Martin Luther on Literature

I am persuaded that without knowledge of literature pure theology cannot at all endure, just as heretofore, when letters [literature] have declined and lain prostrate, theology too, has wretchedly fallen and lain prostrate; nay, I see that there has never been a great revelation of the Word of God unless he has first prepared the way by the rise and prosperity of languages and letters, as though they were John the Baptists. . . . Certainly it is my desire that there shall be as many poets and rhetoricians as possible, because I see that by these studies, as by no other means, people are wonderfully fitted for the grasping of sacred truth and for handling it skillfully and happily.

Martin Luther, Letter to Eoban Hess, 29 March 1523. Werke, Weimar edition, Luthers Briefwechsel, III, 50.

Words for Flight

“Up now, slight man! flee, for a little while, thy occupations; hide thyself, for a time, from thy disturbing thoughts. Cast aside, now, thy burdensome cares, and put away they toilsome business. Yield room for some little time to God; and rest for a little time in him. Enter the inner chamber of they mind; shut out all thoughts save that of God, and such as can aid thee in seeking him; close thy door and seek him. Speak now, my whole heart! speak now to God, saying, I seek thy face; they face, Lord, will I seek (Psalms 27:8). And come thou now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek thee, where and how it may find thee.”

Anselm, Proslogium

The Closet

This poem, on death and resurrection, I wrote in November 2009. It initially is concerned with the death of my brother Sam, but ends elsewhere.

_______________________________________________________

The Closet

You left your shoes on the floor.

Dad made me pick them up since you left.
Stuffing them in a plastic box,
I cover the stench with the lid and bury them deep into the closet
—6 feet tall.

Looking around the closet I see other clothes—
Hanging like stretched out skin,
but you only have shoes.

Held on old wire hangers and in huge boxes, are memories–
where the owners were once handsome, happy and hideous.

On the floor are those shirts that havn’t been picked up, preserved or pitied.
Unnoticed.

There’s that polyester suite from the forgotten 70’s, an itchy argyle sweater reeking of tobacco and mint candies, a black silk dress.

Tube socks.

All these along with millions of other t-shirts, pants, and underwear, line up on the crooked shelves.

Your shoes
once wet with the thrill of life, bliss, and grass stains
are now simple addition,
yet in the middle of the night I long to take them out and see them again,
but I can’t.

The closet will always be full—
till Dad finally takes them to the Salvation Army in town
–and gives us our new clothes.

Kiss the Rod

God has given me great joy through the divine musings of Jonathan Edwards. I could write a lot about him–but not now. Pastors, historians, and online catalogs have already been doing this.

What I will say is on death.

The unexpected death of Jonathan Edwards occurred at the age of 54, from a small pox inoculation.When Edwards’ wife Sarah heard the news, she wrote to her daughter Esther whose husband  had died six months earlier:

“My very dear child, What shall I say! A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod, and lay our hands upon our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore his goodness, that we had [your father] so long. But my God lives; and he has my heart. O what a legacy my husband, and your father, has left us! We are all given to God; and there I am, and love to be. Your affectionate mother, Sarah Edwards.” (Marriage to a Difficult Man, by Elizabeth Dodds, p. 196)

My heart still grieves over the temporary loss of my brother. I say temporary, because I know that my brother Sam  trusted and held Christ to be sweeter than all things. With this I know that soon I will stand, kneel, and gaze alongside him and many others, while we all worship Jesus forever.

Though there lays the bold surety of the temporary–with each day there are always new trials to appear and these only add to a collection of old pains and old woes.

“My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

“the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:20-24

As this Fall approaches it will be 8 years since I’ve seen my brother. 8 long years. Yet, I must adore God for having my brother for so long and I must adore God for being so good to me. I must and I do.

“…and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.” Revelations 4:8-11

Friend and stranger, my soul pleads for you to join me in this great adoration.

Given the Morning Star–yet wanting more.

“God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more–something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words—to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become apart of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses and nymphs and elves—that, though we cannot, yet these projections can, enjoy in themselves that beauty, grace, and power of which Nature is the image. That is why the poets tell us such lovely falsehoods. They talk as if the west wind could really sweep into a human soul; but it can’t. They tell us the “beauty born of murmuring sound” will pass into a human face; but it won’t. Or not yet. Fore if we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on  the splendor of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of the morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.” C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

rudderless and out of time

John Owen once said, ”Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers.” This is crucial to understand.

Here is a powerful scene from ER on the soul’s necessity of absolute truth.

“I need answers and all your questions and your uncertainty are only making things worse….I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness because I am running out of time.”

We are all running out of time. We are all dying.

We have all fallen short of the glory of God and need His forgiveness. We can only find this forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

When felt boards block reality

Too often we overlook the familiar and famous passages of Scripture.

Verses such as John 3:16 become for some of us as mere Biblical regurgitation. Things of glorious meaning that have glorious implications for life can easily become old data, stored in our brains to collect dust.
We must see that there is a greater reality that Scripture shows us than what we see on our Sunday School felt boards.

The Monologue of One Embarrassed

I do and say a lot of embarrassing things. Sometimes I don’t mean to, and yet when they are done I can just see my carefully compiled reputation fall down a painful staircase. Yet, what should I say when I tell a joke that no one finds to be funny or not even worth the air each corny phrase has consumed. A lame joke is not the type of carbon emission humanity wants to leave behind.

How can I trip up the stairs and bring glory to Christ?

Some of you might graciously be thinking that I’m exaggerating and that my clumsiness in action and word is normal. Believe me though, everyday could easily be the beginning minutes of Punk’d…except I never see Ashton.

So what do I do when I feel shame, embarrassment, or lowliness? Laugh? Yes that is very helpful, but should never be the end. The end must always be to give thanks!

Today, after an event of humiliation–this was my prayer:

Lord you have graciously chosen to humble me and have made me see my insignificance. Forgive me for being so proud in my heart and mind. Oh that I would always see your superiority in all things good and lovely–yet I don’t.

I, the sinner, filth, and finite–mistake myself to be a single wonder and delight to your created world. What a sick and horrid joke.

Oh Lord, I rejoice that in your mercy and love, You have promised to be faithful in destroying this false perception of myself and revealing the true reality of your everlasting Kingdom. So if the means for this is pain or embarrassment, bring these things quickly. Make me see that any humiliation of the self is a gift meant to lift my eyes up from my mirror and on the glory and beauty of Christ.

Whatever you do Lord, make me see that whatever shame or embarassment I feel–My life can only boast and find its peace in the Cross.

Thank you Lord for my embarrassment, I ask that you would make it into my humility.

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galations 1:10

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Philippians 5:16-18

Whatever comes, may we always seek to glorify the Lord.

I wanna be where theologians are

A parody I wrote, to the tune and structure of Disney’s Part of Your World. The video above is what I performed at Boyce College’s Big Show. Hope you enjoy!

Some of my friends just don’t care about theology.                                                             If only I could make them understand.                                                                                        I just don’t see how studying such wonderful things could be so bad.

Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat?                                                                                      Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?                                                         Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl                                                                                                 The girl who has ev’rything?

Look at this shelf treasures untold                                                                                           How many wonders can one bookshelf hold?                                                           Looking around here, you’d think                                                                                        Sure, she’s got ev’rything.

I’ve got Spurgeon and Lewis and Calvin                                                                                      I got Edwards and Grudem galore.                                                                                         You want John Piper? I’ve got twenty                                                                                    But who cares? No big deal I want more.

I wanna be where theologians are                                                                                                 I wanna see, wanna see ‘em thinkin’                                                                             Working around on that                                                                                                           Whaddya call it? Oh, exegesis.

Topical sermons don’t really get you far                                                                  Commentaries are required for exposition,                                                                   Using your Greek Bible to                                                                                                       What’s that word again? Parse.

Up where they write                                                                                                                Blogging all night                                                                                                                             Up by the brilliance of Justin Taylor

Reformed and protestant                                                                                                               Wish I could be                                                                                                                                 Part of that world.

What would I give                                                                                                                                  If I could live                                                                                                                                     And study at Southern

What would I pay                                                                                                                              To spend a day                                                                                                                                    In Al Mohler’s Library

Betcha up there                                                                                                                         They’d understand                                                                                                                           Bet they don’t use poor hermeneutics                                                                                                                                                    5 point Calvinists Christian Hedonists ESV!

I’m ready to go to all the conferences                                                                                     Ask ‘em my questions and get some answers.                                                                     How do you be missional?                                                                                                          And how do you                                                                                                                         What’s the word? Contextualize?

When’s it my turn?                                                                                                                        Wouldn’t I love                                                                                                                              Love to explore those glories above                                                                                       Out of Anthropology                                                                                                               Embracing Theology                                                                                                                    Part of that World.

Ever Faithful

Question: Why do we view the Lord’s faithfulness to only be when we have gained something?

We know that the Lord constantly demonstrates His goodness and love through the blessings of marriage, children, friends, and health–But He is just as faithful through singleness, death, loneliness, and suffering.

His faithfulness isn’t merely in the apparent blessings of life, but in all times. His faithfulness to us can be seen even through our own suffering. So whether the Lord gives or takes away, “blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 2:21).

Whether through grief, loneliness, illness, or fear–know this: when pain comes His goodness will never decrease, for “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28).

May we in every situation say, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).