Good Moaning. It’s a cool, gray day, up here, how ’bout some Takes.
One
To dispense with business first, I got to be on The Ride Home again yesterday. I’m in the first segment being all hilarious, but then you should keep listening because Karen Swallow Prior is in the second segment and she’s lots more interesting and you’ll actually become a better person. Oh, and then you can go listen to the Persuasion Podcast interview Wendy Alsup about her new book, Is the Bible Good For Women (spoiler alert, YES, but you’ll want to buy it because you need a deeper and better answer than that).
Are you feeling discouraged about all the heresy? And flirtations of central Christian figures with apostasy? And general weirdness of theology marketed to women? I’m going to, probably after my holiday if I ever get to have one, try to balance all my critical snark with some real encouragement. There are some Christian writers out there who don’t need to be threatened by Lifeway to adhere to the Bible. I’m going to devote myself to making sure you know about them.
Two
So, I did blog about Eugene Peterson yesterday, because he did say some troubling things to Jonathan Merritt, and it is the Internet after all (here’s why it was totally ok for me to do that). And then later in the afternoon he published a full, basically, or petty full retraction. And then Jonathan Merritt tried to make it like the retraction didn’t matter.
And I have two thoughts about this. First, don’t give interviews to Jonathan Merritt. Just don’t. No matter what you believe about human sexuality. And Second, this is the issue of our time. Sure, we wanted it to maybe be the nature of scripture, or the dual natures of Christ, or who exactly the Holy Spirit proceeds from, or wow, even the number of years in which the earth came to be formed, but we can’t always get what we want. We have to take the issues of our time and deal with them.
And truly, the church has, through the centuries, dealt successfully with the nature of the Trinity, with the nature and work of Christ, and nature of Scripture, so now it’s time to knuckle under and deal with the nature of the human person. It’s called Anthropology if you’re looking for a theological word, and we have to face it.
The great thing about careful consideration of the lines of orthodoxy, especially when we have these ‘conversations’ publicly in front of the world, is that we in the church are allowed to speak, even if the world says we’re not. I am actually encouraged that a man with a full life of ministry, whose books have been a true help to the church, doesn’t get to quietly fade off to his lake retreat, but even at this moment has to consider The Issue of our time. Young or old, we have to give an answer when it’s called for. And we’re all occasionally wrong. And God is gracious and merciful and abounding in steadfast love, so that we have time to turn around and reconsider the truth. That’s why you should keep praying for Jen Hatmaker and Glennon Doyle Melton and Jory Micah. And for Eugene Peterson, that he would be truly clear about his convictions.
Three
This tweet from Sarah Bessey, I think, gets to the heart of this moment. She tweeted,
“I want to live in such a way that the worried establishment feels the need to put scare-quotes around the word “Christian” to describe me.”
The great thing about a tweet is that you don’t have to worry about context. The context is the news of the day, which was Eugene Peterson. Notice she refers to ‘the worried establishment.’ I’m pretty sure she means orthodox Christians who articulate a biblical view of not only sexuality, but of the human person in his, or indeed her, totality. She wants, then, people like me to put scare quotes around her being called Christian. I am really happy to do this. Human Sexuality is the issue of our time. It’s going to separate the orthodox from the progressive. Indeed, it already has. Who gets to be called a Christian is the issue. What theological convictions finally make it so that you can no longer claim that name? It’s not right now about whether or not you think God exists. Or how your organize church governance. Or what you believe about the end times. The issue right now, the pinch of incense offered up to the gods if you will, is what you believe about what God says about human sexuality and identity.
Four
And now on to more important matters. Elphine turned fifteen yesterday. I KNOW! This is totally freaky. Coming right on the heals of my discovery that The Perennial Glenn is for my demographic, I feel quite unhinged. Is it possible for women to have some kind of mid-life, as it were, crisis? Because that’s a word that pretty well describes all my thoughts and feelings lately.
The thing that I find I’m always saying to myself about Elphine–her calm, competent youthful glory, and I know this supposed to be about Jesus, but just go with it–is, ‘she must increase and I must decrease.’ And I only say that because truly, it may not be happening in size, but it is in all those imperceptible but catastrophic ways–energy, youth, humor, enthusiasm, and hope.
Five
Still, she is extremely short. She and I have devoted ourselves to prayer, though not to fasting, that she will grow in her fifteenth year. Her frame is broader than mine, and she has finally crept up to my gargantuan stature of sixty inches, but if she stays there, we as a family will be confirmed in our backward trajectory. While all the world gets taller with each generation, we get shorter. And shorter. Oh please, dear sweet baby Jesus, may she have another two inches!
Six
Do feel bad, because she herself is such a gem, about gazing at all the other children and muttering, ‘Oh just grow up already.’ Used to like late childhood for its charmed, carefree ways. But the charm seems to be giving way to bickering, and the care is definitely free, as in not there at all. It would be great if they could have Some care. Just a little. Just the amount that was called for by Uncle Precious down the ages. ‘With a little care,’ he would say, ‘that wouldn’t have happened.’ Gosh I miss him.
Seven
And now, as they say, I shall arise and go to Jesus…I mean, to do laundry. And some other things. Go read more Takes! And try not to commit heresy for a few minutes!
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