"This intolerable calling...

This intolerable calling requires courage and humility. It requires a life full of God. It also requires that the preacher become as wise as possible. Even an expository preacher has to become a kind of sage, a person who is conversant on the range of biblical topics and who can speak on them to healthy spiritual effect. In this calling, the Bible itself is the preacher's first teacher. His experience of life helps a lot. So does the preacher's wide reading of fine writers—storytellers, biographers, poets, journalists. Reading them tends to make the preacher wiser, which is perhaps, beyond sheer delight, the principal reason for doing so.

Cornelius Plantinga on a preacher's reading diet.

(HT: Andy Jones)

The Coming of the King

Lewis' good friend, J.R.R. Tokein as well understood the jovial king.

“And then wonder took him, and a great joy; and he cast his sword up in the sunlight and sang as he caught it. And all eyes followed his gaze, and behold! upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count. And the stars flamed in the sunlight, for they were wrought of gems by Arwen daughter of Elrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it was wrought of mithril and gold. Thus came Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elessar, Isildur's heir, out of the Paths of the Dead, borne upon a wind from the Sea to the kingdom of Gondor; and the mirth of the Rohirrim was a torrent of laughter and a flashing of swords, and the joy and wonder of the City was a music of trumpets and a ringing of bells…”
J.R.R. Tolkein, The Return of the King

Jovial Kingship

“Before the other angels a man might sink: before this he might die, but if he lived at all, he would laugh. If you had caught one breath of the air that came from him, you would have felt yourself taller than before. Though you were a cripple, your walk would have become stately: though a beggar, you would have worn your rags magnanimously. Kingship and power and festal pomp and courtesy shot from him as sparks fly from an anvil. The pealing of bells, the blowing of trumpets, the spreading out of banners, are means used on earth to make a faint symbol of his quality. It was like a long sunlit wave, creamy-crested and arched with emerald, that comes on nine feet tall, with roaring and with terror and unquenchable laughter. It was like the first beginning of music in the halls of some King so high and at some festival so solemn that a tremor akin to fear runs through young hearts when they hear it. For this was the great Glund-Oyarsa, King of Kings, through whom the joy of creation principally blows across these fields of Arbol,…. At his coming there was holiday in the Blue Room…”

C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

Lewis captures the jovial spirit in the descent of Glund in That Hideous Strength. Notice the similar language in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Lucy asks regarding Aslan, "Is he—quite safe?" To which Mr. Beaver replies, "Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Here's Michael Ward talking about the Jovial spirit.
And the second part...

"We Teach the World We Create"

Dr. Michael Ward author of Planet Narnia gave a lecture in 2010 at the University of Kansas, Lawrence on his discovery as to the imaginative theme of the the Chronicles of Narnia. To listen to the entire two-part lecture is a time commitment, but if you want to understand the clever craft of the Chronicles, these are a great place to start.



And here's Part 2

A Dickens of an Evening

My wife wrote the following poem after our family visited the NC Shakespeare Festival's A Christmas Carol. She also drew the sketch to the right. She blogs and posts here work on her own blog drawn2life. You can see more of her work here.

A Dickens Eve

A gentle waterfall
spilled up and o’er the rim
finding age old crevices
to follow towards my chin.

‘Twere just a play!
a staged apparition…
Well, actually there were three
nay four! after intermission.

What magic did befall me
as costumed sorcerers did brew
with lilting incantations
and music lovely too.

Had I not sat here
a couple times before?
Yet a fortnight of years
since last I heard this score.

A fortnight of years
is enough to deepen
the heart crevices
touched here by Dickens.

As Past waves her hand
for Scrooge to view his childhood,
My own leaps up before me
memories dancing, ill and good.

Then Present laughs hearty
as I sit here with my Three-
I know the richness I’ve been given
I can scarce contain it merrily.

For that dearest family Cratchit
‘tis my own sweet family too!
The crevices are deeper now
‘tis why I see this anew.

My senior girl beside me
is poised to leave the nest
Four years at college
and then who knows the rest?

My middle boy full of life
and a heart that breaks for all
His character becomes a man
How did he get so tall?

My youngest also sweetest thing
a deadly disease has hold…
Were it not for money and medicine,
her future could not be told.

All three have known less at table
though nothing like the meager here.
Fewer clothes are in their closets
Yet the Cratchits are wearing theirs.

Though my life is abundance
in comparison with these…
Do I still hoard and miser
all I have, to live in ease?

The jocund, piercing work of actors
has undone my heart this night.
The waterfall I cannot stop
melts what I’ve held tight.

Live freely with hands held open
Give money, joy and love!
And ring throughout each blessed moment:
God Bless Us Everyone!!
-jpe

Lewis: Out of the Silent Planet

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've read the 'excursionary' Space Trilogy numerous times since 1992. Only recently have I been clued into the influence of the medieval cosmology which Lewis loved so much. In the past I enjoyed the book on its merits, but since, I have grown in my enjoyment of the attempt made by Lewis to let us enter a martial world in which the will stands like caryatids under the weight of necessary obedience.



View all my reviews

Dante's Purgatorio

The Divine Comedy: Purgatory by Dante Alighieri
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The translation into rhyming verse is no doubt a daunting task. It does make the poetry more esoteric, and most likely more difficult to read and comprehend. Dorothy Sayer's commentary, however, is gold. The book is worth reading simply for her commentary on Dante.


View all my reviews

The Four Holy Gospels

Fujimura - 4 Holy Gospels from Crossway on Vimeo.


Makoto Fujimura is illuminating The Four Holy Gospels in conjunction with a project at Crossway Books to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.
(H.T. Justin Taylor)

Voyage of the Dawn Treaderness

In order to encourage the Christian community's teachers, leaders, and pastors to engage and utilize the upcoming movie based on C.S. Lewis' Voyage of he Dawn Treader, a group of Christian leaders has created narniafaith.com. There are a number of resources including study guides and sermon outlines.

I am dwarvish generally, and a snob regarding the superiority of books over movies (especially Lord of the Rings and the Narniad). As I have viewed the trailer, I think I will be disappointed again. Can you discern what changes were made to the story by watching the trailer?

What is especially disappointing is that the writers of the screenplay seem to have not taken any clues regarding the imaginative key of the Narniad as discovered by Michael Ward and explained in his most recent book, The Narnia Code. Speaking of which, the BBC documentary on Ward's work also entitled, The Narnia Code, will be released in the U.S. in early January 2011. I'm thinking Christmas present?

And speaking of Christmas present this book is out now.

Merry Meeting

I just learned that Tolkein and Lewis first met on May 11, 1926 my birthday--albeit not 1926. Alan Jacobs in his book on Lewis, The Narnian, writes of Lewis' first impression of Tolkein in this way,

"...the two young dons talked for the first time. In his diary entry...Lewis contrives to condescend to a man who, though just six years his senior, had achieved far more and whose career seemed at that time far more promising: 'He is a smooth, pale, fluent little chap.... No harm in him: only needs a smack or so.'"

In spite of the posturing, this is for me, a merry meeting which brought together two for whom and whose work I hold dear. And to discover their meeting happened on my birthday, provides a picture for me to better understand my fragmented and sundered self. Because of these two, I so enjoy the merry wedding of language and story--of epic and symbol. These twins: Tolkein and Lewis, are my Castor and Polux--the rider of Rohan and the boxing apologist.

"What Sort of Tale"

I began Ralph Woods' The Gospel According to Tolkein today. Many of my friends took his class on fantasy literature while students at Wake Forest University. I too am a fan. Below is an excerpt from an article he wrote on Lord of the Rings called "Frodo's Faith" which you can read in its entirety here.

There are many competing stones that vie for our loyalty and Sam tries to distinguish them, to locate the one hope-giving story:

"We shouldn’t be here at all [Sam says to Frodo], if we’d known more about it before we started. But I suppose it’s often that way the brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually -- their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on -- and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same -- like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of tale we’ve fallen into?"

Sam has discerned the crucial divide. On the one hand, the tales that do not matter concern there-and-back-again adventures -- escapades undertaken because we are bored and seek excitement and entertainment. The tales that rivet the mind, on the other hand, involve a quest that we do not choose for ourselves, Instead, we find ourselves embarked upon a journey or mission quite apart from our choosing. What counts, says Sam, is not whether the quest succeeds but whether we turn back or slog ahead. One reason for not giving up, not quitting, is that the great tales are told about those who refused to surrender -- those who ventured forward in hope. Heel heroism, Sam implies, requires us to struggle with hope, yet without the assurance of victory.

Frodo interjects that it’s best not to know whether we are acting out a happy tale or a sad one. If we were assured oh happy destiny, then we would become presumptuous and complacent; if a sad one, then cynical and despairing. In neither case would we live and struggle by means of real hope.

"Don’t the great tales ever end?" Sam asks. Frodo says no. Each individual story -- even the story of other fellowships and companies -- is sure to end. But when our own stony is done, Frodo adds, someone else will take the one great tale forward to either a better or worse moment in its ongoing drama. What matters, Sam concludes, is that we enact our proper role in an infinitely larger story than our own little narrative: "Things done and over and made into part of the great tales are different. Why, even Gollum might be good in a tale."

Sam has plumbed the depths of real hope. The "great tales" stand apart from mere adventures because they belong to the One Great Story. It is a story not only of those who fight heroically against evil, but also of those who are unwilling to exterminate such an enemy as Gollum. As Sam discerns, this tale finds a surprising place even for evil. For it is not only the story of the destruction of the ruling ring, but also a narrative of redemption.

GPC DGroup: Chosen by God, Chapter 1

As we start Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul there are a number of things that we must consider at the onset. Firstly, we need our faith to be conformed by what is true and not by what we understand. As both Protestant and Reformed, the scriptures are the foundation upon which we build our faith and practice. Secondly we must recognize that the subject is potentially divisive. As a professor of mine has written, even for John Calvin himself (probably the theologian most recognized as teaching predestination), predestination was both "a horrible decree" and a "very sweet fruit." In spite of the potential conflict, nevertheless, predestination is a category that comes from the Bible, it is not one forced upon it. So, as we look at predestination, we would do well to remember the counsel of the Westminster Confession of Faith which warns,

"The doctrine of this high and holy mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care, that men, attending to the will of God revealed in His Word, and yielding obedience thereunto, may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election. So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God; and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel" (WCF III.8). 

Lastly, Calvin defended the teaching of this doctrine by reminding us that God would not give us something that was not for our good. As the Confession states, this doctrine is for our assurance and strengthening of faith, not for the confusion and destruction of it.

If it would be of help, you can watch R.C. Sproul's lectures based on this book here.

Read chapter one and we'll discuss the following questions on Sunday.

1. Who are the philosophers and theologians addressed?
2. How would you define the doctrine of predestination?
3. What questions about the implication of the doctrine of predestination do you have?
4. What do you hope to come to learn through this study?

Deep Church Discussion, Chapter 1

In Chapter 1, Jim Belcher explains how this book is the consequence of a very personal quest as to a biblical ecclesiology. As he pursues this quest, he comes to realize that there seems to be a tension which pits two caricatures as two unbridgeable and divergent options: Emergent/Emerging OR Traditional. Though out the book he will employ the tension and mediate a third option.

Postmodern or Hyper-modern?
There is an ongoing discussion as to whether postmodernity is something completely different or if it is the logical consequence of modernity (a.k.a. hyper-modernism). You can see this continuity worked out in several instances in the chapter as Belcher moves into discussing his frustrations with the Gen X movement especially as it employed pragmatism and homogeneity.

Pragmatism is, I believe, a modernist category. Though doing what works is not inherently bad (it is common sense), it does not mean that if it works it is necessarily good. For example, while establishing a Gen X worship service, Belcher writes, "...we launched our new alternative service, The Warehouse. We had figured out the recipe for a Gen X service inside a large church, and it was working." A "working recipe" is a modernist concept -- it's a law, principle, or rule which, if applied correctly, will always yield the desired outcome.

Later on, Belcher acknowledges this tension. He notes that this working recipe bisected society generationally. In fact this homogeneity or demographic targeting of a population is one of the marketing techniques employed by the Seeker Movement. In speaking of his unease, Belcher writes "We had misgivings about the worship of the early Gen X movement. It seemed overly contextualized. In an attempt to reach the culture around it, the worship looked too much like the world and was not counter-cultural enough. Gen X worship seemed like a hipper version of the boomer's seeker worship." And so, you are left with Seeker Worship the Next Generation. Sadly, though, because you have so targeted a generational demographic, you cut yourself off from the wisdom of the life-experienced. Belcher (and his wife) recognized this critical flaw and were drawn to something more.

The Day that Gen X Worship Died
Belcher does not go into great detail about this, but as an aside, he does mention that pre-2001 the proto-emergent church was commonly called Gen X ministry. After 2001 the movement begins to be called the Emergent Movement or Emerging Christians. Though this shift may have occurred because of the
formalization and organization of discussions around blogs and gatherings, I can't help but think that 9-11 also marked a significant shift in American cultural life and the church. So much, it seems, that made sense before suddenly lost meaning and purpose.

Here are a few questions for discussion:

1. What has been the best community you've ever been a part of or experienced? Why?
2. How have we been helped by or engaged in the following at GPC: diversity and non-homogenity? our denomination? worship? and gospel centeredness?

Here are some links to those people mentioned in the chapter:

1. Jim Belcher and Redeemer
2. Emergent Village
3. Rob Bell
4. Brian McLaren
5. Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill
6. Tim Keller and Redeemer.

Dawn Treader's Conclusion

The High School Dawn Treader's finished the Voyage of The Dawn Treader last night at Panera. As always, I had a great time.

Though I often drone on and on about Lewis, the Chronicles of Narnia have been very helpful as a source of illustration (as the congregation of GPC can well attest). I have enjoyed tremendously our sojourn in Lewis this past summer and fall.

The Dawn Treader is all about the virtues which the poet's ascribed to Sol or the sun. I was struck last night by the scene in which Caspian, much to his crew's dismay and displeasure, decides to go with Reepicheep into the utter East. After being confronted by Aslan in his berth, Caspian relents and submits to his crew's wise counsel. I was perplexed as to why Lewis would put this curiously negative story at the very end of the book. I was perplexed until I read again Lewis' lines from his homage to the planets in a poem by the same name. Sol is the one whose "sword of light hurts and humbles." Ah, that's it. Nothing hurts and humbles like standing in the light, and there is no better response to the Light than repentance and humility. I think this is why Lewis put this story at the end: the most important virtue imbued by Sol is not liberality, knowledge, or gold, but rather a humble repentance.

In honor of our completion of the book, here are Lewis' words on Sol from "The Planets"

"...Far beyond [Venus]
 The heaven's highway hums and  trembles,

Drums and dindles, to the driv'n thunder

Of SOL's chariot, whose sword of light

Hurts and humbles; beheld only

Of eagle's eye. When his arrow glances

Through mortal mind, mists are parted

And mild as morning the mellow wisdom Breathes o'er the breast, brodening eastward

Clear and cloudless. In a clos'd garden

(Unbound her burden) his beams foster

Soul in secret, where the soil puts forth

Paradisal palm, and pur fountains

Turn and re-temper, touching coolly

The uncomely common to cordial gold;

Whose ore also, in earth's matrix,

Is print and pressure of his proud signet

On the wax of the world. He is the worshipp'd male,

The earth's husband, all-beholding,

Arch-chemic eye..."

 Incidentally, the church in which I first served as youth pastor has an homage to Sol in it's sanctuary. For their part the building is one of the last remaining Art Deco school buildings in the state. In case you were wondering, Sol is flanked by attending angels and the remaining planets. Dante has both philosophers and theologians inhabiting the sphere of Sol in his Paradiso.

Summer Reading List, Part 2

I've thought long and hard about this list.

Firstly, I'd like to commend the works of C.S. Lewis. I am a Lewisian. The more I learn about him, his life, thought, and motivations, the more I am amazed. If you haven't read any of his works, I'd commend any of the following.

• The Chronicles of Narnia
• The Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength
• Mere Christianity
• The Great Divorce
• Til We Have Faces
• The Four Loves

Additionally, what has helped grow my appreciation for Lewis are these two, excellent reads: The Narnian by Alan Jacobs and Planet Narnia by Michael Ward

I also, as may not surprise you, am a great fan of J.R.R. Tolkein. I first made it through the Lord of the Rings the summer after Jennifer and I were married. We were so poor then, we couldn't afford anything but a library card. That first summer, in between teaching jobs, we read the Lord of Rings to each other. I've read it several times since and my affection grows. If you've never read it, this is the summer to start. Like my affection for Lewis, my appreciation has grown the more I learn about the author. Tom Shippey has written an excellent book on Tolkein and the Lord of the Rings called J.R.R. Tolkein: Author of the Century.

I've mentioned several times the need for our imaginations to be baptized. George MacDonald's
The Curate's Awakening and The Lady's Confession as well as Elizabeth Prentis' Stepping Heavenward are delightful and challenging reads. Also, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is the most widely printed book in English other than the Bible. Bunyan's allegorical tale of Christian's journey to the Celestial City is full of wisdom and insight in the Christian life and experience.

Most of the works I've mentioned so far have been primarily the work of Christian authors about Christian topics and themes. If non-fiction is more your preference, I would recommend the following: John Owen's The Mortification of Sin, J.I. Packer's Knowing God, Timothy Keller's The Reason for God and The Prodigal God.

There are a couple of expressly fictional works which I think would make a delightful summer read: Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice (one for which I've already made my case), Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander--if you've not tried it, you need to take a stab at this multi-volumn work which takes place during the Napoleonic Wars.

There are some who may be confounded by it, but if you have yet to read J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, you've missed out. Before you speak to me about the evil's of a book about magic, please read Alan Jacob's article on Harry Potter's Magic. I'd be happy to discuss the issues over a cup of coffee or a meal.

Lastly, an Honorable Mention goes to Michael Lewis' The Blind Side. I was thoroughly captivated and won-over by Lewis' report on the development of a blue-chip, left tackle named Michael Oher who will likely go as a first-round draft pick today. If you like a good story AND football. This will be an excellent summer read.

I'm curious as to what you think. Comment or drop me a note about your experiences and thoughts. Happy reading.

Summer Reading List, Part 1

I wish I could say I read as much as I esteem books. There are a number of types of books which I enjoy that range from instructional to escapist. I am not above a little mental diversion. In fact, I find that I'm often drawn to fictional works. C.S. Lewis spoke of the effect of reading George MacDonald and G.K. Chesterton as ones whom God employed to baptize his imagination. Of course there are also classics which help cultivate our palate or which are so influential, that you need to read them in order to appreciate more contemporary works.

For instance, if you've read or seen Bridget Jones Diary but haven't read Austin's Pride and Prejudice or watched the BBC version of the same with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle--well you may "like" it, but you won't ultimately "get" it. The same goes for the movie, You've Got Mail or the older Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan version: Shop Around the Corner--they're too are Pride and Prejudice. This goes to show you that there are stories which must be "true stories" because of their transcendent quality to captivate our imagination. Though we may think that all that is worth knowing is what can be distilled into propositional truths. Truth is not confined by my ability to comprehend it propositionally--as if my mind contained them. Truth can be narrative, that is, contained in a story.

So, as I compile my summer reading lists, there will be a number of different types of books. Books which are non-fiction, books which are fantasy, books which are classics--because, to put C.S. Lewis' baptized imagination another way, we need to be brain-washed--we need our minds washed in truth.

I'll post my reading list, but in the meantime, "Here's to good stories. Cheers!"

Summer Reading

There are lots of summer reading lists out there.

Here's one from Monergism Books: Monergism Books Readers' Guide to the Christian Life .

Here's a list compiled by Dr. Frank Farrell of all-time great devotional books. They're not listed in order of preference or popularity but rather the author's last name.

Over at Redeemer.com, Tim and Kathy Keller have published a list of summer reading here.

I'll be posting my own summer reading list later this week.

Which One?

I was at Barnes and Noble in Matthews last night with my friend, Jim the writer, to hear Tim Keller and get my copy of The Reason for God signed. A good crowd turned out -- a lot of RTS-ers, I gather. I saw some of the old crowd Mark, the funniest youth pastor ever, and Doug the best registrar ever. Funny how the superlatives are flowing the mostest and funny how neither are doing those things any longer.

Anyhoo (in your best Ned Rierson accent) it was nice to actually hear him speak -- in person. During the Q & A time an attendee asked what place Christians and the church should take in political discourse? Without missing a beat he answers with H. Richard Neibuhr's Christ and Culture. Now, I might have been able to come up with Christ and Culture, but I would never have been able to come up with how to apply it -- which he did so eloquently.

While brousing, I saw Bart Ehrman's book God's Problem on the same table. (The picture you see was staged. Wha? Am I reporting news or making it?) You ever wonder why Ehrman's seemingly provocative questions don't really inspire while Keller's answers move the heart and mind? I think the difference is the difference Sidney describes as the fantastic and icastic imaginations. Ehrman is fantastic -- that is, he offers a vain imagining, an empty one. Keller on the other hand is icastic. He moves one towards the truth.

Pullman and the Gospel: Kingdom or Republic

"Firstly, a sense that this world where we live is our home. Our home is not somewhere else. There is no elsewhere. This is a physical universe and we are physical beings made of material stuff. This is where we live. Secondly, a sense of belonging, a sense of being part of a real and important story, a sense of being connected to other people, to people who are not here any more, to those who have gone before us. And a sense of being connected to the universe itself. All those things were promised and summed up in the phrase, 'The Kingdom of Heaven'. But if the Kingdom is dead, we still need those things. We can't live without those things because it's too bleak, it's too bare and we don't need to. We can find a way of creating them for ourselves if we think in terms of a Republic of Heaven. This is not a Kingdom but a Republic, in which we are all free and equal citizens, with – and this is the important thing – responsibilities. With the responsibility to make this place into a Republic of Heaven for everyone. Not to live in it in a state of perpetual self-indulgence, but to work hard to make this place as good as we possibly can."

Philip Pullman

Finding a way of creating the Kingdom for ourselves has ultimately been the source of such ultimate failures as National Socialism and Communism. Haven't we've had enough of Stalin, Hitler, and Mao? "Creating a Kingdom for ourselves" is the essence of the Fall.

Pullman and Lewis: Space Trilogy not Narnia

It would seem to me that all the comparisons with Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia are actually flawed. Rather than Narnia, the better comparison both in thought and plot would be Lewis' Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Peralandra, and That Hideous Strength. Central to both is not the "other worlds" but rather the hubris of humankind to reach and "pull down deep heaven upon their heads."