking the SBC. A denomination formed to protect slavery led by a descendant of slaves, that’s just the kind of providential irony our God loves.

 

'Dallas' Revival To Feature Elderly J.R. Begging To Be Shot

 

"Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the United States. More Americans convert to Buddhism than to Mormonism" (James Atlas, NYT).

 

These researchers show that we use the Internet differently depending on how depressed we are. Their recommendations are too invasive of privacy, though.

 

The Atlantic writes on the demise of communal singing--and why we should bring it back.

 

Stress makes you more vulnerable to illness. Great, something else to get tense about. No wait....

 

Here's a story about a man who dabbled in 12 different religions in 12 months. The headline says he "practiced" them, but 4 weeks of an ancient tradition's exterior behaviors isn't exactly what any adherent of these traditions would call a "practice," so I'm going to say "dabble." It seems a little gimmicky to me, especially since there's a book in the making--and God bless his longsuffering wife who financially supported their family of 4 during the experiment. But the story seems to capture something of the spirit of the age.

 

Man On Verge Of Self-Realization Instead Turns To God

 

A library to match my book collection:

 

 

Review of “Coffee Shop Conversations,” by Dale and Jonalyn Fincher

“Chipmunks remind us of the way we used to approach evangelism,” write Dale and Jonalyn Fincher, “treating people as mission projects, scurrying out to them only to hurry back to the safety of our den. For several years, we’ve been growing into a new way of conversing that is helping us listen without scurrying away.”

So, the couple wrote Coffee Shop Conversationsto show fellow believers how to “make friends for the journey and to talk with humble confidence about God without sounding pushy or feeling befuddled, infusing even the briefest interaction with meaning.”

I like it, but I’d like to like it better.

I share the heart of the authors: I’ve often pointed out to our congregation that we need to be a “beachhead church” rather than a “bunker church.” (An example of my teaching on this topic is in this three-part series here). So, when I see authors who provide an example and guidance for “beachhead” living, I’m a fan.

I particularly commend the “7 Manners of Loving Discourse” from chapter 2. It’s a great tool for those learning to engage others in faith conversations. It’s worth the price of the book, and hopefully the authors can condense it down to be published as an article somewhere.

But, as I said, I’d like to like this book better. It was disappointing for them to stray away from evangelism into "egalitarianism."

Broadly, there are two views of gender roles in the church: the “complementarian” and the “egalitarian.” Jonalyn sounds like a recent convert to egalitarianism, and I know it's hard for a convert to not talk about what has grabbed her heart. But it was off-topic in a book that promised to be about faith conversations.

If I were writing a book on how to have spiritual conversations and I took the time to detour into my new love of Ron Paul and all things libertarian, someone would need to tell me I had wandered off subject. That’s what an editor could have told the Finchers about their forays into egalitarianism.

The debate between egalitarianism and complementarianism is worth having. But the Finchers should have decided what they wanted their book to be about: persuading more Christians to be egalitarian in their churches, or persuading more Christians to talk about Jesus with their neighbors. In the end, their book is not a useful resource in my own (complementarian) congregation. I don’t like the loaded way that complementarian Christians are characterized, and I don’t like the implication that only egalitarian Christians have the leverage to be relevant witnesses to twenty-first-century Americans (an implication belied by the inconvenient reality of rapidly-growing complementarian churches).

But though I can’t recommend their book as a training resource for my congregation, I can’t stress this enough: In the end, this is a couple that provides personal examples and guidance for how to talk with our world about Jesus. I will always, always applaud that.

Finally There's Averagé--The Clothing Line For The Rest of Us

This looks like a practical fashion line for men: "Feel Good; Look Okay"--

 

 

 

 

When Jesus is Just an "Add On"

In this post, Justin Buzzard talks about "4 root idols that we tend to attach our lives to."

CONTROL. You know you have a control idol if your greatest nightmare is uncertainty.

APPROVAL. You know you have an approval idol if your greatest nightmare is rejection.

COMFORT. You know you have a comfort idol if your greatest nightmare is stress/demands.

POWER. You know you have a power idol if your greatest nightmare is humiliation.

He says that many people "never displace the idolatry in their lives with Jesus, but instead simply bring in Jesus as an 'add on' to their life, keeping their idolatry firmly in the center."

Read the rest.

 

Winning Ways: What God Can Do With Ordinary You

When Ivy League students were asked to name any three of the twelve apostles, 83 percent were unable to do so. The students didn't fare much better on the other 27 questions across a broad range of subjects, but believers should be concerned when 4 out of 5 elite university students can't name even 3 of Christ's apostles.

Then again, how many of the Twelve can you name? Even more important: What do you know about them?

This Sunday I begin a new series on the Apostles called "What God Can Do with Ordinary You." The study series will encourage you to yield to God's molding of your life.

Here are some other important things to keep in mind:

"Note To Self" starts this Sunday. Thanks for turning in your "Letters to a High-School Me." A new one will be featured in a special video each of the next six Sundays. We'll print the rest for you to pick up. This will be a great introduction to people in your Hillcrest Family.

Father's Day. Dads, lead your family to worship this Sunday!

Baseball and Fireworks. The first of our four summertime "Adventures with Tom" is a trip to the ballpark. On July 3 we'll enjoy the Round Rock Express game with Independence Day fireworks to follow. Just $11! Contact my assistant, Jami, to save a spot (jami@hbcaustin.org or 345-3771).

Summer Camp. Pray for our annual "Not Your Ordinary" Basketball and Cheerleading Camp, which starts Monday, June 18. Blessed chaos!

Facebook. If you're a Facebook user, one great way to keep up with your Hillcrest Family is by clicking "like" at the Hillcrest Facebook Page. Go to www.facebook.com/Every.Generation.Counts. You'll find photos and reports on Hillcrest happenings, and you can comment along with others. It's also a gentle "outreach tool," because when you comment or share from the Hillcrest Page, it appears on your own status update that your unchurched Facebook friends can see.

Summertime Worship in the MPC. Thanks for your flexibility as we meet in the gym for worship while our auditorium is being renovated. As you enter, keep moving left and forward. As long as there are empty seats in front and to your left, keep walking and don't sit down! This is a way you can serve your church family.

___________________________

Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to 1200 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 12

For Father's Day: 10 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Dad

 

"Bats, of course, use echolocation. Beluga whales too. Dolphins. And Daniel Kish. [The blind man] is so accomplished at echolocation that he’s able to pedal his mountain bike through streets heavy with traffic and on precipitous dirt trails. He climbs trees. He camps out, by himself, deep in the wilderness. He’s lived for weeks at a time in a tiny cabin a two-mile hike from the nearest road. He travels around the globe. He’s a skilled cook, an avid swimmer, a fluid dance partner." Fascinating, fascinating article by Michael Finkel for Men's Journal, which includes this Tweetable gem from Kish: "Running into a pole is a drag, but never being allowed to run into a pole is a disaster. Pain is part of the price of freedom."

 

By the way, I found that last story by subscribing to Byliner, which features links to the best long-form journalism. Some of it is free and some of it can be purchased for your ereader.

 

"As measured by key and tempo—and setting lyrics aside—pop music has gotten gloomier since the mid-1960s, two researchers report" (NYT). Even sadder than "At 17"?

 

I'm late getting to this article about Harold Camping's followers a year later after his failed end-of-the-world prophecy. A good warning against date-setting, as if Jesus' caution was not enough.

 

Should citizen Christians oppose the legalization of gay marriage? Yes. No. Yes.

 

A guide to passwords that are both stronger and more memorable than the one(s) you're using now.

 

The American town of Boring and the Scottish town of Dull are joining forces for a "Dull and Boring" cooperative promotional. Book your company conference at Dull and Boring soon.

 

Top 15 Blog Posts Since Last June

It's been a year since I've looked at stats on traffic to this blog. Here are the 15 most-viewed posts at "Get Anchored" since last June:

 

15: Coexist: Four Ways to Actually Accomplish It

 

14: Sermon Illustration Alert: "I'm Not Dead Yet!"

 

13: "Tempting as it is To Deny the Malleability of Sexual Orientation...."

 

12: The Moral Realism of the Noir Hero

 

11: My Top 5 Books for 2011

 

10: Good Question! Did God Abandon Jesus on the Cross?

 

9: What's "The Thinker" Thinking About?

 

8: Jonathan Chen's Faith Story

 

7: Tied: "Life Lessons from King David" and Aerial Photographs of the Southwest Drought

 

6: Interview with Statesman faith columnist Eileen Flynn

 

5: Review of Skye Jethani's Book, "With"

 

4: Getting Ready for Scorcese's "Silence"

 

3: "I Probably Lean Toward Annihilationism...."

 

2. Hillcrest Blessings

 

1: The 5 Commandments of Words with Friends

 

A few more observations on reviewing my blog work:

Across the lifetime of this blog, it looks like the most popular posts have been book reviews, and also when I've posted note-worthy songs for a limited time.

Timely reports on faith-based response to disasters have been favorites.

My weekly "Links to Your World" tends to generate the highest hits in any given week, though something on "Links to Your World" for Oct 13, 2009, touched a nerve and generated 6 times as much traffic as I normally get for a "Links" post.

I don't suppose I should be surprised that narrated photos of my Israel Trip was popular, but it was nice to see that cultural observations were a hit, too, such as "Like When God Turned Stones into Bread" and At a Texas Intersection of Faith and Reason.

Also, it was nice to see at least a couple of theological reflections generated high traffic: What Got Jesus Frustrated and Acknowledge Your "Tilt" Between Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility.

One of my most popular posts has been How to Turn a Bible Book into an Audiobook, while the runaway most-viewed post was a simple notice on a UT Forum, "Was Darwin Wrong?" which continues to get hits.

 

 

Review of Bob Goff's "Love Does"

Perhaps the best reaction to Bob Goff's autobiographical devotional, Love Does, is from Twitter user @prophiphop:"I'm convinced @bobgoff's life is who 'the most interesting man in the world' is modeled after." It's an entertaining read, though occasionally off-putting whenever he falls into dissing established churches. I can't recall a single prop to any church, leaving the impression that it's pretty much up to Lone Ranger Christians and parachurch organizations to carry the torch these days. Furthermore, the most obvious inspiration for how love "does" is missing: the cross. I would like to see him use his extraordinary talent for story telling not only to tell us about Jesus the Countercultural Dude but also to move us by Jesus the Willing Sacrifice.

 

Don't Christians Just Pick and Choose What They Want to Believe in the Bible?

“Christians are inconsistent. They ignore lots of Old Testament texts against pork or garments woven with two kinds of material and so on. Then they condemn homosexuality. Aren’t you just picking and choosing what you want to believe from the Bible?”

As a believer, have you found yourself stumped by such an objection? What kind of response can we give?

Tim Keller suggests this: "Are you asking me to deny the very heart of my Christian beliefs?”

The very heart of our faith is Christ, and Keller says his coming changed (1) how we relate to the ceremonial laws and (2) how we rely on the state to enforce the moral laws:

Because of Christ, the ceremonial law is repealed. Because of Christ the church is no longer a nation-state imposing civil penalties. It all falls into place. However, if you reject the idea of Christ as Son of God and Savior, then, of course, the Bible is at best a mish-mash containing some inspiration and wisdom, but most of it would have to be rejected as foolish or erroneous.

Read the whole thing.

 

Getting Unstuck as a Writer

"Most writers have all of the ideas they need," according to Ed Cyzewski. He suggests "six practices that will help you capture and develop your writing ideas." See the post for a fuller explanation of these six practices

1. Cut Out the Noise

2. Learn How to Rest

3. Learn How to Single-Task

4. Jot Down Incomplete Ideas

5. Learn to Thin Writing Ideas

6. Write to an Idea

 

 

Is Success Due to Pluck or Luck?

Is success in life due to diligent labor, or is there something more at play? David Futrelle reflects on the question raised in a commencement address Michael Lewis gave to graduates of his Princeton alma mater. Lewis is best known for the nonfiction classics Moneyball and Liar’s Poker. He told the graduates that successful people tend to overestimate the role that "luck" plays in their success. Just exchange the word "luck" for "providence" and you'll be well on your way to the biblical worldview. Of course, neither Lewis nor the Bible would eliminate the value of hard work in reminding people of the force(s) beyond their control.

 

 

The God "Who Shouts and Weeps and Sings"

"Can it be doubted that the God who walks in the garden with Adam and Eve, who admonishes Cain, who eats supper with Abraham, who wrestles with Jacob, who speaks 'mouth to mouth' with Moses, who calls Samuel by name, who offers a house to David, who shouts and weeps and sings through the prophets wants a personal relationship with people?"

John Oswalt, Commentary on Isaiah

Links to Your World, Tuesday June 5

Twitter messages from evangelical Christian leaders perform about 30 times as well as Twitter messages from pop culture powerhouses like Lady Gaga, the NYT reports.

 

I love the idea of the "Repair Cafe," reported by Wired. It bucks the trend of a disposable society and builds community at the same time. Where's the church that will start a "repair cafe" for their neighborhood?

 

7 reasons she won't read 50 Shades.

 

Austin made the Top 10 Worst Cities for Traffic, where the average driver logs 30 hours a year sitting in traffic.

 

Lori Andrews thinks that organizations like Facebook and Google have way too much information on you. Maybe so. While the best practice is to know that nothing you do online is private, it does give one pause

 

"The news out of China these days is gripping, and there's no one more qualified to read the tea leaves than Bob Fu—who from a town in West Texas coordinates the most influential network of human-rights activists, underground Christians and freedom fighters in China. Since 2004, Midland (pop. 111,147) has been home to the spunky 44-year-old pastor and his nonprofit, ChinaAid. It's here that Mr. Fu and his staff of five use the Internet, telephone, letters—any means possible, though he's reticent to give specifics—to communicate with thousands of volunteers who promote religious freedom and the rule of law in China." Fascinating WSJ story.

 

For years only one side of a veteran truck driver's face was exposed to the sun. This will get you to slather on that sunscreen:

 

Gravitating toward those parts of our calling that receive cultural approval

Duane Litfin does not like the phrase, "Preach the gospel; if necessary use words." For one, it accommodates to a culture that doesn't like the message of the gospel:

The idea that we can preach the gospel with our actions enables us to gravitate toward those parts of our calling that receive cultural approval while shying away from the part that generates cultural censure—all without abandoning "evangelism." We still care about "preaching the gospel," we assure ourselves, but we're just doing it with our deeds rather than our words. In this way, our confusion of terms enables us to deceive ourselves into a benign neglect of our verbal witness.

Read the rest.