Our church renovated space in this old building, which had a few previous lives but was originally one of the city’s first movie theaters. The building also houses a salon and a martini bar. We’ve been worshipping in the space for a month or so, but we took time to dedicate the building today. Continue reading
As luck or providence would have it, we’ve been a part of several churches that take hymnody very seriously. Currently we are members of a church that reworks older hymns “RUF-style” (I suppose) and I have learned the text of several of Gadsby’s wonderful hymns this year. Back in Austin, we went to a church that had a magnificent choir and sang more traditional church music, but they introduced many new rich older hymns to me, particularly ones related to the church calendar, that I have stored up like treasures. They also reworked hymns to new tunes, though theirs were still in a traditional vein. This week the girls were begging for “sweet songs” in the car and I was able to pause the ipod (dj-ing during “take back the highways” week is not encouraged) and sing Watts and Aquinas and Noel (to RVW “King’s Weston.”) I was glad to share these old songs with young listening ears and hope that they will love the songs of the church as well.
Posted in theology
I am in the midst of writing a handout about stories and storytelling in the Christian tradition for my literature classes. What do you think is necessary to get across to 11 and 12 year olds?
Posted in theology
Here are the children’s story Bibles we have and my opinion of them, in the order we acquired them.
The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos is solidly reformed and a classic. However, it’s very texty and the illustrations aren’t my favorite. I think we’ll grow into it, but for now, it just doesn’t get used.
The winner? The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. I love every aspect of this Bible. The illustrations by Jago are both charming and intriguing. There are about fifty stories, a good balance. The text itself is exactly what I want my children to hear, theologically. I love this line from the very first chapter. “The Bible isn’t mainly about you and what you should be doing. It’s about God and what he has done.” AMEN.
The subtitle is “Every Story Whispers His Name” and indeed, every story does. “No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story… You see, the best thing about this Story is — it’s true. There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.”
She goes on to say that the center of the story is a baby who is like the missing piece to a puzzle that makes all the other pieces fit together, and to reveal the beautiful picture. She stays true to this aim, pointing to Christ with every story, helping children to see the whispers of redemption through it all. If you buy just one Children’s Story Bible, I’d commend this one to you.
One of the debates in the response to FV/NPP/AAT is whether critics are ‘interacting’ with the original authors, and whether they are doing so in a Christian-ly way.*
I think the root of the debate is over the definition of ‘interact’. The anti-FV guys, and their writings, claim to ‘interact’ with the FV. Yet, the FV guys will describe how they tried to contact the author, how they were never contacted or allowed to defend themselves, etc…
After seeing being defenders and detractors pollute the blogosphere with comments, it seems apparent that to the FV/pro-FV side, “interact” means “calls, emails, visits, or otherwise contacts the individual/writing being discussed”. To the anti-FV side, it appears that “interact” is limited to mean “properly footnote my claims.”
Understanding this, perhaps FV/pro-FV will have more patience with the anti-FV side when they claim to have ‘interacted’. Perhaps also, it will help the anti-FV crowd understand how they might modify their methods to be more persuasive.
*If you really need sources, google: “Federal Vision” OR FV.
Posted in theology
George Grant et al in Franklin are trying to start-up a Classical Christian college. A former colleague has been brought in to do a lot of the ground work, and from his reports the state of TN requires A LOT of ground work. You can help them fulfill their requirements by taking this survey.
Thanks!
Posted in theology
Apparently the PCA Federal Vision / NPP Committee Report is a living document.
Posted in in the news, theology
It doesn’t take much effort looking around my little corner of the world to know that life sucks. Hearts are broken, people die, wombs are closed, disappointments abound. And yet, we see glimpses of glory: fierce and sacrificial love, new babies born and baptized, friendship, wine, laughter. And it reminds me of a hymn, a hymn I used to not like very much, because I only really considered the first verse or two, and I find them a little uninteresting. Continue reading
A “reprint” of Father Neuhaus’ excellent treatment of the question in the March 2000 First Things can be found here.
Posted in theology
Yahoo! recently updated the My Yahoo! personalized homepage. It is now more AJAX-y and looks more web2.0 than their previous web1.0 browser.
On the interesting additions is the ability to share your pages (e.g., like netvibes) and it also offers pre-packaged pages. When I saw the ‘Bible Study’ page, I had to give it a shot.
It contains:
ESV One Year Bible Readings
Daily Bible Readings from KJV
Bible Study Reflections — looks like a daily devo.
Pastor Jon’s Blog
Christian Links:Bible
internetmonk.com
Christian Blogs
I found it interesting that Internetmonk.com made it onto Yahoo!’s radar, and that the ESV is the top module, set to get some major looks. I guess it helps me to feel more ‘mainstream’ in the Christian world.
Posted in culture, technology, theology
What a beautiful article. If you don’t subscribe to Comment, you really ought to. And be sure to tell your friends how to sign up or else you’ll find all your issues ‘missing’.
50 Things I love about life in NYC by Linnea Leonard Kickasola.