Put the seminaries out of business!

Sometime last week I came across this quote by Al Mohler in an article from The Gospel Coalition. Our local church is currently trying to do more of its own training of teachers (and potentially pastors), and I thought the quote spoke to a lot of what we're trying to do. It was encouraging at the very least, and a little contrary (in a good way) to our modern way of training pastors.

“My hope is that we can put the [seminary] institution out of business. What I want to see is more godly, biblically grounded, gospel-driven local churches begin to prepare pastors, because it’s in the local church where that should primarily take place.”

~ Al Mohler

Why N.D. Wilson writes children's fiction

N.D. Wilson is becoming one of my favorite authors as of late. He writes essays, fiction, children's fiction, and is currently on the task of writing the screenplay for a film version of C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. He is a regular contributor to the Christian publication The Credenda Agenda, where I found this article by him (go here to read it), on writing children's literature. Below are some of my favorite quotes from Wilson's article. And who says adults can't read children's books?

Adults. We are very important, and we need to read important things. Sure, a lot of us read romance novels and humor and pulp fantasy and feel-goodistic schlock, but those aren’t the important people. Important people read deep, thoughtful, ponderous, bitter, empty, foul, and incisive things—the stuff of wonderful fiction.

The assumption [of critics who think children's literature shouldn't be too "real"] is that kids don’t need/can’t handle the truth. They need some time to be happy before they discover how much the world sucks and/or how boring it really is. Lie to the kids now, and they will look back on it fondly later. (Santa anyone?)

I don’t want to lie to kids. Ever. I don’t want to lull them to sleep before the real world wakes them up with a head slap and a wet-willy in the ear sometime during adolescence.

I want to paint a picture of this world that is accurate (if impressionistic), and I don’t want a single young reader to grow up and look back on me as the peddler of sweet youthful falsehoods. I want them to get a world vision that can grow and mature and age with them until, like all exoskeletons, it must be cast aside—not as false, but as a shallow introduction to things even deeper and stranger and more wonderful [...]

It is because I try to write this way that I use so much darkness. Evil is more than a prop. True sacrifice is not a sleight of hand. Laughter in the face of adversity is the first step to profound joy in triumph.

True Grit and Redemption

I went to the movies with my dad on Monday and watched the Coen Brothers' True Grit. I was skeptical when I first heard about this film, being a fan of the original John Wayne version. But the more I heard about it, read a couple of reviews, and watched the trailer multiple times, I couldn't wait to see it. And it didn't disappoint. Follow the links below to 2 articles that analyze the film a lot better than I could. All I have to say is, that I almost couldn't believe how redemptive the movie was, and how an umbrella of true, solid Christian hope colored the entire story. It's no accident that almost all of the film's musical score has parts of the hymn "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" running through it. The soundtrack is definitely worth the purchase, by the way.

2 great articles to read:

Article # 1: A review of the film by Stanley Fish, from the New York Times.

Article # 2: A review by Mike Cosper, at The Gospel Coalition, providing a distinctly Christian, biblical critique of the film.

Notable Reads of 2010

Significant things I read in 2010 (a few more to be added):

1. Why We Love the Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck
I really enjoyed this book. In the midst of postmodern dissatisfaction with church and organized religion, these two authors make a really good case for these things, and make an attempt to stir up affections for organized religion. Very encouraging read, and revived my excitement for church on Sundays, Monday night Shepherding Group etc.

2. The Pleasures of God by John Piper
Piper is becoming like an old friend to me as I read more and more of his books. I love the way he thinks through things, and it's really exciting for me to sit down with a Piper book and try to think along with him through Scripture and theology, and life. This book is another deep one by him, that leads you to think about very profound aspects of the person of God. Great stuff. Read the appendices too!

3. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
It's my goal to eventually read a lot of Hemingway's books. This goal has been slow in the reaching, but every so often I get back to a Hemingway book. This was the first time I ever read this one, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

4. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
I love Swift's essay "A Modest Proposal," so I thought I'd love a novel by him. But I didn't. It really got on my nerves after a while, for reasons I can't completely explain. There were laughs to be had along the way, but overall I thought the story got pretty redundant among other things. Maybe I don't have the constitution for long, drawn-out satire...

5. Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Collection of short stories, that influenced Ray Bradbury a ton. So I had to pick it up. Tones of sadness throughout, but a really unique treatment of human beings and their personal struggles. My dad was born and raised in a small Ohio town also, and I grew up listening to his stories; I suppose I have extra fondness for stories set in Ohio. I really liked this one, and I'm sure another reading would yield more goodness.

6. The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
This one threw me for a loop. I don't know if I completely get all of what Chesterton is up to in this book, but I'd really like to get back to it again for at least one more read. It's a cool allegory for the problem of evil, among other things.

Handel's "Messiah" Reprise

Two years ago this December I posted a link to the "Messiah", by George Frederic Handel, on NPR's website. You can click the link to the player and listen to the whole piece - it's great!

The "Messiah" is one of the most amazing pieces of music I've ever heard, not to mention the quality of the lyrical content. It's an amazing work of art, that really helps bring my heart into an attitude of worship to God. The piece is loaded with incredible Gospel truth.

Go here, and let it play!

When we don't give thanks...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving of 2010, and in an attempt to actually take traditions seriously, and develop a richness in celebrating holidays, I'm jotting down a few ponderings on Thanksgiving.

This year I've been struck by how many references I've noticed on TV, on blogs, etc., about Thanksgiving being an awkward holiday for families. For example, take Conan O'Brien, who says via Twitter,

Instead of making anyone travel for Thanksgiving, this year the O'Brien's will have tense, silent meal over Skype.

That's sad. Of course Conan means to be funny; but, his tweet is funny because so many American families lack richness and genuineness in their celebration of Thanksgiving (and Christmas, etc). Many do go on observing holidays with their loved ones because they're supposed to, even in the midst of turmoil. How many of us have pretended everything is OK while we sit down to a holiday mean with our families, when of course there are unresolved conflicts between some or all of us?

Interestingly, the Apostle Paul speaks to this very issue, in his letter to the Romans. In Romans 1:18-21 he says,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [...] So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened (emphasis added).

Scripture seems to tell us, then, that God's wrath is revealed in this world, against those who fail to give thanks to God. Thanks for what? The text seems to imply thanksgiving for everything. God is the giver and sustainer of every blessing, and even when God takes away blessing, we have Him (which means we actually still have everything). Our miseries and troubles, Scripture seems to tell us, come because we don't actually give thanks to Whom it is due, which is especially clear in the lives of those who don't believe the Gospel.

So Thanksgiving, then, is a great time to be together as family, for the purpose of giving thanks to God for how richly He blesses us. We absolutely have reason for an attitude of thankfulness. And even if our lives are fraught with trouble, we can give thanks if we know God, because in His presence is "fullness of joy," and at His right hand "are pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11).

Alice Dancing Under the Gallows

Watch this trailer for "Alice Dancing Under the Gallows."

This short film is really a trailer for what looks like a really compelling documentary coming out next year. It's about Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest Holocaust survivor in the world. What looks to add an extra intriguing element to the film, is the music - Alice is an amazing pianist, and speaks quite a bit (even in the trailer) about the power of music. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing this film.

Here are some things I found exceptionally compelling in the trailer:

1. Alice's thoughts about Beethoven. He has always been my favorite composer, and Alice expresses my own reasons why, in ways I don't think I could have. She says that Beethoven's music is so much more than melody - there's so much fullness in it that goes deeper than simple melody. She says his music is "intensive," and "phenomenal."

2. Alice's genuine love for people. Alice comments that she loves people: that she loves getting to know people, and loves hearing about people's lives. This was convicting for me - how much to I genuinely just love getting involved in the lives of people?

3. Alice's comment that music is god (with which I disagree). She says that music can give a person hope, can transport them away from a hopeless circumstance, can give life to a soul. However, I do agree with some of this - music is powerful, and I believe God created music to affect and stir our souls in some of these ways. Overall, what Alice says is a testament to how powerful music can be; though music is not god, God created it to powerfully stir our affections for Him.

4. The role that music played in the lives of those in the Nazi concentration camps. One of Alice's friends comments that in their hopeful attitude, that music fed, they were "dancing under the gallows." Music gave joy to them in the midst of the hopelessness, which leads me to think about the singing of a church. When we sing as the redeemed body of Christ, music can affect us this way. Our affections can be stirred with the hopeful truths of Scripture, and our hearts and minds can unite as we joyfully praise and worship our Savior through song.