January 2019 – CLIMBING THE WALLS

January 28, 2019January 28, 2019

The Cost of Discipleship

In the opening scene from the 1993 movie, Shadowlands, we see C.S. Lewis (played by Anthony Hopkins) lecturing students at Cambridge University (UK).

A lapsed Christian and onetime atheist, Lewis returned to the faith at the age of 32 while teaching at Oxford. He went on to become the greatest Christian apologist of the 20^th century.

At the start of the movie, Lewis is lecturing his students on Christian doctrine concerning death and eternal life. His tone is authoritative and confident, his words reassuring and redolent of orthodox, New Testament beliefs.

Later in the film he meets an American, Joy Davidman Gresham, whom he married in 1956. Four short years later, however, in 1960, she had died of cancer. Lewis’ experience of this loss eventually inspired the book, “A Grief Observed,” a classic in bereavement studies.

January 24, 2019January 25, 2019

Armchair Quarterbacking

This past Sunday our local professional football team, the New England Patriots, played a conference championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Naturally, the game was televised.

Having watched football on television from an early age, I’ve seen many changes in the coverage, most of it due to technological advancements.

Back “in the day,” there was no such thing as an “instant replay.” The play happened in “real time” and that was it. You either saw it or you didn’t. Reliance on the referees, those on the field, was essential in getting the call right. Today, there are cameras all over the place. Each play is captured from multiple angles. And in slow-motion to boot!

On a day noted for questionable calls (especially the penalty NOT called at a critical juncture in the Saints/Rams game), there was one play during the Patriots’ game that seemed especially notable. To the naked eye, the play appeared to go one way but on closer inspection just may have been the exact opposite.

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019

Our Present Crisis

The 20^th century is over. On the face of it, this seems pretty obvious. Very few are unaware of this fact. But do we really think and act as if it is?

In 1844, James Russell Lowell wrote a poem entitled, “The Present Crisis,” itself an argument against slavery. It later inspired the hymn, “Once to Every Man and Nation.” The poem reads as follows:

New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth;
Lo, before us gleam her campfires? We ourselves must Pilgrims be,
Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea,
Nor attempt the Future’s portal with the Past’s blood-rusted key.

In case you haven’t noticed (though I’m sure you have!), I frequently object to the mainline church’s embrace of the Social Gospel, a movement that began in the mid to late 19^th century but hit its stride in the early 20^th. Its effects are with us still.

January 7, 2019January 8, 2019

Fairy Tales

Years ago, I went to the local hospital to visit a church member who had been admitted into the ICU (intensive care unit). As per protocol, I went into the waiting room and dialed the nurses’ station to be admitted. The person on the other end asked me what my relationship was to the patient. I said I was his pastor.

After I hung up, someone in the waiting room immediately sought me out. “I’ve always wondered,” she said, “what does the word ‘pastor’ mean?” The answer, of course, is “shepherd.”

The pastor is the shepherd of the flock. Yes, I know, it sounds a bit clichéd, if not cornball, but it has real import. The shepherd is called not only to feed the sheep, but to protect them.