Give light!

This is from Bryan Chapell's Cross Centered Preaching. In this chapter, he has been talking about various processes of explanation. As a teacher, I found this very convicting:

In one of the key debates during the formulation of the Westminster Confession of Faith, one scholar spoke with great skill and persuasiveness for a position that would have mired the church in political debates for many years. As the man spoke, George Gillespie prepared a rebuttal in the same room. As they watched him write furiously on a tablet, all in the asembly knew the pressure on the young man to organize a response while the scholar delivered one telling argument after another. Yet when Gillespie rose, his words were filled with such power and scriptural persuasion that the haste of his preparation was not discernible. Gillespie's message so impressed those assembled as the wisdom of God that the opposing scholar conceded that a lifetime of study had jus been undone by the younger man's presentation. When the matter was decided, the friends of Gillespie snatched from his desk the tablet on which he had so hastily collected his thoughts. They expected to find a brilliant summary of the words so masterfully just delivered. Instead, they found only one phrase written over and over again: Da Luem, Domine (Give light, O Lord).

Over and over Gillespie had prayed for more light from God.  Instead of the genius of his own thought, this valiant Reformer wanted more of the mind of God.

In this chapter, Chapell reiterates the need for plain, accurate terms of explanation. Looking for elaborate or novel ways to explain the text may not be as effective as simply and clearly teaching what the text says and what it means. I do think that there is a place for teaching students theological terms, but this is where knowing our students becomes important. Some students will be keen and care about such things. Others may be quite content with the simplest explanation. As a teacher, my goal is to know my students and to be like Mr. Gillespie and cry out "Give light, O God!"

It's okay to put your mind in neutral for a while

I love to read. I love to study. I can't imagine not doing such things.

But I was reminded this week that it's okay to put the book down once in a while. This past week, I attended two ladies' events. One was at my own church, and the other I spoke at. Both events featured beautiful spring decorations, with live plants and bright, cheerful table settings. At our church, my mother-in-law decorated with drift wood and live begonias. At the other location, the trellises were lit up with white mini-lights, which created beautiful, soft shadows everywhere. It's nice to sit and partake of that lovely environment.

At the place where I spoke, one of the ladies there did a presentation where she showed us how to put together our own planters for our gardens. Now, there are times when the readers and wannabe scholars may turn their noses up at the prospect of attending a women's meeting where we learn to make planters. I don't always enjoy those things. I would never want to present something like that, either.  But I'm really thankful for the women who love that and who do it well. During the presentation with the potted plant, the woman doing it skillfully inserted little snippets of dialogue, directing women to the reality of God's beautiful creation and how we ought to be thankful for it. 

There are times when I can border on a little bit of womanly snobbery by dismissing such talents. I shouldn't do that. Just as I don't want to be handed a room to decorate, there are women who would rather die than consider getting up to speak. I'd rather get up in front of 200 people than decorate a room, and when our ladies committee discusses such things, I generally zone out. However, I'm thankful that there are those who are skilled at such things. Welcoming ladies to our church by making the room pretty and appealing is a part of showing hospitality. Now, it doesn't have to be lavish.  But it's okay to be tasteful and pretty. It makes people feel comfortable.

Yesterday afternoon, in the wake of having spent quite a bit of time getting ready to speak on Thursday, in addition to getting ready to teach tomorrow, I took a bit of a break and kind of puttered most of the day. In the mid-afternoon, the sun was sneaking in and around the ferns in my back yard, so I went out with my camera to try different angles among them. After that, I poked around my peony bush with my lens and attempted to get a picture of the cat swiping at the dog's face. They moved too fast for me. There is something about taking pictures that is soothing to me. I feel creative. 

For the remainder of the day, I did basically nothing but putter around the house.  Later, my husband and I went on a long bike ride on a trail where the lilacs were blooming and the scent was all around us. It was wonderful. I made mental notes along the way, planning to return with my camera once I get a basket on my bike.  I even stopped and sat on the ground and looked up at a pagewire fence to get an idea of what the farm in the distance might look like through my lens should I decide to photograph that in the future.

Yes, I love to read. I read a lot. But it's okay to put the books down for a while. It's okay to do something with our hands. Sometimes, working with our hands generates more thoughts and helps us to process what we read. Sometimes, it's okay to forget about the online debates, the defending, the division, the never ending glut of information that says, "listen to me, listen to me, listen to me!" Sometimes, we need moments when we just mentally coast for a while.

I am thankful for this past week, for the reminders of the joy in the beauty of spring, and the ability to take in His wonderful creation. The books and the debate aren't going anywhere.

Childish wisdom to embrace

My daughter loved to sing from a very small age. She loved, and still loves, music.

This was one of the first songs she learned to sing, at around age 2:

Jesus bids us shine
With a pure, clear light,
Like a little candle
Burning in the night.
In this world of darkness
We must us shine
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.

I would sing it with her, and she would hold her little finger up like a light.

There is infinite wisdom in this song.

Last night, I have the privilege of speaking to some women at their spring event. My topic was growth in Christ. I spoke about Ephesians 4, about growing up into Christ, and I emphasized the body of Christ as the place where we grow as Christians. Yes, we grow individually, but we grow in the body of Christ, because that's where we reside on this earth.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Eph. 4:16-17)

One of the thing Paul mentions here is that the body is built up when each part is working properly. We all as individuals have a place and a function in the Body of Christ.  Romans 12:3-5 reminds us of this:

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

Some of us will shine as Jesus bids us in a small corner. Some will shine in a wider corner, with many people watching. The point is that when the members of the body work properly, the entire body is built up, and that is the goal, to built up Christ.

We can become attached to the sentiment that there is no influence unless one has a big voice or a big corner. We can feel frustrated because we feel insignificant.  We have to fight these impulses, because it's not about our own significance, but Christ's. 

This is a powerful truth, to shine in the small corners. Small corners are useful. Some people like small corners. Some people feel safer in the small corners than the wide open spaces. Let's use our lights in whatever corner God puts us in. Let's not consider ourselves extinguished lights simply because we live in the small corners.

Dystopian ponderings

I read Margaret Atwood's book The Handmaid's Tale. I do not share Ms. Atwood's worldview at all, but this woman knows how to write a book that makes you keep turning the page. Yes, there are some unpleasant words in this book, so, if you don't like that kind of thing, don't read it. 

This book is about a society whose choices have seriously affected the ability to reproduce. The handmaids, which are a twisted response to a bad reading of Scripture, are there to repopulate society. The handmaids are "privileged" in a sense, because they are given food and health care so they can produce children. But they are little more than prisoners. This world Atwood creates is brutal. Yes, there are feministic overtones in this book. One must know that going into it.

One of the things I found most interesting is that women were no longer allowed to read and write. Food coupons did not have words on them; they have pictures. At one point, the narrator, a handmaid, is given a contraband copy of Vogue magazine as a sort of peace offering from the man to whom she is a handmaid. It's forbidden for her to have this.  The man keeps it because it is a piece of the past that he finds nostalgic.

Atwood wrote this in 1985; this is long before the days of social media and an image saturated world where people don't say, "I ate a doughnut," they put a picture on Instagram. We all have short attention spans; 1,000 words seems onerous. We don't say "I'm happy," we use an emoticon. While we are not forbidden to read, I thought this was pretty insightful element to the book that Atwood, of course, would understand: literacy is important.  A lack of literacy can imprison someone.

We are fortunate in this country to have accessible education. Even adults who have literacy struggles can be equipped through literacy programs. We ought to foster our literacy. We ought to avoid having our attention spans reduced so much that we'd rather put up a picture than use a word. I love books and stories well told. I loved them when I was a child, and growing up, I thought it was a sign of my maturity to read a book with no pictures.  It meant I was gaining in understanding. Do young children still think that?

Thankful Thursday

Spring has really arrived, and I am thankful for that.  Despite the fact that we had little snow pellets beating down for a brief time earlier in the week, I think spring is here to stay.

I'm thankful for the place where I live, that we have a great variety of trees and wildflowers, in addition to the lovely lawns and flower beds in my neighbourhood.

I'm thankful for an opportunity to speak to some ladies at a spring dinner at a local church. I'm thankful that there are women praying for me as I go, and I'm thankful that my mother-in-law is coming with me. This is a chance to share the gospel as well as an encouragement to those who already know Christ.

I'm thankful that the local asparagus will soon be at the farmer's market.

I'm thankful for plans to see my mother and father in August. My older son is attending a wedding, and my husband and I are going to drive out with him. I'm itching to go.  This Saskatchewan-born girl hears her ancestral roots calling, and I feel the need for the big sky. I think I'll take a picture of the sky every time we stop.

I'm thankful that old dogs can learn new tricks, and that even at 48, I can learn and grow.

I'm thankful for spring sunrises, the sounds of Cardinals, and the smell of lilacs.