David Fitch’s The Great Giveaway turns in chp 5 to the “Preaching of the Word” and he sub-titles his chp “the myth of expository preaching.” What do you see as the primary function of preaching? To be an exposition of the biblical text itself in a verse-by-verse fashion (or close to that) so that each of us can live more effectively? Or is it a communal act of interpretation? |inline Read more
Way back in November, I shut down a series on the Sermon on the Mount to get ready for Advent and Christmas. Today I want to resume that series. Today we look at Matthew 5:43-48. Most know this passage as the “love your enemies” passage. Good term, but the “enemy” is almost surely the “Gentile” and the “Gentile” is the person whom we have made the Other. Jesus summons us to love the “other-ed” one — the one whom we... Read more
Here is what we saw every evening. Taken by Laura and Mark. Read more
World poverty — how do we respond? There are many ways, but one surely to consider is the Micah Call of the Micah Challenge. Read more
We had a wonderful relaxing warm week in Ixtapa, and are now back “in the saddle.” School begins in a week and with it some speaking engagements, but I’ll do my best to keep the blog up to date. Here’s what I plan to do: finish Fitch; we’ve dropped Peterson because the book did not generate discussion (however good it is to read); I’ll finish my series on the Sermon on the Mount that I dropped for the Advent and... Read more
Chapter four of David Fitch’s The Great Giveaway takes on a troubled and troubling dimension of corporate worship: the production of experience. Because of Fitch’s personal study of the history of liturgy and worship, and because of his experimentation and practical knowledge of the liturgical ideas stemming from Robert Webber’s works, this chapter is for me one of his more profound chapters. It pays rereading a few times. What is the “worship” service all abouit? Is it about the generation... Read more
Our days in Mexico are about over now. Kari, our niece, the track runner from U New Hampshire, left this morning. We take off tomorrow morning. My early-morning little heron got within about 10 feet of me today. He was in hot pursuit of some bug and realized a little late how close he was to me. I finished the splendid biography (half-biography) of Jane Addams today, and have begun a book of essays by Thomas Lynch, the undertaker from... Read more
We are in the third chapter of David Fitch’s provocative, if not accusatory, study called The Great Giveaway. This chapter deals with pastoral leadership and the thesis of this chapter is very simple, and it is one that should be given serious attention: too many evangelical churches have given away the biblical vision for a pastor by surrendering the biblical model of servant-leader to the “leader-public speaker-pastor-CEO” (74). |inline Read more
My early time on the beach, with that little Pacific heron and a few stragglers, makes me aware of the utter sameness of the course of weather and the days here. Same every day: about the same temp and I begin to see the hills at the same time; I can begin reading at 7am; the little heron shoots off south at about 6:45am each morning. But what strikes me most is the constant rolling of the waves into the... Read more
The second chp in David Fitch’s book, The Great Giveaway, concerns how to evangelize in postmodernity, and for those of you who have read this blog or are conversant with the discussion about evangelism in the emerging movement, this chapter will either be “old hat” or a splendid survey of a new take on evangelism. |inline Read more
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