Deus Misereatur

In my previous post ( Too Much of a Good Thing? ) I dealt a bit with how there are folks within my own clan within the Christian tribe who seem to foster a “let go and let God” mindset with regard to sanctification. I used a specific example from Steve Brown and his book, “Three Free Sins”. As I tried to show, he (and others) are correct in their emphasis on the liberal love of God announced in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But I also attempted to show where they go too far, by having the Gospel promises swallow up and neutralize all the directives in the Sacred Scriptures. In this post I will endeavor to show the beauty of sanctification that explodes in splendor from the liberating love of God in Jesus Christ. To begin with, a simple perusal of Paul’s writings will show the connection between the gracious Gospel and healthy holiness. Take the letter of Paul to the Ephesians, for one example. In the first three chapters, Paul clearly articulates what God has done for us in Christ,...

I have been a Christian for a number of decades now, and a pastor for over 12 years. In all that time I have bumped into, and sometimes crashed into, various oddities in the Christian tribe. One of those quirks has to do with Christian holiness. On the one hand are those who promote a strenuous rigor through various fastings, prayings, askesis (the Greek word for athletic or military training from which we get “ascetic”), techniques, and mechanical maneuvers. It has been my regular experience that this kind of scrupulousness breeds a subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, self-righteous vanity. This approach reads only half of the New Testament, the “do this” or “let us” directive portions of Sacred Scripture, which consume and wipe out the Gospel-promises. I think that much of North American Evangelical Christianity sits in this campsite, which is why you see loads of books and hear oodles of sermons that address the Twelve Steps to Success, or 40 days to being a better you or a ...

If you knew me personally, you would know that underneath this Tigger exterior is a terribly lively Eeyore (apologies to A.A. Milne for stealing his characters). That means that joy is a struggle for me. No, not the surface, happy-go-lucky kind of glad-handing. That seems to come naturally. I mean a joy that is undying, irreversible, indefeasible, and irrefragable. Therefore, years ago, while reading St. Augustine’s “Confessions” I was thrilled by something he said, and have since committed it to memory. It is an anchor that holds me down when northeasters blow a-storming into my life.   “For there is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love you for your own sake, whose joy is you yourself. And this is the happy life: to rejoice in you, of you, for you. This is true joy and there is no other” ( Confessions 10.22).   I hand it off to you with the hopes that you will find this same joy.  “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and pea...

The end is near! Well, actually, the end of this series has finally arrived. We have thought about the assumed ecclesiology and sacramentology of renewal movements, the story of disease and diagnosis that renewal movements tell with regard to the church, and the pitfalls they stumble into. We come now to Abraham’s final concern in “ The Logic of Renewal ” that raises a sober-minded caution. “6. As a final, and as a first exercise of judgment, we should note that there is no necessity for renewal at all times in the history of the church. To put the matter bluntly, there are times when it is foolish and dangerous to call for ecclesial renewal.      We all know that some Christians very easily develop a kind of listless foot-and-mouth disease. They are always on the run to hear some new grand scheme for the renewal of the church. They run from this speaker to that speaker, from this conference to that conference, from this book to that book, from this set of tapes to th...

As William Abraham continues to tackle renewal movements in his book " The Logic of Renewal " (see my previous posts to get up to speed if you’re just joining in), he turns to the area of discernment; “5. This leads naturally to a fifth point. Like it or not, there is no firm calculus for making good judgments in this arena. Perhaps this is why some people stay clear of the whole business of renewal. They are acutely aware that, in thinking about renewal, what is ultimately needed is a very rich gift of ecclesial and spiritual discernment. It is easy to go astray; more specifically, it is easy to fall prey to a kind of utopianism. ( . . . ) On the one hand, people who crave for radical and substantial change often feel very incompetent and helpless. In such circumstances, they are liable to follow any leader who is confident enough to lead them to revival. On the other hand, there are leaders who are only too keen to become spiritual dictators. They can easily develop spu...

Over the past few weeks we have been pondering movements and programs that promise to renew the church. We have been using William J. Abraham’s book, “The Logic of Renewal”, to think in a deeper way on this subject, especially his list of six concerns. If you are just now joining us, it will be good for you to look back over the three previous posts, “ Considerations on Church-Renewing Movements 1 ” and “ 2 ” and “ 3 ”. Abraham takes the medical analogy mentioned in the last post and goes a step further, “4. Our extended use of the medical analogy prompts a fourth consideration. Renewal can go wrong in all sorts of ways. It can go wrong because of original misdirection, because of misdiagnosis, or because the doctor has prescribed the wrong medicine. In all these cases, the quest for renewal can be disastrous ( . . . ). ( . . . ) but we must surely acknowledge the possibility of unintended side effects in proposals for renewal. Again and again, leading personalities or major ...

Analogies can be helpful tools for teaching new concepts, transferring perceptions from one person to the next, or opening up a new awareness to ideas not seen before. William Abraham (“ The Logic of Renewal ”), in trying to pierce into the heart of renewal movements and their unexamined assumptions, moves to a medical analogy. “3. Proposals about renewal invariably follow a simple pattern. They propose a description of the life of the church that depicts what is flawed in one way or another – we are told that the church is diseased or sick in some crucial respect. This leads to a diagnosis as to why the flaw or set of flaws has developed – we are given an account of the etiology of the sickness of the church. Finally, there is a prescription as to how to put things right – we are offered an account of the medicine that we need to take if the church is to be cured” (p. 3-4). This medical analogy is helpful in thinking about how renewal movements view an existing church structure...