February 2008 Update

Some days you just wish you could stay in bed...Chesterton usually does.

February in NW Arkansas is always guess work. Yesterday it was in the low sixties, nice sun and tomorrow we could have 4" to 8" of snow...so they say. You have to take Jim Cantore with a grain of salt sometimes. I'll keep you posted. Well, I guess that's what I'm doing, isn't it? Two months in a row now. And some people say miracles (along with tongues, honest politicians and good TV) have all ceased to exist. I beg to differ--at least about miracles and tongues.

Even with an extra LEAP YEAR DAY this month, February has been fairly unremarkable, but full of a few odds and ends. Breck was pleased with another round of a non-issue Presbytery meeting and the growth of our own congregation. The Sunday of JBU's "Parents Weekend" we had over 200 people packed into our little sanctuary! It was pretty gratifying to know how many students wanted their parents to come with them to First Presbyterian. It's hysterical is some respects--parents who have raised their kids in the boomer mega-church scene or non-denominational community of faith get nervous when their off-spring write home about loving the Presbyterian church they go to. Presbyterians? Aren't they the "frozen-chosen, liberal wacko's just two steps behind those Episcopalians who ordain..."!? And then, they come and hear the Gospel preached in canonical richness, experience the wonderful rhythm of a biblical liturgy, get warmly greeted by thawed-out Presbyterian Christians, and leave for home just grateful that their kids are growing in Christ. I am so grateful for this good season in our ecclesial life. Yes, indeed. It's been enjoyable for Breck and Scott to talk during the week about their Lenten sermon series.

I think you'd enjoy this lively exchange we had with Dayton and Scott over the aesthetic reality of the Lord's Supper--it's such a wonderful thing to have raised theologians!

This from Dayton (up in Chicago and within spitting distance of his MFA):

I think a lot about the aesthetic dimensions of the sacraments. It's where the artist is most at home in worship. I've been mulling writing some meditations on these things. It's imperative that we wrestle with them as aesthetic, because they are. One of my more recent … thoughts has been on communion as a meal. In thinking of it as a meal, and of it as a visceral (literally viscera-filling), and as such, aesthetic, act, I began to long for better bread. Something I could really sink my teeth into, as opposed to something that slips between my teeth like our little wafers. Not being one to sigh and sit on his hands, I have been thinking of volunteering to come early and chop up bread for the congregation.
But the week before Ash Wednesday, [a] sermon brought me around to a different perspective that has really enriched my understanding and experience of communion.
I wish I remember exactly what the sermon was on, probably the temptation of Christ…but the thing that hit me, whether it was explicit … was that it is the unlikely things, the insignificant things, that really satisfy…
The meal that I held in my hands, of all the meals that I eat, day in and day out, month to month, year to year, is the smallest, the least significant, the most humble. The meal that I could hardly sink my teeth into if I tried, was the one that represented a satisfaction that no lavish feast could match. We are no strangers to gut-filling meals. We American's thrive on full bellies, 'super sized' meals, and at least two or three real feasts a year. The most forgettable lunch, leaves me tired as my body works to try to process all the food.
But Jesus always dealt in the unexpected, and I think it is appropriate, that in the United States at least, Jesus meal has become lighter than the snacks we serve in the nursery. It reflects his character. It reflects his nature. You don't need a primer on Romans 1 or Philippians 2, but that's where it's at. He has chosen, in his providence, the smallest meal to shame the feast.
So I love it. I have been savoring my little rice cracker, and my sip of wine. I have been relishing the culinary foolishness of our communal meal, knowing that in its material insignificance, is its aesthetic, spiritual, and somatic power, and there can be no more profoundly subtle image, as we wait for the wedding feast, of what it means to dine at the table of the Servant King.

And this from Scott, the pastor, in reply to his brother--he even preaches on paper!

I had a new member at Handsboro share with me almost the exact opposite realization you shared... One Sunday he got surprised by the piece of flesh he tore from the body. It was too big, he thought. In his mind it was an "oops." It should have been smaller- less significant. But he had to deal with it. He couldn't just eat part of it. He couldn't put some back. He was stuck with more than he could handle. So he stuck it in his mouth and began to chew and chew.

For him, the aesthetic reality that he wrestled with when it came to the sacrament was not in the gospel laden irony of a light wafer and small sip that conveyed and transferred the reality of our eternal immortal God who became a servant. For him, as he chewed and chewed, he was confronted in the gospel of that moment by what it means that Jesus was indeed the "true bread which has come down from heaven." Where as this incarnate act of communion for you, at least for now, appeals to your need for seeing the insignificance and humility of Christ, for him, at this time, it is a confrontation with that thick and meaty and jaw-tiring fullness with which Jesus longs to abide in us.

The incarnation is always a less and more reality. There is gospel in both. And while that still small voice says to one "I have become as nothing for you" he says to another "I am more than you ever thought." Only in that meal where words go away, where the aesthetic proclaims the gospel, can both the less and more of it be heard loud and clear. But don't be surprised when one day you accidentally tear off a piece that was bigger than you had intended and you find a lavish feast where you weren't looking for it. That's incarnation for you.

This month for me has been full, full, full of teaching. My regular undergraduate classes (New Testament, Theology and Hermeneutics) were joined by the last month of a Master's level class in hermeneutics and a week teaching "Perspectives" class on the Great Commission at night. Good, but tiring work. I didn't get to go to North Carolina as planned due to weather--I spent about 13 hours in two airports until both presentations had to be cancelled--February weather again!

We've also had lots of people over to the house for meals and gatherings of various kinds--next week is our monthly Salon, German studies team and a baby shower--all at my house! But, I guess my good news is that I just went on Amazon.com and saw that IVPress has already posted a pre-order space for my Bible Study Guide, The Story of Scripture! Yahoo! So, here's the link in case you want to order early! I'm pretty psyched with how it turned out. Now, all we need is a good cover! http://www.amazon.com/Story-Scripture-Unfolding-Lifeguide-Studies/dp/0830831290/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204570764&sr=1-6

Well, that's it for now. Easter is early this year...as early as it will be for over the next 200 years. That's good. Easter's message can never be too early in our lives. Christ is Risen! Oh, yes, He is risen indeed.

And that's why life is hard and good and worthwhile in HIS GLAD SERVICE.