iMonk has returned himself to Michael Spencer, and heads up a new blog, Jesus Shaped Spirituality. I love the focus, don't you? Completely ordinary, yet simply profound. So many people have gotten caught up in "church life," or fighting over doctrine, or focus entirely too much on the bible. It really is, and was, and always has been all about Jesus.
I put up the new Tapestry of Grace link over on the right. Click on the super-cute picture of the little boy and head to "the Bookshelf." Anything you buy there I'll get a percentage of.
(I'm so green, I can recycle my own posts!)
I found an article that explains the reason response time is important to babies (when they cry). With 28 citations I believe this woman knows the subject she is discussing. I have wondered recently if babies (who then grow to become toddlers) are affected by how quickly a mother is able to soothe them after they begin to cry. I have always been a believer in, "You can't spoil a baby until at least 6 months." I know all children are different, but before 6 months children *need* their mama's to respond to their cries. I was told with my first that you couldn't spoil him until he was one. I believed it, and lived it out, and was fortunate enough that I *didn't* spoil him according to male book writers and uninvolved opinion swayers in the 70's. They taught us that a mother should let her babe "cry it out" and ignore the poor babe's only way to communicate (Sears). These men would whole heartedly disagree with the way I nurtured my son- what with him even sleeping in the bed with me! But spoiled he is not. He is a beautiful child- a tender hearted 6 year old, indeed- no signs of spoiling, for sure. So my point? What is natural for so many mother's ("Oh my baby is crying! I must soothe him!") is a scientifically proven good thing for women's as well as babies hormones. See:
Stress in Infancy
I'm still not satisfied with the way people pour so much into the text of the Bible rather than pull out what's there. Here's a small snippet from Captivating, Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul by John and Stasi Eldredge.
'It is not good for the man to be alone, I shall make him [an ezer kenegdo].' (Genesis 2:18, Alter) Hebrew scholar Robert Alter, who has spent years translating Genesis, says that this phrase is 'notoriously difficult to translate.' The various attempts we have in English are 'helper' or 'companion' or the notorious 'help meet.' Why are these translations so incredibly wimpy, boring, flat…disappointing? What is a help meet, anyway? … Companion? A dog can be a companion. Helper? Sounds like Hamburger Helper. Alter is getting close when he translates it 'sustainer beside him.'
The word ezer is used only twenty other places in the entire Old Testament. And in every other instance the person being described is God himself, when you need him to come through for you desperately.
There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you…
Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. (Duet. 33:26,29, emphasis added)
I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of Heaven and earth. (Ps. 121:1-2, emphasis added )
May the LORD answer you when you are in distress: may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help. (Ps. 20:1-2, emphasis added )
We wait in hope for the LORD, he is our help and our shield. (Ps. 33:20, emphasis added )
O house of
O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD— he is their help and shield
You who fear him, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield.
(Ps. 115:9-11, emphasis added)
Most of the contexts are life and death, by the way, and God is your only hope. Your ezer. If he is not there beside you …you are dead. A better translation therefore of ezer would be “lifesaver.”
Three Days Among the Mainlines
My crowd is made up of creationists, hardcore Republican culture warriors, pro-lifers, complementarians, Biblical literalists, polemicists, internet theologians, evangelists, Charismatics and people who enjoy TBN and K-Love. What you should have noticed down through the years on this web site is that even though I’m not “one of them,” they are the crowd I live with, work with and understand. Whenever mainliners come up. it’s usually when someone has heard something in the news about gay marriage/ordination or someone wants to denigrate a church as dead or apostate.
Mainline Christians? I’ve always known they were out there, but I was warned to avoid those “liberals.” [snip] But these past three days were some of my closest times actually meeting and talking with my mainline brothers and sisters. Maybe it’s where I am on my own pilgrimage right now or maybe it’s the fact that I’m the recipient of real generosity from mainline friends, but I was more open to the mainline ethos than I’ve ever been before and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. It was a wonderful time in the fellowship of those whose lives are seeking to know and serve God through Jesus.
Just to scare the fundamentalists keeping an eye on me, let me give a bit of a report.
A third–at least–of the ministers and pastors present were women. That’s ordained women, pastoring churches. From what I could see, they were doing great jobs in tough places. They were intense, devoted, strongly called and gifted, and deeply committed to their ministries.
They were also comfortable and confident. I’ve always been told that women in ministry had attitude and “issues.” I missed that. These were….normal people. Young mothers. Experienced older pastors. Campus ministers. They were eloquent, intelligent and busy doing the work of pastors. They were comfortable with what God had called them to do. They were prepared, experienced and positive. One young ECUSA pastor was a mother of four and had just been given pastoral oversight of 15 other pastors in her large diocese. Another woman was the minister of pastoral care at a large church in Kentucky. Many of these women were pastoring the kinds of little churches men leave quickly. They seem to have stayed. Hmmmm.
Not even once did we pause to discuss “women in ministry.” That issue was a done deal, and even when it became known that a Southern Baptist was in the room, no one stopped to start “the discussion.” We were pastors and ministers. We were there to listen to Eugene Peterson, to get to know one another and to be better shepherds.
No one seemed to know or care what Mark Driscoll or the SBC thought. We just talked about our churches, our dreams and our journeys so far. I treated them with dignity and respect and they did the same to me.
I liked that experience of fellowship a lot. Can I get away with saying that turning the “ministry” into a boys’ club–no matter what you believe about ordination–produces an atmosphere that I don’t really like? I don’t think I’m alone in that, and I assure you I’m not a mama’s boy. I’m just suspecting a lot of the grunting and chest hair in recent discussions of the “ministry” isn’t really necessary. God calls and gifts women. Even if you don’t ordain them, you believe that.
I also noticed that there was far more mature reflection on the experience and identity of the pastor in this group than in the other gatherings of ministers I’ve been a part of. Instead of being a driven kind of atmosphere, there was generosity, encouragement and thoughtful insight. I was really surprised that out of the whole group, over three days of discussion, I never spotted an ass……..well….a jerk. Or whatever term works. Not even one. In a room full of ministers listening to one another for three days, that seemed almost eerie to me. I’m used to gatherings of ministers being overt competitions of alpha males bragging, jousting for attention, bullying one another, playing games. My experience this week was absent all of that, and it had something to do with the fact that the role and person of the minister was taken more seriously than in my other experiences.
There was also an obvious gentleness in the leadership. No one seemed to have the need to vent their spleen and call it “leadership” or preaching. In the times of preaching, egos were set aside. Lots of scripture read, simple liturgies followed by 25-minute homilies. Where was the 1 hour 15 minute exposition telling us all what to do? Where was the parading of “names” to imitate? Not there…and I liked it.
There was a generosity toward other traditions that amazes me. All of these denominations together and I never heard ONE denominational or doctrinal discussion of any kind. Not one. Not even close. This was not the world I know, a world where anxieties about doctrine and theology seem to be, frankly, driving more than a few people to the point of distraction, illusion and obsession.
The entire article is here.
