Martin Luther quote

It is by living- no, rather it is by dying and being damned- that a theologian is made, not by understanding, reading, or speculating.

Filed under: Spirituality

Karl Barth’s last words

From Michael Jinkins’ Invitation to Theology:

On the evening of December 9, 1968, the aged Karl Barth was working on a lecture, his last lecture, and one he never gave. Only a few days earlier he had said:

The last word which I have to say as a theologian [...] is not a term like ‘grace’, but a name, ‘Jesus Christ.’ He is grace, and he is the last, beyond the world and the church and even theology.

Barth had been thinking a lot about death in those days, his friends said, and about life after death. But on that night in December he continued to work. The phone rang as he sat writing at his desk. He stopped writing in midsentence and answered the phone. It was his old friend [...]. They talked for a while, and after the conversation Barth did not return to his lecture. He left it for another day.

He died that night, and his lecture ended in midsentence. But the thought is complete. It reads:

God is not a God of the dead but of the living. In him they all live.

These were to be the last words we received from the pen of one of the most prolific Christian theologians in history.

Filed under: Life, Spirituality, Theology

A robust gospel

I am at the front end of preparation for a seminar/workshop I will be presenting at the upcoming Great Commission Ministries’ IGNITE Conference in Columbus, Ohio. The theme of this year’s event is Deeper, Wider, Higher: The Outward Call of the Kingdom of God. If you are interested in attending, you can find out more information here.

I will be teaming up with an old friend, one of the pastors at h2o Church at BGSU, Bryan Wiles, to lead a seminar titled (something like) “The Gospel Rediscovered.” Here is our vision: We can’t do evangelism unless we know the message we speak and embody. So what is the message? What was Jesus’ message? How does it connect with the larger narrative of the Bible? Does our message look like his? Does it connect with the grand narrative of God?

As I gather resources and formulate the concepts/stories of the seminar, I will post them here. Today I am including the best concise resource I’ve ever found. It is an article by Scot McKnight for the Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today magazine. It is titled 8 Marks of a Robust Gospel. I will include the 8 marks here and am also linking the entire article here.

1. A robust gospel is a story.
2. The robust gospel places transactions in the context of persons.
3. The robust gospel deals with a robust problem.
4. A robust gospel has a grand vision.
5. A robust gospel includes the life of Jesus as well as his resurrection, and the gift of the Spirit alongside Good Friday.
6. A robust gospel demands not only faith but everything.
7. A robust gospel includes the robust Spirit of God.
8. A robust gospel emerges from and leads others to the church.

Filed under: Spirituality, Theology

On the balance between scholarship and discipleship

Since starting seminary over a year ago, I have often wrestled with this question: How do I merge the scholarly world of intellect and information with the “real world” of faith and discipleship? In some traditions, talk of seminary and intellect has such negative connotations that anyone taking an interest in such things is deemed suspect. Destined to fall into the abyss of cerebral knowledge absent of authentic worship. In other circles, knowledge and intellect are so revered that church leadership is withheld until certain academic standards have been met. And Christian discipleship can, in this scene, be relegated to a secondary place after the pinnacle passion of knowledge.

But does it have to be this way? Does there need to be such extremes? Can the worlds of knowledge and discipleship collide in such a way that each speaks a word into the other? On the long drives home from school, I pray that this “collision” of sorts would happen in my life. I dream of becoming a man whose discipleship is inescapably fueled by his academic pursuits, and whose academic pursuits are tempered by and understood entirely in the context of discipleship.

I think T. F. Torrance hits the nail on the head in this struggle to balance the two:

“The transformation of the human mind and its renewal through assimilation to the mind of Christ is something that has to go on throughout the whole of our life—it is a never-ending discipleship in repentant rethinking as we take up the cross and follow Christ. That is why we cannot be theologians without the incessant prayer in offering ourselves daily to God through the reconciling and atoning mediation of Christ; and that is also why we cannot be evangelists without being theologians whose minds are constantly schooled in obedience to Christ.”

Filed under: Life, School, Spirituality

Prayer of St. Fursey

I found this great prayer in a book on prayer I am presently reading.

The arms of Christ be around my shoulders,
The touch of the Holy Spirit upon my head,
The sign of Christ’s cross upon my forehead,
The sound of the Holy Spirit in my ears,
The fragrance of the Holy Spirit in my nostrils,
The vision of heaven’s company on my lips,
The work of God’s church in my hands,
The service of God and the neighbor in my feet,
A home for God in my heart,
And to God, the father of all, my entire being.
Amen.

Filed under: Spirituality

Prayer

“Prayer is the breath of the soul, the organ by which we receive Christ into our parched and withered hearts.”

Ole Hallesby

Filed under: Spirituality