We had our final, and possibly the best, movie discussion of the year (we run on the fiscal year here at Hope) on Sunday. The movie was Saved, a satire attacking a superficial, unloving Christianity. It was probably fairly accurate at a number of levels, which is probably what made it so funny. In the end it seemed to tear down the judgmental Christianity, only to replace it with a more universalistic theism. And again, the irony of it all, is that this replacement once again serves as a judgment against all those who don’t adhere to this universalistic individualistic belief structure. As Tim Keller in The Reason for God described it, every group has to by nature exclude someone.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie and agreed with many of the critiques. For instance, Pastor Skip, the principal, comes out doing a flip and calls for people to “come down” and rededicate themselves to Jesus after “backsliding the summer.” I’m not a fan of altar calls or re-dedication calls, because people just come on down and it never seems to make a difference. I can’t tell you how many youth I’ve seen come down one evening, and then nothing after that. Maybe you’ve had a different experience, but that’s been mine over the years. And of course I’ve come down several times for re-dedication or commitment (once might have been the point of conversion in elementary school, so I can’t completely blast the practice!) and personally haven’t seen it enable me to “carry my cross daily and follow after Jesus.”

Movies are going to express something true of the world, just like books or philosophers. That’s just part of being made in God’s image, according to the WCF we were created in “holiness, righteousness, and truth.” Of course sin enters into the picture, and concomitantly into the motion pictures, so sometimes we have to mine a little more carefully. But there is truth conveyed nonetheless and this movie turned out to be quite devotional: I was challenged to be more broken before others-the broken characters were the only characters in the movie we actually liked. It really taught me a lot about relationships.

Today was Memorial Day and we did what we always do on national holidays: painting or yardwork. We opted for the latter. Nothing like planting flowers, having your in-laws rake leaves, and mowing the grass to make for another memorable national holiday. Anything to take our minds of Little T’s late, but soon-to-be arrival.

While we were doing yardwork today, we got a chance to catch up with several neighbors. Which I guess is a good reason to do yardwork-though I don’t really like it (not them; I love my neighbors). I know, it shows. I fired first.

But as we raked, trimmed, planted, an unfamiliar mini-van pulled up. It was one of Amy’s kids, not driving of course, but he was a passenger. He came by to bring her a balloon, a card, and a plethora of hugs. It was very sweet. The mother spoke a lot of spanish, but for some reason “teacher” remained part of her spanglish. She actually spoke way more than I expected. She’d been by before for the Easter Outreach party.

I guess you know you’re a good teacher when your kindergarteners cry everyday you’re gone, and bring by balloons/cards/hugs. You know you’re missed. I guess the same thing could be said about any time you leave something/somewhere/someone. If you’re missed, you probably were a good _______. Please don’t read anything into this; I’m not going anywhere. It just shows me how much these kids AND their parents appreciated her for not only her hard work, but also her love. Justin is the hispanic kid in the picture, and was the bearer of the balloon.

Little T was being obstinate today. Either that or just really sleepy. Probably the latter. We went in this morning for ANOTHER NST (non-stress test). Unfortunately for us, Little T decided that moving around was no longer fun, like it was at 5 am this morning, and he refused to do so. Popsicles, apple juice, graham crackers, and the like did no good. So we had an ultra sound to check if everything was OK. The little joker didn’t move for that.

So they gave Amy some delicious hospital ham sandwiches and some beverages. About 30 minutes later he started moving. We were at the hospital for about 5 hours, but glad to be home now. I’m expecting more fun of the same variety on Tuesday, our next doctor’s appointment. This time we’re bringing Jolly Ranchers. Little T loves those things, and “shakes what his/her mama gave him” whenever Amy eats those.

We just had another baptism in our church last Sunday. It’s been a while. I hope to see more adult baptisms here as well: someone new coming to the faith and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace and the concomitant community. That’s a great thing as well.

I have to confess that infant baptism is not that weird to me. I grew up Presbyterian, so that’s what we did. When I became old enough to really question the matter, all I had to do was to see some biblical support. I understand that for those who didn’t grow up with such a practice, or even the theological framework behind the practice, that this is quite a step. And I TOTALLY respect folks who believe that baptism seals the believer (Baptistic folks) as opposed to sealing the promise (Presby-types).

In seminary, I remember an evangelism professor say, “I prayed that my child would never know a day when she could remember not knowing Jesus.” I thought that weird, since most of my college ministry experience taught me the necessity of knowing THAT MOMENT. That was where assurance could be found. Now of course there is a moment when the Holy Spirit regenerates the heart and that person is “born again” (John 3). But for many folks, the date isn’t an option. And that’s good. Because all they have to hold on to is Jesus. Not a date/time/place.

Now a covenant child can obviously have such a date/time/place. Plenty do. But it’s certainly not bad when they don’t. In fact its normal. That’s what we pray for when we place the covenant sign/seal upon the child and claim God’s promise.

BTW-if you didn’t get it by now, the picture is of the musical artist presently known simply as “Seal” (not the first thing I think of when I see him though).

Well yesterday was the supposed to be the B-Day. Unfortunately “Little T” wasn’t moving out. Not yet. We stayed for some surprise tests and an ultrasound for several hours. Next on the agenda is a trip back on Saturday for another NST (non stress test) to see how “Little T’s” heart rate is doing. Then back on Tuesday, and if no action before then, Amy will be induced on Wed or Thursday. Impatient? No of course not. Never. I’m such a patient person.

When we got home from the hospital yesterday, our neighbors with their newborn in hand, came out and greeted us with a gift. It was some sort of “hooter hider” (yes, there is a such a thing) or nursing blanket. I’m not real well read on that kind of stuff.

This was very encouraging to see our neighbors loving us back. Perhaps even better than we’ve loved them-although giving gifts is not my love language (but I have given them snook and redfish filets before!). A sense of community has definitely developed as people are beginning to creatively think of ways to bless others. And that’s a good thing.

And then we were able to have someone over for dinner. A nice ending to a long afternoon.

Lately I’ve been supplementing my daily bible reading with a book called The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard. It has been quite helpful in reminding me that each Christian ought to daily do battle with sin. If there is no battle, then we’ve become complacent and are not pressing, “on toward the prize which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil 3).”

The chapter I read today reminded me of one way that the flesh operates. Here’s an excerpt:

You must understand this: the flesh weakens conviction against sin by separating the remedy of grace from the design of grace. The scriptures teach nothing more clearly than that God’s design in showing mercy is to make us holy people: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no ungodliness and worldly passions and to live upright and godly lives in this present age.” pg 64

In other words, the remedy of grace stirs within us a restful assurance that Jesus died once for all sins (I Peter 3:18). Yet we cannot separate, as we so often want to, the remedy from the design of grace: to make us look more like Jesus. Of course we aspire to this holiness not by sheer effort, but by repenting of the idols of our hearts (comfort, respect, money, power, sex, pleasure, etc….) and seeing Jesus as the ONE worthy of our highest affections.

But we must not forget that the design of grace calls us into a war zone, where competing affections regularly do battle against us. Ludgaard’s reminder is not only “catchy,” but biblical and powerful: we need to be more “cross-eyed.” Jesus cross displays God’s wrath and white hot hatred of sin. And we need to hate sin more. But it also reminds us of his Fatherly love towards his children. He forsook his own son, which became the irrevocable price of our adoption. What love! Let us be more “cross-eyed.”

Last night Amy was cool with me fishing. So I took off wading, not kayak fishing, which would allow me a quicker getaway if I got “The Call.”

So I called up one of my new fishing buddies (a guy visiting the church AND starting up a new lure company-I’m supposed to be getting some inventory soon!) and we headed out about 6:15 pm.

I got one decent snook, and two “snooklets” before the bite slowed. Then I got a monster snook, about 30 inches in length. The fight was awesome. But even greater was the fact that someone else was there to share it with me. And of course take the picture. As a side note, I’ve held many more fish than babies in my life. So I do need to be careful I don’t have one hand in “Little T’s” mouth and try to hold him far away from my body to make him look bigger (as I do with snook and redfish).

Sometimes I like fishing by myself. There’s some freedom in it. I can go this way or that, and chase after fish. Yet if I look back on my fishing, I’ve realized that I have a far greater time when I’m fishing with someone else. Someone else can share my joy.

Now this picture is up on the kayak website, and many folks are posting stuff like “Nice snook” and other really deep things of that nature. But the more posts, the more joy for me, and for them (provided they’re not jealous like I am sometimes).

A joy that is not shared doesn’t last very long. It really doesn’t. Just another of my gazillion encouragements to be active in sharing this joy in some sort of relationship. Our joy will really run dry if we shut ourselves off from others, or if we shut our mouths and refuse to speak of the joy we have in Christ. The more it’s shared, whether it be through fellowship or relational evangelism, the more evident and consuming our joy shall become.

Last night was our last official youth group meeting of the summer. Some of the youth requested we do a 3 hour night, and use the extra time to have an Awards Ceremony, similar to The Dundie’s of the hit show “The Office.” I obviously obliged, if for no other reason than 3 youth took their leadership initiative seriously. But I also was excited to do some sort of awards ceremony.

I’ve done this in previous years as an RA, youth director, and college intern. No season is officially complete without an awards ceremony.

One of our more creative youth came up with most of the awards, passed them on to me, and I passed them on to another youth who put them on paper plates. High end operation for sure.

Of course they were hilarious as expected. But the question was whether or not they would be well received. After all, my awards ceremonies tend to highlight and emphasize the more embarrassing aspects, events, or personalities of the recipient. For instance one of the kids whom we often forget is even in the room, received the most outgoing/center of attention award. One who never comes got “most committed” (someone had to accept on his behalf). My personal favorite was the “I love Florida football, but who the heck is Tim Tebow” award given to someone who wears University of Florida gear but knows next to nothing about the team.

We all laughed with one another. And that’s a direct result of the gospel. We love and accept one another, in spite of all our idiosyncrasies, shortcomings, annoyances, etc….We should be able to laugh with one another because there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. If we can’t laugh at ourselves, then we really are missing something of the gospel. If we can stand faultless before the throne of grace, then who cares if we receive the “I’m thirsty, but not thirsty enough to drink the full 12 oz can” (for the youth who always leaves the can half full/empty) or the “Loudest talker (yours truly).”

Recently, I’ve been thinking of the necessity of lay leadership in the church. For starters, I began listening to a talk on “Mentoring Lay Leaders.” The 2nd speaker, John Yates rector of The Falls Church, began by publicly repenting of his low view of lay leadership at the beginning of his ministry. He thought that really strong Christians go into ministry and the rest kind of “serve Jesus on the side.” This is really just a pagan gnostic/Platonic picture of life, where the sacred and secular are divided into separate spheres, with ministry being spiritual and of greater importance, and any other work being secular and of lesser importance. Sorry for the run-on sentence.

To serve Jesus, you have to do it ‘on the side’ instead of actually serving him wherever you are. Fortunately our Reformed tradition has done everything it can to eliminate this faulty distinction, but sometimes people still think this way. This isn’t the point of my post, however, so I shan’t be touching on it further. Just FYI.

He challenged everyone on the importance of lay leadership. Then someone involved in church planting came to our session meeting on Wed with the intent of getting our elders on board with a presbytery wide vision of planting churches. One of the reasons why he found it so important for elders to become involved is that every great renewal movement of God has been the result of the Spirit moving in God’s people. Not specifically clergy.

Getting back to the talk, Yates mentioned that most of the ministries in his church actually began by lay folks seeing a need and rising to leadership to address it. Couple that with someone more capable than I agreeing to lead our summer mission project, and two ladies bible studies starting up-not by pastor recommendations but by folks seeing a need and rising to it-I’m really jazzed up now.

Well of course the Rays couldn’t take my praise and lost last night to the Yankees 2-1. That’s what happens when little guys like me put enormous pressure on them.

Anyhow, one of the points of my last sermon was to know that the joy Christ offers is grounded in objective reality. It’s not true joy because it makes us happy (there are plenty of happy folks that don’t know Jesus), but true joy because Christ has legitimate, objective worth. It is of the utmost importance that we continue to delve into deeper knowledge of Him (why we should have this joy) and how/where He will build His Kingdom through us if we are to maintain that joy in the face of either hardship or skeptics.

We obviously do this-though it has to be intentional and with faith-through fellowship, the word, prayer, sacraments. But another way is reading, or listening to sermons, talks, lectures, discussions. It probably sounds boring to some, but especially for those who don’t like to read or have time to read, these aforementioned resources though the internet/Ipod can be of great help. You can kill two birds with one stone: I’ll drive, work in the yard, or clean the bathroom with these talks/sermons. Many of the speakers are quite engaging, particularly if the audio comes from a conference: conferences tend to not get boring folks to speak!

Here is a link of talks/lectures (I hesitate to use the word “lecture,” because lecture seems so academic and these are not) from the Gospel Coalition Conference of 2007 that I have begun to listen to. I definitely commend to you the talk on “Mentoring Lay Leaders” by Harry Reeder and John Yates.