Links to Your World, Thursday March 27

Well, if this isn't a visual illustration of falling from pride into the pits....Watch footage from a skydiver's camera. He accidentally dropped it as he prepared to jump. It was found and returned to him by a farmer and that's when he recovered the footage. The footage will probably show up in a sermon on pride one day...

 

WSJ says Baylor is the “Charleston” in the Big Dance. Do you agree with the dance types of the remaining teams in your bracket?

 

HGTV is in Austin filming Jen Hatmaker's family for an upcoming summertime show. Sounds like it will be a fun program. CT recently interviewed her.

 

Having said that, Hatmaker's not my go-to blogger on everything. For example, she so missed the point of evangelical opposition to World Vision's new (brief) stance toward employees in gay marriages. As usual, the "I'm-so-tired-of-haters" blog post is an easy way to look like you're engaging with a controverisal issue while not really enaging with the the core concern. And if I'm reading her blog post right, it seems her basis for Christian unity is to admit that whatever one believes about homosexuality is just one of several equally valid ways to read Scripture. Not buying this line of reasoning myself. Practicing the biblical sexual ethic is the tough part, not exegeting it.

 

In 24 hours World Vision announced--and then reversed--a decision to allow people in gay marriages to work for the organization. Justin Taylor summarizes a few reactions from evangelicals, including from our denomination's Russell Moore. I particularly liked the thoughtful series of tweets from Matthew Lee Anderson.

 

"From my earliest days of faith, I accepted the Scriptures' right to speak. I also owned my deaf ear. When it comes to reading and interpreting God's Word, the only real confidence I've maintained is in my own sinful hostility. Perhaps holiness was nearer in the answers I would rather refuse. With this approach, many years into marriage, I—a headstrong, egalitarian woman—embraced a complementarian reading of 1 Corinthians 11:3: "But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." I sought the truth—and made an interpretive decision." You should read CT's "The Accidental Complementarian." I've always objected to the convoluted titles "egalitarian" and "complementarian" in discussing this issue, but until they come up with friendlier words, you should at least know what they're talking about. This article is from a former "egalitarian" who let Scripture do the leading and found herself in the "complementarian" viewpoint.

Ross Douthat explains why liberals need to take religious liberty seriously and not see it simply as what Emily Bazelton has criticitzed as a "shield fundamentalists are throwing up against, well, sexual modernity."

 

Plantiga: "Few people grasp the preacher's challenge. Where else in life does a person have to stand weekly before a mixed audience and speak to them engagingly on the mightiest topics known to humankind: God, life, death, sin, grace, love, hatred, hope, despair and the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Who is even close to being adequate for this challenge?"

 

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When You’re at the End of Your Hope

 

Do you spend your days in Bagamoyo?

Probably not literally, since Bagamoyo is a Tanzanian town on the east coast of Africa. But the name comes from two Swahili words: bwaga means “put down” and moyo means “the heart.” The town’s name probably came from slaves. In the early 1800s, Muslim Arabs would go into the African interior and capture people for slavery. They would march them to the coast and sell them to traders who would board them on ships. Bagamoyo became the name of the place where countless people laid down their hearts and abandoned hope.

Maybe you’re living in a spiritual and emotional Bagamoyo right now. Health issues, frustrations at work, addictions, family conflict—circumstances can make us lay down our hearts and give up.

In Isaiah 42, God promised help for those at the end of their hope. He promised his Servant would come to our aid. “A bruised reed he will not break,” God announces in verse 3, “and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” The Servant’s mission would be “to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness” (verse 7).

Matthew said that Jesus was that promised Servant (12:15-21). He is your escort out of Bagamoyo. His pardon, precepts, promises, and presence bring us to a place of hope again.

That’s the lesson from the first “Servant Song.”

Scholars have long noted the presence of four “songs” in the book of Isaiah that prophesy the work of Jesus. They’re found in chapters 42, 49, 50, and 53. Starting Sunday, we’re going to see what those songs can teach us about Jesus. We’ll spend the next 3 Sundays on the first 3 songs, and conclude with Isaiah 53 in our Good Friday service.

A study of these songs is a perfect way to prepare for Easter. Each song goes deeper and deeper into the profound truth that the way the Servant serves is through suffering. And it’s a suffering designed for our benefit.

So, join us this Sunday as we study the first of Isaiah’s Servant Songs. It’s time you packed up and left Bagamoyo.

Links to Your World, Thursday March 20

Want some data-driven help creating your March Madness bracket? Nate Silver's new FiveThirtyEight blog has a forecasting model that "calculates the chance of each team reaching each round, taking into account a composite of power rankings, pre-season rankings, the team’s placement on the NCAA’s 68-team S-curve, player injuries and geography." Here it is.

 

5 things Christian women (and men) should do when using Facebook

 

5 emails you should send every week

 

OK, maybe I'm a bit of a Stoic.

 

A 3-pound iPhone case to help you tone your biceps and forearms while you access your phone. Well why not?

 

You can help the National Archive transcribe WWI war diaries into their digital record.

 

Did you read the story about individuals from around the world who hold keys that, when combined into one master key, have the power to reset the internet? I thought it was an early April Fools joke at first.

 

Baylor men's basketball coach Scott Drew: Putting his players' spiritual lives first.

 

 

 

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The Wonder of Thunder

Bob and Pat Moulder were listening to the rain pelt the roof of their Mississippi house early Sunday morning when the phone rang. It was their son, David, calling from South Korea. He was a helicopter pilot stationed along the demilitarized zone. As they talked, a booming clap of thunder shook the windows.

David asked, “What was that? It sounded like an explosion.”

“No, just thunder,” said his mother. “It’s been raining here all week.”

There was a long pause. “David, are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m still here. I was thinking about what Mom said—‘Just thunder.’ Other than the two of you, know what I miss the most? Thunder. We have rain, wind, snow and some violent storms, but it never thunders. I miss the thunder.”

When the Moulders got off the phone with their homesick son, Bob collected his tape recorder, a large golf umbrella and a lawn chair and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Pat asked.

“I’m going to record our son some thunder.”

“Bob, the neighbors will think you’re crazy.”

“David won’t,” he said, and went outside. For the next 30 minutes Bob Moulder sat under his umbrella in the driving rain and flickering lightning. With the tape player rolling, he recorded "half an hour of the finest Mississippi thunder a lonesome man could ever want to hear." The next day he mailed the tape to David with a single note: "A special gift."

In Psalm 29, we see another David who was fond of thunder. He was fond of it because it reminded him of the awesome power of God—power God used on David’s behalf.

Charles Spurgeon said that thunder is "the church bell of the universe ringing kings and angels, and all the sons of earth to their devotions."

Meditate a moment on a thunderstorm, and like David you will say, "For my need there’s more power available from God that can be found in a hurricane!" This Sunday at 10 we'll let Psalm 29 remind us of the wonder of thunder. Join us!

 

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Links to Your World, Thursday March 13

Love this! Mad skills at such a young age:

 

"Oscar Mayer has created an app that wakes up sleepyheads by recreating bacon cooking in the pan....The iPhone dongle will only be available to the winners of a contest run by the company’s Institute for the Advancement of Bacon. The lucky recipients, all 4,700 of them, will receive the smartphone attachment necessary for the scent." (OZY)

 

A Mississippi funeral home says it found a man alive and kicking in a body bag hours after the coroner pronounced him dead. (story; update)

 

Here's a way to keep articles from unwanted websites from appearing in your Facebook feed. Of course, I'll miss finding out which character you are from Girls.

"American Christians are about to learn what it means to live in a country where being a faithful Christian is going to exact significant costs. It may not be persecution, but it’s still going to hurt, and in ways most Christians scarcely understand. Maybe this will be good for us. Maybe. We’ll see." Rod Dreher.

 

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Links to Your World, Thursday March 6

“Two million out of nearly 12 million scientists are evangelical Christians. If you were to bring all the evangelical scientists together, they could populate the city of Houston, Texas.” (report)

Oscar nominees posing for photos with their younger selves. Some made Photoshop skills here.

Austin is #4 on the Top 10 list of most gridlocked cities. No duh.

I'll have to read some Auden now.

"Some opposition to same-sex marriage is rooted in bigotry, and some isn't. Assuming otherwise is itself prejudice rooted in ignorance." This article is an important part of the conversation, by Conor Friedersdorf for The Atlantic.

"[Microsoft] Office is a favorite solution for the workplace, and if Office for the iPad was available I'll bet companies would make sure it's on most of the tablets." Yup.

A quarter of respondents thought an MP3 was a Star Wars robot, and other misunderstood common tech language here.

Working on this Sunday's sermon on Psalms 8 reminded me of this old Keith Green song. Yes, I'm ancient.

 

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What the Sky Wants to Say to Those Who Will Listen

"Something happened to these kids. They learned much more and grew much more."

That was the conclusion of one Harvard researcher after examining kids who loved sky gazing. If that's true, what are we missing if we just go through life with no real regard for the vast canopy above us?

The researchers were investigating an educational program called "For Spacious Skies." Boston newscaster Jack Borden started the project after an epiphany. 

"I had never really noticed the sky before," he said, recalling a memorable hike. "But that day its beauty, majesty and fragility just overpowered me."

He wrote a 32-page booklet for school teachers, sketching out ways that the sky could stimulate learning. When Harvard educators evaluated the impact of the For Spacious Skies program, they concluded that artistic, musical, and literary skills improved much faster for sky gazers than others.

King David was a sky gazer, and in his poetry he reflected on what he learned while staring upward.

In Psalms 8, it was the night sky that caused him to marvel at how small he was in the universe and yet how big he was in the priorities of God.

In Psalms 19, it was the day sky that prompted praise for the bright revelation of God to the whole earth.

In Psalms 29, it was the stormy sky that made David gasp in wonder at God's power.

Across the next 3 Sundays, we're going to let the beloved poet teach us how to be sky gazers. Our series is called Sky Lines: What the Sky Wants to Say to Those Who Will Listen.

When I was in high school, I briefly considered a career in meteorology. (Maybe I just wanted a job where I could be wrong fifty percent of the time and still get paid.) This Bible study takes me back to my early fascination with the sky. It's a fascination we should never grow out of. Join us for this study each Sunday at 10!

Women's Ministry Mini-Retreat: Our new ladies ministry is called "Wings: Women in God's Service." One of their first projects is a "mini-retreat" on Saturday, March 29, 8:30am - 2:00pm. The cost is $10, which includes breakfast and lunch. For more information and to register online, go to www.hillcrestaustin.org/wings.