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It seems pretty amazing to me that God should care at all to make us more like Him. I mean, are we really worth all the trouble? I can’t imagine the heartbreak God must feel as we, His children, continually walk away from Him in our minute-to-minute existence, continually live as if He weren’t there, when He has bought us at such a terrific price. Granted He is God and thus knows that we are but dust and that we are ‘by nature children of wrath’ but I still imagine it causes His heart to break.

I’m also so amazed at and comforted by God’s sovereignty. Jonathan Edwards described a crucial moment in his coming to an intimate knowledge of God as understanding this doctrine as utterly sweet. Now I can’t say that I see the sweetness of God’s sovereignty in large scale disasters, like Katrina or the tsunami last Christmas or with the starving people in sub-Saharan Africa or the genocide that occurs in the Darfur region and in many other places. I can’t quite square those things into thinking that God’s sovereignty is sweet. But I still believe it. I still believe that these things have been ordained and that somehow they bring God glory, in ways I cannot understand or begin to fathom. (This is of course NOT to say that evil is to be condoned or that the church is not to alleviate suffering. Instead we are provide for the fatherless and the widow; we are to do our best to work against the stamp of sin that envelops are planet.)

On a personal level God’s sovereignty has indeed begun to become more sweet; and this has not arisen from more abstract thought or all the things in my life going along perfectly. In fact I have learned through the difficulties in which God places me, in the things I think I cannot get through, that God is sovereign. And what was evil and unfair becomes palatable in the light that it has been orchestrated for me by God for my ultimate good (that of learning how to glorify and enjoy him forever) and for His praise. I pray this will always be so, that as my life becomes harder, I may always rejoice in Christ alone, my Saviour.

Surely two of the influences that have generated the evangelical neglect of public works (in society in general and in our cities in particular) are our premillennial fervor and our marriage with other political conservatives. This does not mean that premillennials do not believe in or perform good works or that it is wrong to be politically conservative. But premillennial fervor (particularly in many dispensational circles) has led us to abandon the future and the civic involvement needed to shape that future. This is where the recent resurgence of postmillennial theology (for all its problems, in my view) has helped us to renew our confidence in the ability of Christians to spread light into the darkness of society. As for conservative politics, for all the worthy battles in the culture war that have been thus fought, the fact is that evangelicals have looked upon politically-liberal urban areas as either unworthy of our concern or as adversarial to our interests. Evangelicals must reconsider both our eschatological vision and our political agendas, not only as our duty to the Lord Jesus but for the sake of the gospel in our nation. We can retain our fervor for Christ’s return and also have a positive fervor for the kingdom of God in this world. We can also continue to pursue social reform and repentance while expanding our politicial vision to include matters of social justice and mercy. What this means is that we must abandon false dichotomies that have caused us to neglect our calling truly to be salt in the world.

Posted at Reformation 21

Bare with me as continue to think through these issues …

I am very inspired by so many women who seem to do it all — who labour tirelessly, who plan healthy meals, support their families, save money and some even have a job, creative outlet or area in which to serve as well. The type of women that read The Tightwad Gazette and make up their own cleaning products. The women with their own organic gardens who manage to feed a growing family on next-to-nothing. If I ever become a stay-at-home mom someday this is the type of woman I want to be — for example, one whose daily choices help alleviate global suffering (buying fair trade/organic food for instance) while keeping one’s family healthy.

I’m also astounded by the many women who seem to be the intellectual equals of men in whatever field they are in. Take my supervisor for instance: she’s a full professor and the director of a research institute, on numerous boards, publishes extensively, is a fabulous teacher and quite a caring individual. Did I mention she also has a family? Amazing.

I think both the thrifty SAHM and the career woman (with or without children) can have the tendency towards pride. It seems — please note, probably with reason — that the church will confirm the SAHM while denoucing the career woman for “going beyond her place” (especially if she has a family). Granted, however, the SAHM is probably more apt to be less prideful; something about cleaning up after a messy baby in the middle of the night does wonders for one’s pride, I imagine. All that to say, I have been reminded after a conversation with my sister-in-law that women — in whatever situation they find themselves — must have their identity in Christ, must live out their calling to the glory of God, must live out the gospel in their particular corner. I think the temptation for all of us is to become enmeshed with something other than Christ — which is rather obvious considering we are innately sinful — whether that be one’s role as wife/mother or a career or other pursuit. So I would encourage those of you who read this blog to hide yourself in Christ alone and keep that as your focus; seek Him first, not advancement of any sort. I know you Christians know this, but I hope to encourage you still to remember and believe the gospel as we all find out where God plans for us to be.

Here is a link about the status of Desire Street Ministries who minister to the poorest of America’s poor. Please consider helping as they suggest in contributing a donation or gift certificates for those who’ve lost everything. Also keep them in prayer in the areas they elucidate on this link.

Please pray for Bryce’s mom as she travels this week to deliver goods to Lafayette, LA for those in desperate need of assistance. Pray that she may be encouraged to be the hands and feet of Jesus as she helps after the devestation.

Here is a fabulous article about God’s sovereignty and natural disasters from Rick Phillips on the Reformation 21 blog. Here’s a bit:

A week ago I was interviewed by a local reporter, and he asked me if I would like to ask God why tragedies happen. I responded that I did not need to ask God, because the Bible tells me already. He was surprised, and followed up by saying I surely believed that God was not involved in such things. I responded that, no, I believe God is sovereign over all things and his providence is governed by holiness, wisdom, goodness, and love.

It cuts through those who would use Katrina as a way to say it is God’s judgement on America or New Orleans in particular.

For those of you anxious to understand how your life of work or study fares in relation to worldwide disaster — a question that’s been very relevant since 9/11/2001 and then with regard to the Boxing Day Tsunami — I urge you to read C S Lewis’ “Learning in War-time”. (I can’t find an online version but it is in his The Weight of Glory if you can get your hands on that).

I’ll leave the “why disasters happen and God’s providence” post to my husband, but for now here are some practical ways you can help those who have been hit hardest by Katrina.

First off, there are a number of pastors and theologians who blog on Reformation21 who do not have email access and so are communicating via their blog; please check it out as I’m sure there will be many updates within the next few days about ways to help. Connected with that is a man, Guy Richard, who has just accepted a call to 1st Pres at Gulport, Mississippi (he’s currently writing up his PhD for Edinburgh) and now there is no church and I imagine his future congregation is homeless. Please pray for God’s guidance and financial support.

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity is collecting excess contact lenses and glasses. More information can be found here.

MercyCorps is affiliated with the Hunger Site where 92% of donated monies go directly to disaster relief; they say “Every dollar you give helps us secure $20.89 in donated food and other critical supplies.” Please consider giving. The PCA’s Mission to North America also has information about donation and prayer requests here.

Desire Street Ministries has a hurricane update and ways to help out this “incarnational” ministry, who live among and minister to the poor in New Orleans.

Obviously pray for these people, the economy to recover so that they might find work, for the church to minister to those in need and to share the good news in such dire circumstances. Here’s just one blog from a survivor.

I would also encourage you more generally to begin thinking preventatively about such things. In an age dominated less by strict nation-state borders and more by global capitalism, where your money goes matters more than ever. Consider ways in which your every day choices — where you buy your food, what kind of food you buy, where you shop for clothes and other goods, what cleaning products you use, what legislation you support, if you recycle, where you go out to eat, how your gas/petrol consumption affects the environment and how it may continue to drive up gas prices in areas where others can’t afford the price hike (remember learning about supply and demand?) — speak what you believe. If you say you care about God’s creation then think about what you are doing today enforces that view. There is a new organisation called the Care of Creation that looks very promising in its focus on environmental stewardship; this is one starting place. I’ll step off my soapbox now.

Okay, I’ve bitten off way more than I can ever hope to chew with this blog title. But nevertheless, I hope my very quick thoughts will get us all thinking.

First off, I wonder how much my ideas about women and the church are influenced by my culture and how much by the Bible. (And a further clarification: I’m not going to talk about women in leadership in the church right now — that’s just a bit too much for the spare brain power that I have.) What concerns me is that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of thinking women in the church at large. This is the sort of thing that blog groups like Intellectuelle and College girl are seeking to address. It seems to me that in contemporary evangelical subculture many of the “older women” Paul writes to Titus about do well to admonish younger women to “work in the home” and to “love their husbands” but I fear that beyond this there’s not much mentoring going on. (Please do correct me if I’m completely off base — and I do know that this is not the case everywhere and there are many exceptions, I’m just making, perhaps unhelpful, generalisations). That is, the “older women” lead craft nights and host baby showers as well as helping out younger women when it comes to marriage and family, but the Christian life for a woman is not always seen outwith such a framework.

I know it is the case that many women thrive in their role as Christian wives and mothers and although I feel that even if one’s role is a wife and mother (without an outside career) one needn’t live the role, one may fulfil the role without making the role the defining feature of one’s identity. After all, we’re not to live the role of beautiful, perfect, everything’s-perfect-on-the-outside woman and this is easily addressed in Christian subculture — beauty comes from the heart, etc. However the role of wife and mother is held up as the telos of a Christian woman’s idenity in an evangelical environment. The role of Christian wives and mothers is, I believe, essential and it makes sense that the church would stress this aspect of womanhood in relation to the feminist outcry of the last generation. At the same time however, I fear that emphasising these roles to the exclusion of the person is detrimental to Christian women. What if one isn’t sure about ever getting married or having children? What do you do with your church’s single women? What is a girl to think if her worth is wrapped up in her role as a wife or mother? Must all women have as their end goal marriage and family? How do outside interests/career fit in with this? What does the “Christian woman” look like (the Proverbs 31 woman sure juggled a lot more than just 2 roles!)?

I think that the evangelical church would do well to consider some of these questions and view it in light of the whole gospel of God. And I do find it a bit hard when women are content to settle for the role rather than transform the role. A woman as well as a man has been bought by the blood of Christ if she has been redeemed. Here is her worth. Not in a wedding ring or baby nappies.

Because I said I would, I wanted to post some links for those of you who are interested in seriously using the money you do have in responsible ways — not for necessarily profitable ways but hopefully ways which reflect Christ first and foremost.

At Starbucks last week, I saw they had the Rough Guide for a Better World for free. You can probably get them at your neighbourhood coffee shop or the pdf version is online as well: here

For those in the UK, there’s the Good Shopping Guide, which lists products that “reports and ranks at the ethical behaviour of the ultimate holding companies, behind hundreds of the UK’s biggest brands”. There’s a sample chapter for free but you have to pay for the book.

In the US, there’s a similar thing called the responsible shopper where you can search by company name or brand.

Fair trade resource network can be found here. This is a fair trade bibliography.

Another organisation to support is the International Justice Mission, a group of Christian lawyers who give of their time to global justice issues.

Finally, here is a wonderful article about Christian responsibility to the poor and the meaning of grace and justice by Greg Bahnsen.

Enjoy and *use* the links and do let me know what you think!

As you all know, the G8 Summit is being held here in Scotland and while we were away we missed the opportunity to march in the Make Poverty History protest which was intended to communicate to the world’s most powerful leaders that we supported a full relief of aid-associated debt and that they had the opportunity to actually make poverty history, especially in poor African countries. You also are aware of the recent terrorist attacks in London. Tony Blair flew down from the G8 Summit in Gleneagles to London to make a statement in words which sounded a whole lot like Bush’s speeches after 9/11 — vagueries about freedom and not letting terrorists prevail. I imagine the vagueries are really all that is rhetorically possible, when the government isn’t even sure who or how this happened and has no way to stopping suicide bombings as it deviates from conventional warfare. It does make me think if the world is headed for some WWIII of video game warfare without any recognisable fronts or fighting. But I digress.

We were having a discussion with the Hays last night about fair trade coffee and the ridiculousness of Starbucks having a fair trade option to chose from; as we agreed, if you’re serious about fair trade issues, than make all your coffee fair trade, not just having one option so you appear socially aware and responsible. With the Make Poverty History campaign, I do wonder how much of our ecological-friendly or fair trade buying habits are simply now reactionary, where we are paper dolls who happen to put on the fair trade outfit over our naked selves because it’s what’s the new hip now. And I’m as guilty as the rest. I admit I proudly wore my “Make Poverty History” white band during the conference in Greece and felt pretty cool wearing it, which is completely inane. Buying free range or fair trade has become yet another gold star on my “do-good” chart. Granted, I do think it is our responsibility, indeed a necessity, to buy free range and fair trade products not just because it’s the politically saavy thing to do, but because as Christians we have a responsibility to care for the very least of these — (Jesus said “the poor you will always have with you”; how much do we take this to heart?) which includes seeking to reward business practices that put global ethical responsibility above their aspirations for a huge profit margin.

This, like all “good deeds”, is but filthy rags, a slick new piece of paper which hides our nakedness underneath. We are at bottom sinners, whether this is manifested in deviance or whitewashed moralism. If Christ alone is Truth, as we believe as Christians, than our lives need to emulate this Truth — not because it’s the “right” or “moral” or “proper” thing to do, but because as we are transformed into Christ’s likeness, our lives in turn (including our buying habits) need to be transformed. It’s time we got specific and didn’t settle for pat answers, emotional rhetoric from politicians, or buying fair trade because it makes us feel good about ourselves. If you’re a Christian, you are called to pick up your cross and deny yourself. That may mean not eating meat because of factory farming — or at least buying free range chicken. That may mean you sacrifice your time, money and reputation so that others can have more than you. That may mean you live in a small house so that you can give more of your income to the poor around you or those who do not even have running water or enough food for today. That may mean researching where your food comes from and who sources it so that you are making decisions for more than your immediate desires for brand name washing up liquid. Christianity has never been about being comfortable or following rules. It has always been about Jesus, Jesus who gave himself up for us who never could deserve it. I imagine I shall return again to this topic and so will provide some links to research I’ve found then. For now, I leave you with a portion of a Derek Webb song.

i repent, i repent of my pursuit of america’s dream
i repent, i repent of living like i deserve anything
of my house, my fence, my kids, my wife
in our suburb where we’re safe and white
i am wrong and of these things i repent

i repent, i repent of parading my liberty
i repent. i repent of paying for what i get for free
and for the way i believe that i am living right
by trading sins for others that are easier to hide
i am wrong and of these things i repent

I’ve been repeatedly listening to an Iron & Wine album lately and it conjures up a sort of ersatz nostalgia, a nostalgia for something I’ve never experienced except through a genetic transmission of weeping willow trees, blackstrap molasses, lightening bugs, wrap-around porches, generational quilts and rocking chairs. The music transports me to another life, another possible self — one where I perhaps have a university education, am clad in a yellow sundress, my feet bare as I dig in my garden, a small towheaded girl next to me, digging up worms with sticky berry residue on her lips. It’s a life of ripe tomatoes, shaded sunshine, smiles, old houses and hours of family congregating to snap peas, discuss life and read together on a huge creaky porch or, in the winter, in front of a roaring fireplace. It’s me and motherhood — slowly, naturally, selflessly, graciously — without suburban ladder-crawling, utilitarianism and endlessly juggling career and family.

But, I am not this mother with happy dirt under her nails. My ‘academic’ skin bristles when girlfriends ask me if not having children is a sin, implying somehow our identity as Christian women is encapsulated in a hierarchy of roles: mother, wife, individual. And yet there are many things – yellow sundress, homeschooling, and organic garden and all – that are immensely appealing to this alternative mother-self; things which make me want to give up my ‘academic’ self in favour of home-grown food, patchwork quilts and go to a place where daily laundry becomes a type of sacramental ritual of self-emptying. But I am and cannot be that yellow-clad bean-snapping self just as I cannot be the academically regaled, multiple-degree success story either. There will always be people exceedingly more brilliant than me, while I constantly doubt if I can even make it through my Ph.D., let alone become an inspirational professor.

I am neither fully one nor the other of these women, and yet both of them.

Whichever of these selves I live out more transparently in the world, I will always fail, but for the grace of God. I cannot be fully either self, for each places and romanticizes a role on centre stage while duties to others and to the Church are mere chorus dancers, materialising briefly and flitting off to the stage wings, in comparison. Encapsulating my role as either only a mother or only a career-woman misses the point: instead, my identity is hid in Christ; for God has exchanged the filthiness of motherhood mud and fatigue as well as the career-climbing lust for advancement and renown for the righteousness of Christ. Whether it’s garden-inches and diaper-inches or office-inches and book-inches, Christ claims every square inch of a woman’s life. The gospel needs to be lived out in both selves. Now it’s just figuring out how to get these selves in me to work together! But that, too, is a work of Christ and for that, I am utterly grateful.

Perhaps we’ll start a feature on Media and Society and why TV fries your brain (a la Neil Postman), perhaps not. But I thought I’d post some interesting statistics on TV-free families.

Here’s a little teaser on what I learned about the TV Free Families who responded:

–They have about an hour of meaningful conversation per day with their children (national average: 38 minutes per week).
–They come from 43 states, all walks of life, income brackets, levels of education, races, etc. Most are in their 30s, married with 2 children, have college degrees, earn $60,000-$80,000 per year (range: less than $20,000 to $130,000 up), two thirds have religious affiliations and 41% send their kids to public schools (private and home school equally divided the rest).
–92% of parents say their children “never or rarely” complain about the lack of TV or pressure them to buy brand names and popular toys.
–As to their children’s heroes, most votes went for Mom and Dad. Others include teachers, Harry Potter, Jesus, Martin Luther King, Grandparents, and Michael Jordan.
–80% feel their marriages are stronger due to no TV – more cuddle time (see essay)!
–They are readers (adults and children). Get the majority of their news from NPR, newspapers, and a few national magazines.
–They (kids and adults) rarely feel they’re missing out – totally on the gain side.
–More than half of their children get all A’s in school.
–The computer does not take over the role of TV in most homes. Though 98% own a computer, only 1-3 hours of recreational use per week was reported by adults. (When asked if their children use the computer more or less than kids who watch TV, nearly half felt their children use it less due to the passive nature of the activity.)
Children entertain themselves and play for long hours with fewer sibling fights. 70% of parents felt their children got along better with no TV.
–One family with an ADD child reported removing TV from the home (under their pediatrician’s advice) – the child blossomed and took tremendous strides in development.
–As for why they’re TV-free, one man’s comments reflected much of what the survey showed: “We have not watched TV for more than 16 years, not out of a statement against society or any overt religious injunction, but a simple desire to have TIME for a more meaningful marriage and family in the face of a busy life.”

Information found here

So, what do you think about being TV-free? Is it snobbish, a good decision or a way to lose touch with one’s culture?