OFFENSIVE PARTICULARITY

Last week at the Kendall house, we hosted our fourth (or fifth?) annual Reformation Party. Folks from Grace Community Church in Troy, from First Presbyterian in Dyersburg, and from the general neighborhood gathered for food, fellowship, and celebration. Bill Randolph fired up his monster smoker and cooked a mountain of hotdogs and juicy, inch-thick hamburgers. Party-ers loaded the tables with baked beans, potato salad, chocolate cake, and home-baked cookies. In addition to sweet tea, lemonade, and soda, we consumed gallons of hot chocolate, spiced cider, and steaming coffee.

The boys lit off and monitored a hillbilly-sized bonfire. One fellow in attendance asked my Benjamin just what exactly was in that pile of wood to make it produce the enormous flame whipping skyward. "Wood," Ben answered. The man studied the conflagration a second, then asked, "So, what are you spraying on it out of that hose?" "Water," Ben replied. Hard to believe such a torch could be lit with only trash wood and a match!

As the evening progressed and a cool fog descended, we crammed inside the house for singing, a little silliness, and some sober reflection. Sober reflection on what? A what is a Reformation Party, anyway?

Early Christians were persecuted by those both inside and outside of the church. Some Jewish converts felt that preaching salvation by Christ alone made this faith too simple, that it somehow robbed it of the rich heritage and traditions of the Jewish faith. Yes, they believed faith in Christ was important - but they also wanted new converts to be circumcised and to observe Jewish religious laws and traditions.

Polytheistic neighbors also persecuted early Christians. The pantheon of Rome had plenty of room for another god - even this god-man called Jesus. What they couldn't tolerate, however, was the exclusivity of this new faith. Christians claimed that there was only one true God, and only one way of salvation, Christ. How dare these religious upstarts dismiss and even discredit the host of dieties embraced by so many others!

Christianity is distinct among world religions precisely because of the only's. It is these same only's and alone's that make this faith so offensive to the unbelieving heart. It is precisely at the point of the only's that our adversary seduces us and tempts us to compromise. And it is at this very point that we must be watchful over our own hearts and vigilant in proclaiming and defending the truth of the Gospel of Christ, Christ alone, to ourselves and to the world around us.

In the face of these persecutions, the Apostles preached and wrote and exhorted believers to hold fast to the truth: There is only one true and living God, and, by His sovereign grace, He saves sinners through the atoning work of Christ alone. The apostles unapologetically defended Christianity's offensive particularity, because in it was the power of the Gospel.

Throughout history, the church has been tempted to yield to the seduction of these two great errors - 1)that we must add something to the work of Christ to secure our salvation and 2)that other faiths are equally viable and should be embraced in some distorted, twisted expression of brotherly love. Of course, if the first truth - the complete, absolute, eternal efficacy of Christ's atonement - is abandoned for any kind of works-based salvation, there seems little point in fighting for the second truth. Give up "Christ alone" for the gospel-plus, and you open the door for Rome's pantheon (or our own modern-day versions) to dance right in. On the other hand, if there are more gods than one, then there must also be many ways of salvation, right?

So, back to the Reformation Party. Just over 500 years ago, God raised up a group of men to challenge the church anew to re-align its teaching and practice with the Word of God. The church had abandoned the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone, for a salvation based on faith plus works. These Reformers exhorted the church to look to Scripture, the written word of God - and not to the traditions of men - as the absolute authority for matters of faith. Just like the Apostles fifteen-hundred years earlier, these men preached the Gospel...and set the world on fire.

Men are sinners. All of us. And we are perverse in our thinking. As Steve said during Wednesday night's festivities, we can believe the Gospel - and then forget it's true in just five minutes. The church, Christ's Beloved, is comprised of just such sinful folk, and even corporately we tend to forget and compromise the Gospel. Aren't you glad we have Scripture to expose our wayward tendencies, to call us back - again and again - to the truth, to the Gospel?! This objective, unchanging standard challenges us to confront error, to repent of wrong thinking, to be vigilant in reforming our thinking to the truth of God.

So what is a Reformation Party? It is a remembrance and celebration of those 16th-century Reformers who rediscovered and proclaimed the Gospel, turning the world upside down. Men who valued the Word of God so highly that they risked their lives to get it into the hands of as many men as possible. Men who sought to be reformed to the truth of the Word of God...instead of seeking a reformation of the truth.

It is a pause in the busy-ness of life to remember those great truths that define and unite and comfort and empower us as Christians. To unapologetically proclaim the offensive ONLY's - Sola gratia. Sola Christo. Sola fide. Soli Deo gloria. Sola scriptura. It is a moment to consider that, as Christians, we must resist the subtle pull to reform the truth, but must instead always strive to be reformed to the truth, the unchanging truth of God's Word.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever.....but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. - Galatians 1:3-5,7-8

TIME-O-METER

As a young girl, I loved horses. When I was about 16, after countless nights of praying into my pillow, my Dad got me my own horse - Hallelujah! (Actually, the horse belonged to both me and my younger sister, Suzanne. But because Suzanne didn't have much interest in livestock at the time, the mare was, for all pratical purposes, mine.)

Shortcake was payment from a cowboy for Dad's legal services. She was a small horse, the perfect size for a young girl just learning to ride. A freckled appaloosa, Shortcake looked like someone had sifted powdered sugar over the top of her brown coat. Although a bit ornery at first - either because of my own inexperience with horses or because she was unaccustomed to much attention - Shortcake soon settled into a sweet, forgiving disposition.

Each morning before school, I trudged sleepy-eyed to the barn to feed and brush my treasure and turn her out to pasture for the day. Then, first thing when I got home in the afternoon, I pulled on my boots and hiked back on the farm to round her up. Shortcake would undoubtedly be grazing in the field furthest from the house. I'd run up, hop on her bareback and bridle-less, and let out a whoop. We barreled like a tornado for the house, me lying low over Shortcake's neck, my legs clamped firmly around her sides. I felt like a wild Indian woman - just me, my horse, the rush of air past my face, thundering hooves beneath! Back at the barn, both our hearts pounding, we'd saddle up for a longer, more dignified ride along the country roads and through the fields near home.

Such good times! The best part of every day was the time I spent with Shortcake. I loved that horse, and I believed with all my girlish heart that she loved me, too. I stayed on top of my homework, kept my room picked up, checked off my chores, just so I'd be free each afternoon to ride. Time with Shortcake was precious, something I defended and labored to protect.

My Mom told me once, when I was still a young girl in love with a horse, that time was a meter that revealed my heart. Time showed me what I truly loved. "You work very hard to make sure you have time every day to ride your horse," Mom said. "The fact that you deliberately make her such a great priority shows how much you love her."

I knew Mom was right about Shortcake - that was undeniable. But Mom's words have challenged and often convicted me in the many years since. When I look at how I use my time today - what things I fight for, what things I let disappear into the black hole of over-commitment and packed schedules - what does time say about the things I truly love?

I say I like to spend time with my kids. Does my time-o-meter confirm this? Well, the needle may peg to the left on an occasional bad day, but, yes, I think the meter shows that my children truly are a priority and a delight. And for the three-plus-one no longer living under my roof, those whom I can't physically be with each day, they occupy much of my thinking and prayer time.

I love the family of God. Really? How does meeting together with the saints measure on my time-o-meter? Do I eagerly and regularly meet with others for worship, study, prayer, and fellowship? When we are not together, how much time do I spend praying for my sisters and brothers in Christ? Does my heart long to be somewhere else, besides in the company of this bunch of crazy, Christ-dependent sinners?

I love Christ. He is my very dearest Beloved. How much time do I spend each day in communion with Him? In Scripture? In prayer? In thinking on His beauty and goodness and mercy? Do I jealousy defend my time with Christ each day? Or, do I skip over Christ and get lost in the busy-ness of the day, thinking, well, after all, He'll understand. And anyway, He is sooooo forgiving. Besides, we'll have eternity together after this life - it doesn't really matter whether or not we spend time together now.

It's a rough day and I'm tired. Burned out. Used up. Lost in dark introspection. He says he loves me, but does he really?....if he did, he'd talk to me. -OR- People can be so presumptuous...how dare they impose on my time! -OR- Does anybody here even care what I think about....? -OR- Why did he have to answer so rudely, so meanly? Doesn't he know that hurt my feelings? What does the time-o-meter say about how much I love myself? Am I wallowing in idolatry of Self? Blech! (As a dear friend once put it, humorously, am I a Solar Sister? "I am the sun, and everything revolves around ME!")

Shortcake...I still smile thinking about that small, appaloosa mare. My first true love, confirmed by the time-o-meter.

Thirty years later, what do I love? What does my time-o-meter register today? How about you?

WELCOME HOME, MOM

I took off a few days last week to drive to Des Moines for a much-needed visit with Emily and Dennis. All by myself. For four days. I don't think I've done anything like that in the 26+years I've been married, in the almost 23 years I've been a Mom.

Usually, if I'm going to be out of the house for a day, or perhaps even overnight, I leave a long list of marching orders for the kids at home. School assignments, chore lists, menu plans - everything I think they'll need to keep them busy, productive, and fed until I get back. But not this time. I'd been trying to plan a visit for months, and I was beginning to realize that, if I didn't just leave, I was never going to get away. So this time, I just got in the car and drove.

One of the reasons I am not particularly fond of even short "holidays" away from home is that I dread the mountain of work that awaits me upon my return. Coming back into the nest, road weary and descending from a festival mood, it is so difficult to walk back into the house. Of course, everyone will be fine and things will have motored along alright without me - but without Mom in the harness for a few days, there will definitely be some catch up work. I have a hard enough time staying on top of household chores, etc., when I am rested and in my normal routine. After a break, when I'm off my sleep and have been imbibing a great deal of personal liberty, I have to admit I'm not always excited about stepping back into such a heavy harness!

But here is what greeted me when I pulled into the driveway Saturday evening, my bones buzzing from a 10-hour drive....

Martha was cooking dinner. Martha had made out menus and a shopping list, and she and Grammy ran to the grocery store during my absence (not only had I not made out menus, I hadn't even stocked the pantry). I unpacked my suitcase, then sat down to a hot meal of porkchops, peas, rice, and fried apples. Yum!

Without any schoolwork assigned for the four days, my kids found other ways to entertain themselves. They washed all the windows. They washed woodwork. They did laundry, dusted the house, and mopped the floors. They picked up the yard, weed-eated (is that a word?), hauled wood, and got a head-start on preparations for this week's bonfire - more on that event in a later post!

And they doled out copious smiles and hugs, along with excited chatter about the week's news and activities.

All to say, this re-entry was way easier than anticipated! And now, I am back in the harness, grateful to my six youngers for giving me a real holiday.

CRAZY DAYS

My yesterday looked like this: School and babysitting little MaryAnna in the morning; two girls to Union City for piano in the early afternoon, plus a quick run to Wal-Mart and the bank while I had wheels; hurry home so Martha could teach a piano lesson, and I'm checking math tests and Chemistry homework in the background; a quick stop next door to see Grammy, then off for my walk on the farm; back home, time to cook dinner; mix a batch of snack mix (yum!) and then clean up the kitchen; kids tagged for daily chores; review two upcoming articles for the Soli Deo Gloria column and get them out to our writers' group; read through lesson for this Saturday's women's brunch again and begin reviewing material for next month's brunch....Time for a late-night pot of coffee!

You don't even want to know what my tomorrow looks like. Let's just say, for starters, I have three places to be at 10:00 tomorrow morning and am wondering how Hermione Granger pulled off being in multiple Hogwart's classes at the same time!

For someone who tries very hard to keep life slow and simple, I find that things have been a little crazy around here lately....and it looks like it will only get busier as we move into November and December. Seems crazy is the new normal.

I'm so glad I still remember my Lamaze breathing techniques. If you see me out racing around anytime soon, I'll probably be taking slow, focused, deep breathes...and maybe counting.

PURSUED

My teenagers and I are currently working through a study/overview of the Bible produced by Ligonier Ministries (check out Dust to Glory here). First we looked at Creation, in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Then, in Genesis 3, the Fall. Here, only three chapters into the Bible, we have our first parents willfully disobeying the God who created and loved them. Before they've even wiped the juice from their chins, Adam and Eve make several new acquaintances: guilt, shame, nakedness, fear, deceit. Terrified of the God in whom they had once delighted, our parents run for the bushes. God comes looking for them in the cool of the evening, just as He had before, seeking their fellowship. But rather than running toward the God they were created to glorify, Adam and Eve run even deeper into the trees.

This is what every human on the planet - save one - has been doing every since. Running from God. Whether vaguely aware of our inadequacy or painfully and undeniably certain of our guilt and shame, we run. Run away, and keep on running.

But here is an amazing twist to the story. In my honking big copy of the Bible, the Fall occurs on page 12. We fallen humans start running. Then, for the next 1862 pages, God pursues. God pursues His people, His beloved, beginning right there in Genesis chapter 3, and continuing on through the last verse of Revelation. God pursues His fallen children, redeems us, addresses our shame and guilt, restores us to fellowship, sanctifies us, causes us once again to truly delight in Him rather than to fear and flee from Him. And He does this, NOT because we are seeking Him...because we aren't. He does this, because He loves us. And, being our sovereign, wise, all-powerful Creator, God finds us in our hiding places and brings us back into the light. He doesn't lose a single one of His children.

A friend and I were reading together in the book of Jude Tuesday evening. This tiny, next-to-the-last book of the Bible ends with this doxology: Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Pursued, caught, held captive by the love and beauty of my Redeemer...and one day, as it was in the very beginning, standing in the presence of the glory of God, with great joy.

TITUS 2-S DAY - THANKFUL TREE

November will soon be here, and then Thanksgiving! Time to stock up on fall-colored paper, tape, and sharpie markers. I thought I'd share one of our family's annual holiday traditions....

Using red, orange, and yellow construction paper, we cut out a stock pile of fall-colored leaves (think hundreds). One of the kids creates a large brown tree trunk, which is then taped to the dining room wall. Each day in November, everyone writes down two or three things we are thankful for on the leaves and we add them to the tree. Some "thankful leaves" are serious - like gratitude for our church family and friends. Some are totally silly - like thankfulness for pizza (Tom's favorite food) and for indoor toilets! By Thanksgiving, the wall is completely covered with brightly-colored leaves. It's always fun to see what is added to the tree each day, and it is a blessing to share with each other what things we are grateful for in this life.

Family life at our house certainly has it's share of ups and downs, of difficulties, of crabby days. But making leaves for our Thankful Tree? That is always a happy occasion.

EVENING WALK

Lovely weather for a walk this evening (Thursday) - cool, sunny, just a hint of a breeze. The sun was burning up the western horizon while a sliver of moon looked on. Out walking - and thinking - I saw....

One red-tail hawk exploded from the top of a tall sycamore tree, a flash of white and red, his shrill kree! slicing the air like the wail of a bereaved lover.

Two owls, one hidden in the western treeline of the back hayfield, one in the eastern treeline. Their loud calls like the musical boom of timpani, back and forth. Hoo-ooo-OOO!

Three sleeping sisters. Three great ridges, tall hills, running parallel like giant fingers. Up (breathe!), down, up (breathe!), down, up (breathe!), down. Time to turn for home!

Four white-tail deer. Motionless, heads high, ears alert. A flash, a leap, and they were gone, their dusty brown coats disappearing among the trees.

Five shiny black crows. Stately gentlemen, offended at being disturbed, rose from the brittle grass and complained all the way to the nearest tree top.

Six wood ducks, impossibly fast, whirring overhead enroute to the old pond.

Twelve glossy black cows, smelling of earth and grass and fresh air. Rip, munch, crunch, grazing in the pasture.

Fifty-three Canada geese, a living, trumpeting Vee painted against the fading sky.

Brown leaves crunched underfoot. I wondered, Where do the fish go, and the snakes, when drought burns up the fields and licks the creekbeds dry as Egypt?

Back at the barn, three red horses nickered Hello and invited me to stop and scratch their ears. Three timid barn kitties bolted for cover, peeking from evening shadows as I passed by.

Home at last, one fat, furry tabby trotted up and escorted me down the driveway to the house.