Judson's Words to Missionary Candidates

John Piper's Desiring God Blog references this link to Adoniram Judson's words to potential missionaries, written after decades of service in Burma. Judson is considered the pioneering figure in the development of American missionary activities in the early 1800's. His powerful words are a challenge to our ways of thinking, and left me encouraged and challenged. Pay special attention to his fourth, sixth, seventh, and tenth points. Let me cite just part of the seventh:

"Seventhly. Beware of pride; not the pride of proud men, but the pride of humble men -- that secret pride which is apt to grow out of the consciousness that we are esteemed by the great and good. This pride sometimes eats out the vitals of religion before its existence is suspected. In order to check its operations, it may be well to remember how we appear in the sight of God, and how we should appear in the sight of our fellow-men, if all were known."

How Not to Speak to Memorial Day

In our services Sunday, we acknowledged the sacrifice of those who have died in service to our nation--the point of Memorial Day. Politicians took advantage of the day to speak as well. However, not all of them did well. This blog entry on Powerline shows the strange take of one of our presidential candidates, Barack Obama. It was not a good speech, in my view, and raises many of the questions I have about his ability to fill this role. At the end of the blog is a link to see the President's speech, which was actually quite eloquent and definitely non-partisan. Just to be fair, I plan to highlight positives and negatives as I see them from all sides in the future.

Just finished reading...

...Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be). This excellent little book is probably the best common language introduction to the whole issue of the emergent/emerging church that I have come across. The authors, Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, are a pastor and parishioner from a URC church in East Lansing, Michigan, and approach the subject from a sympathetic yet biblical viewpoint. Their analysis benefits from significant quotations from key emergent thinkers, citations from other, deeper critics, and a genuinely humble acknowledgement that some of the problems with church as it has been as cited by emergent voices are real and need attention. As I read, I was grateful for the documentation of citations--so often I would want to either check in a source I had read and available, or wanted to note the source to see if what they shared was a fair representation of what was being said in the original. I believe that, on the whole, fairness prevailed. I might quibble that Donald Miller, especially in his book Searching for God Knows What backs away a bit from some of the extremes of Blue Like Jazz, and shouldn't be lumped in with other emergents, but what they said he said was true. I'm not emergent--I'm too old (unless I were a founder type like McLaren, or their favorite theologian like McKnight, or their favorite "futurist" like Sweet), don't wear the right glasses, and don't drink Guinness (or any beer for that matter!!!). Now DeYoung and Kluck have written a great volume that states the more substantial reasons I don't wear the label. If you have any desire to figure the question out for yourself, especially if you've read McLaren's books, any Doug Pagitt, or loved Blue Like Jazz and wonder what the fuss is about, read this book!

Of course, you could try this

...in India.

Getting on a Japanese Train at Rush Hour

This is the kind of cultural experience you may want to forego.

A Psalm of Single-Mindedness

The following, by Joe Bayly, was read by Chuck Swindoll at Clyde Cook's memorial service, and I think it warrants our consideration.

A Psalm of Single-Mindedness

Lord of reality
make me real
not plastic
synthetic
pretend phony
an actor playing out his part
hypocrite.
I don't want
to keep a prayer list
but to pray
nor agonize to find Your will
but to obey
what I already know
to argue
theories of inspiration
but submit to Your Word.
I don't want
to explain the difference
between eros and philos
and agape
but to love.
I don't want
to sing as IF I mean it
I WANT TO MEAN IT.
I don't want
to tell it like it is
BUT TO BE IT
like YOU want it.
I don't want
to think another needs me
but I need him
else I'm not complete.
I don't want
to tell others HOW to do it
but to do it
to have to be always right
but to admit it WHEN I'm wrong.
I don't want to be a census taker
but an obstetrician
nor an involved person, a professional
BUT A FRIEND.
I don't want to be insensitive
but to hurt where other people hurt
nor to say I know HOW you feel
but to say GOD KNOWS
and I'll try
if you'll be patient with me
and meanwhile I'll be quiet.
I don't want to scorn the clichés of others but to mean everything I say including this!
from Joseph Bayly, PSALMS OF MY LIFE

Ridiculous, but fun

OK, this is silly, but thought you'd like it--just get past the commentary in Japanese and watch!