P.P.I.M.P.: The Essential Difference Between Two Systems

You know I am a little simpled out, but when the pressure is on to get concise simplified answers out of my little brain, I come up with strange mnemonic devices. On Saturday, February 4, at my oral exam before presbytery (the regional governing body of the PCA), I will be most certainly asked, "What are the basic differences, briefly stated, between dispensational and covenant theologies?" Part of the problem for me is that simple answers have never really helped draw people together. Simple answers tend to be the pat things to say to keep people who don't belong to your group on the outside and actually ignorant of what it is that your group may believe. That being said, my answer to the inevitable question will have to be: P.P.I.M.P.. But could you imagine if I just gave the acronym and did not explain!?

Dispensational Theology

People: God has two peoples.
Promise: God's covenant promise to Israel was unconditional.
Israel: The nation Israel was a type of the church but is always separate from the church.
Millennium: Christ came to establish an earthly Millennium.
Parenthesis: Israel's rejection of Messiah caused God to postpone the Millennium.

Covenant Theology

People: God has one people only.
Promise: God's covenant with Israel was conditional.
Israel: While Israel was a type of the Church, the Church supersedes it.
Millennium: Christ came to establish a Spiritual Millennium.
Parenthesis: God's plan was not thwarted, there is no parethesis in which the Church emerges.

Perhaps simple answers, if used well, can spur on constructive conversation between brothers and sisters in the one Body of Christ. May God help us.

Mark 7 and the New Perspective on Paul

By way of introduction here, I am hoping you might help me learn. I know very little about the New Perspective on Paul in any of its variations really. However, I have found that there are tenets that are propounded in the NPP that seem to be reverberations with the Dutch Reformed writers of whom I am very fond, writers like Ridderbos and Vos. That is to say, I have great esteem for Biblical Theology and its colleague Systematic Theology. What I promise you in this article is questions with which I hope you can help me. This will not be a rant of any kind; rather a step towards dialogue, Lord willing.

That being said, one of the tenets that the NPP submits to us is that Judaism of the Second Temple Period was essentially a religion of Grace. It is maintained that the 16th century Church reformers were guilty of isogeting corruptions in the Roman church into their interpretation of Judaism of the first century A.D. For a helpful summary from the NPP point of view, you might find Mattison's article helpful.

If we would critique the 16th century Reformers, then it would seem to be fair to consider other facets of their teachings. For instance, in dealing with Justification what I hear being said by the NPP is that Justification is not identical with the Gospel of Christ. I believe Wright would say that the Gospel is the pronouncement of Jesus' Lordship, His Kingdom. While I do think this may be a helpful contrast to make in lieu of the modern so-called Evangelical Church, I wonder if it is really a contrast with the 16th century Reformers. Remember one of their mantras: Sola fides justificat sed non fides sola! That is, "Faith alone justifies, but not faith that is alone!" Wright does well, as I understand him, to focus on Union with Christ. While he may make some fine contributions, let us not forget that John Calvin's unifying central thought in the Institutes of Christian Religion continues to be Union with Christ.

These are broad stroke points, and given the nature of blogging you are probably ready for some kind of conclusion. So forgive me for the brevity, and know that I would encourage us all to read broadly and think deeply about these matters.

The Reformers also taught Scriptura ex scriptura explicanda est. That is, Scripture is the explanation of Scripture. That being said, it would seem to me that on the Reformers own terms we would want to consider what the Gospels teach us about Judaism of the day and believe that the content in the Gospels would have been part of the content of Paul's own mind.

Mark 7:1-7 (ESV)

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, ² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“ ‘ This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

⁷ in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

Isn't the problem not that Judaism was not somehow gracious but that when we receive even grace we pervert it to our own ends without regard for the Giver's intent. Surely Torah marks a condescension of God to Israel that can only be characterized as gracious. The notion of covenant that is the controlling hermeneutical element in Scripture (Old and New Testaments) is essentially and only gracious in any administration of the covenant. Jesus had come not to abolish the Law but to demonstrate Himself as its fulfillment. This is the argument of Matthew 5:13-20 and I would suggest, the argument of the book of Hebrews in its entirety. We do no justice to Justification if we make it synonymous with Salvation. While Salvation surely entails justification, it speaks on a much broader level.

So please direct me as you read;
Give critique -- but without sharp teeth.
For one Church did our Savior bleed,
Great Charity did He bequeath.

The Vigor of Mercy

Mark 6:53-56 (NA26) ⁵³ Καὶ διαπεράσαντες ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἦλθον εἰς Γεννησαρὲτ καὶ προσωρμίσθησαν.⁵⁴ καὶ ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν ἐκ τοῦ πλοίου εὐθὺς ἐπιγνόντες αὐτὸν ⁵⁵ περιέδραμον ὅλην τὴν χώραν ἐκείνην καὶ ἤρξαντο ἐπὶ τοῖς κραβάττοις τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας περιφέρειν ὅπου ἤκουον ὅτι ἐστίν. ⁵⁶ καὶ ὅπου ἂν εἰσεπορεύετο εἰς κώμας ἢ εἰς πόλεις ἢ εἰς ἀγρούς, ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς ἐτίθεσαν τοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν ἵνα κὰν τοῦ κρασπέδου τοῦ ἱματίου αὐτοῦ ἅψωνται· καὶ ὅσοι ἂν ἥψαντο αὐτοῦ ἐσῴζοντο.

Mark 6:53-56 (ESV) 53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him 55 and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.

Have you searched hard for something and it seemed as if even the tenacity of your efforts mocked you? Have you ever gone out for a simple thing and at once the world unraveled upon your brow?

I am fascinated that Christ, throughout much of Mark 6, seeks hard for solitude and rest and yet that one thing seems to escape him. No matter where his little fishing boat should moor, throngs of the needy waited for him, pressing in like a great boa to squeeze from Him all that He might give. Some surely came out of great need for healing while others came out a mosaic of other reasons. None seemed to have come because they were convinced that Jesus was Messiah.

Though the crowd did not seem to grasp his royal personage, his priestly significance, or his prophetic office, Jesus does not appear to be terribly bothered. He had stayed up praying until sometime after 3 AM the night before, gets off the boat and wham! the tides of neediness come rushing in as if a nearby dam had burst. Mark does not record that the people were required to sit and listen to a sermon or message, to fill out information or commitment cards, or any such thing prior to receiving healing from Christ. “As many as touched [His garments] were being saved (Gk. σῴζω).” Surely this word is not being used in a salvific sense; but the idea certainly parallels and affects the recipients. It proclaimed something profound to them.

Could it be that Christ’s sermon was being proclaimed by being in their midst and healing their ailments? Did this mercy in the midst of a selfish desire to be rid of their pain and suffering so transform some of them that they realized that Messiah had healed them, the King of Kings, the Priest greater than Moses (Deut 18:15ff), the Final Prophet of God, the Word that says all in His coming? Freely you have received all that you have and all that you are. Freely give it away.

A Call to the Wilderlands

30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. (Mark 6:30-32, ESV)

Introduction

Have you thought about the way God might use the dry and disillusioned times in your life? Would you be surprised to know that those "wilderness" times in the lives of God's people are often when He reveals most clearly His glory and power to us.

Abraham

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went... (Genesis 12:1-4, ESV)

Here, Abraham is called out of his homeland and into the unknown. God calls him out of certainty and into mystery. Between the Land of Promise and Abraham's homeland spanned the land of God's Providence where Abraham would grow in faith and love to YHWH, the Lord. God calls us into the wilderlands to sharpen our sight, for the familiar serves but to blunt our spiritual sense. Indeed, it is in the wilderlands that we may see that joy is in the journey with the one who calls.

Israel In Exile

14 And the word of the Lord came to me: 15 "“Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ 16 Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone. ’(Ezekiel 11:14-16 ESV)

In Ezekiel 8, we see God's Spirit leaving the Temple at Jerusalem. The people had proven unfaithful and defiled God's name which they bore as His people. Consequently, the Babylonians had sacked Jerusalem and all of Judah carrying off many Israelites to Babylon. Those who were allowed to remain in Jerusalem, feeling that the point of the Promised Land was the soil of Palestine, mocked their captive kinsmen, "Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession." However, we find that God's response is quite the contrary. He has left the glory of the Temple to be with His people in the wilderlands - to be "a sanctuary to them."

Jesus Identifies with His People in the Wilderlands

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins....9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, "“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."” (Mark 1:4,9-11 ESV)

Here Jesus comes from Home town to the wilderlands where John was baptizing. God in His fullest Triune expression is identifying with His people. He binds Himself to those who are wandering in the Wilderness of Sin that they would find refuge in Christ the Incarnate Temple of the Father's fullest presence. Jesus had come down from the glory of the Heavenly Temple to dwell with His People forever.

Where is God in the midst of pain and dismay? Why he is not far at all. For whether we are at home or abroad, as it were, we may know that in whatever circumstance, He would draw nearer still to His people.

To Tag or not to Tag

If anyone ever tells me to lighten up on this blog I will point vociferously to this post. But now you can know a little about me because I have been tagged, sociologically speaking that means I am obligated to tell you about myself upon the pain of banishment from the bloggoshpere by Mike Vendsel and Joel (Garver?).

Four Jobs I Have Had:
1. Singer-Song Writer (Don't worry, you are not losing your prowess in the music world. I am sure you have never heard of me, but we did get paid more than beer)
2. Underwriter for a High-Risk Auto-Insurance Company
3. Missionary
4. President/CEO Nielsen Digital


Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over Again:
1. Luther (Joseph Fienes) - We get a human Luther, to whom I relate to very much. The only historical quams I have with the movie is that they portray Luther as tall, skinny and handsome!
2. Shadow Lands (I know there were Hollywood embellishments, thanks for ruining it for me!)
3. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
4. Bourne Series


Four Books I Could Read Over and Over:
1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Братя Карамазови (Brothers Karamazov)
3. The Little Giant by Oscar Wilde (it's a shortstory with enormous redemptive qualities)
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (an incredibly creative conveying of the sinfulness present at the very core of human beings)

Four Places I Have Lived:
Dallas, Texas
Moscow, Russia
Tver, Russia
Columbia, South Carolina


Four TV Shows I Watch:
1. CSI - Miami - when it is not overly gross, which lately is the case.
2. Law & Order
3. Law & Order:SVU
4. Without a Trace

Gee, I guess we like cop shows.

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:
1. Prague, Czech Republic
2. Tallinn, Estonia
3. Maui
4. Fairplay, Colorado


Four Websites I visit Daily:
What is a website?

1. The Website Nielsen Digital is developing that day.
2. Yahoo/MSN Finance
3. CNN
4. NY Times

Four Favorite Foods:
1. Cynthia's Pitzis
2. Chipotle Fajita Burrito
3. Greek Veal
4. Shiner Bock


Four Places I'd Like To Be Now:
All assume that I am with my wife, for to be without here is not a place I would want to be at all, ever.
1. Any place but Texas
2. In a church body that demonstrates Christ in community and daily worship/living (that is not to say that the one that I am at does not do these things - but you asked where I wanted to be now)
3. Someplace where women are not subtly suppressed with arbitrary strictures of society and where there is at least a seed of appreciation for the diversity God instilled in the entirety of the human race.
4. Any place that has good Mexican food.


Four Bloggers I'm Tagging:
Mike you tagged all the bloggers I know!

Eric Pyle
Jared Edwards
Ashley Hodge

Mike do the rules allow me to tag you again? :-)

More than a Black Holiday

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is observed by the African- American community and ignored by most everybody else that I know. I would suggest to you that Martin Luther King, Jr. represents, for the United States and even the rest of the world generally, a life and movement of far greater significance than imagined. There is much that can be and should be said, but for brevity I limit my thoughts here to the moral, the societal and the fiducial.

Morally, Dr. King's legacy has also had great benefit for the Caucasian communities of America.¹ Dr. King said in his famous I Have a Dream speech that the destiny of the white person is inextricably tied to that of the black person. If you are white, you probably have a grandmother or great uncle who still talks about "colored people," smacking of an era that we all want to leave behind. An era in which human beings treated other human beings in immensely dehumanizing ways. What is the toll on the human soul for such thinking and action? It is a poison that tickles the taste buds of hubris on the way down but fills the bowels with bitter nails that rip and tear the Man-Hater apart. Civil Rights was also about the rightness of the souls of the Caucasian community. There is a liberation from hatred that has been bestowed upon us. Let us not insist on remaining shackled to subtle indifference.

Societally, consider the light bulb that you use to sit and read this blog. You probably know that after 10,000 attempts Thomas Edison invented a light-bulb. Did you know that Lewis Howard Latimer (1848-1928), an African-American, researched a carbon filament that doubled the life of the early light-bulbs and that it was Latimer that sat on the patent boards of Edison Electric (GE) and Maxim-Weston (Westinghouse)? ² Society is always retarded in its growth and progress when we suppress and oppress any segment of it. No one segment can see all sides, and diversity offers opportunity to see more fully what life and society can be. Or to say it another way, the races of this world have been put here with purpose. If we would seek to be the wind beneath the wings of our neighbors, we might find that we ourselves fly higher with them.

Fiducially, King is iconic for me. The Prophet Amos indicted God's people for their apathy towards their neighbors - the poor, the widow and the alien. God exiled his people because they ceased to be concerned for their fellow human beings in a way that accurately reflected God's holy character. Do we think that it will be different today? King represents one of the last times that Christians of all kinds of races made a significant difference culturally and socially in the United States.

I long for my brothers and sisters in the Christ's Church to lay aside the rose-colored blinders that we have conveniently put on our eyes, which keep us from looking at the trouble in this world. As Christians, we are obligated to the betterment of this world and all its creatures. Dr. King understood this. In a very imperfect way, as it is for all of us, Dr. King continued the incarnational work that was instituted by Christ 1,900 years earlier. It cost him his life, but the spirit of that work has continued to this very day. Is it not time that the "sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners sit down at the table of brotherhood" that Christ Jesus has set for us?

_________

¹ While as of 8:00 AM today the New York Times website did not even seem to acknowledge the federal holiday today, CNN's website article found it necessary to run an article regarding claims that King had an adulterous affair and a sharp fallout with his colleague, Jesse Jackson. There are three important points here: 1) Adultery and strife are bad. 2) There are many great benefactors of this world who have tragic moral flaws; conversely, there is only One Great Benefactor of this world who has no moral flaw. 3) Is this not really a kind of red herring? In picking apart a man's life do we not seek to remove the implications of his life's work from our own bigoted hearts? Can we not imagine forgiveness that great?

² For more information on significant persons in the African-American community, please visit AfricanAmericans.com where I have found the information on Latimer.

The Sea Tamer

4:35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

As I read this morning from the Gospel of St. Mark, one phrase struck me as if it had changed to bold face as my eyes moved across it on the page:

Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

The words clamored forth along the paths of the wind, garbed in black doubt, spurred on by pointed fear. So the urgency of this sharp inquiry howls along with the wind, a last hope not to be drowned as the Sea of Galilee was being turned upside-down.

Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

The fierce watery beasts had waylaid the little fishing boats and filling the disciples with slick desperation. Surely these seasoned fishermen had seen such beasts before and had been up to the challenge. Yet now they swarmed, ruthlessly bludgeoning the boats down into the Sea.

Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

Why doesn’t Jesus do something? Is God sleeping that we should perish? Does Christ care for us now that pain has invaded en force? Why is this happening to me? It is the corpse that does not ask these questions? It is the stone that does not struggle to believe when the world is caving in upon it. Faith is what sails us into seas that would otherwise be oblivion.

Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

The words found their mark, having meandered from the lips of the fearful and faithless to the mindful ear of the Faithful One. Even exhausted from much teaching and miracle making that day, Jesus of Nazareth stands, taming the watery beasts with but words. His words crack over the water into the darkness of the night like a trainer’s whip. The wind purrs and the beasts fall placid into the Sea. He can tame the elements, can he tame my heart? He sustained me through disaster some time ago, but will He do it again?

The jaws of the disciples, once clenched in enfeebling fear, were now loosed to voice an altogether greater amazement:

Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?

Like the disciples, the miseries and pain of this life are indeed as great watery beasts that leap from the sea to tear out every plank of faith from our vessels, leaving us to sink into the sordid seas of despond. However, is it not in these very moments where Christ reveals himself to us in ways that under more serene circumstances we would never otherwise experience? It is at these very moments when we find that it is not our own vessel in which we travel but His. And the Captain of this ship is bound by oath to deliver us to safe harbor. He does not leave or forsake His People, but redeems even pain and suffering, that He might draw us nearer still to Himself.

Φος 'ιλαριον (Gladsome Light)

Mark 4:21-23 (ESV)
21 And he said to them, "“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

For many centuries in days of old, the pious Israelite would bring a lamp into the main room of the house and give light to all.¹ The pious Israelite would then recite a blessing, thanking God for the light. Jesus, as the Gospel writers record, took this idea as a metaphor for teaching the world about Himself. For He claims to be the Light of the World.

I am afraid that many in this world prefer darkness, insisting that they can see perfectly well as they careen into every jagged thing in the room. God is mercy. He has not come to leave us impaled upon the pike of sin and misery, but has impaled himself in our place upon sin and misery.

So there are two sides to light aren't there. One side we love to hear about, how God loved the world and showed us His marvelous compassion in the light of the Son. And yet with this light comes illumination that we are the slaves of sin, and prefer the company of misery. This I fear is what most hate so fiercely about Christianity. It exposes us all, without exception, as blind and poor.

And yet a third century hymn writer could sing with great joy about the Gladsome Light of the Lord Jesus, the Light of the World:

O gladsome light, O grace of our Creator'’s face,
The eternal splendor wearing; celestial, holy blessed,
Our Savior Jesus Christ, joyful in Your appearing!

As fades the day'’s last light we see the lamps of night,
Our common hymn outpouring, O God of might unknown,
You, the incarnate Son, and Spirit blessed adoring.

To You of right belongs all praise of holy songs,
O Son of God, life giver. You, therefore, O Most High,
The world does glorify and shall exalt forever.²

I pray for myself that I would realize more fully how good it is to see one's self rightly, even if what I see is not very pleasant. It is precisely at this place of sin and misery that Christ comes to meet us. He does not come as one who exposes flaws only to leave us in them, to mock us in our weakness. No He comes, and by His light He leads us out of the dungeons of our own tarnished consciences, polishing us, as it were, that we might reflect more profoundly His light in the Church and to the world.

He does not offer us the option to hear His words and do nothing about them. For He promises all will be exposed and laid bare. O God give me ears, embolden my will, that I might indeed walk in the Light, as You are in the light. Deliver me this day from the Pike of sin and misery, that I might know more fully the grace of Your gladsome light. Amen.

__________
¹ Farley, Lawrence. The Gospel of Mark : The Suffering Servant The Orthodox Bible Study Companion Series. (Ben Lomond, Calif.: Conciliar Press, 2004) p 66.
² Translated from Greek to English by Robert S. Bridges, 1899. Bridges attended Eton and Corpus Christi College, Oxford (BA 1867, MA 1874), planning to be a doctor, but eventually discovered his literary gifts he wrote three volumes of lyrics, several plays, literary criticism, and other works. He was named British Poet Laureate in 1913. Read more...

Jesus and First Century Fundamentalists

By way of personal confession, a place that I find myself struggling to be consistent with the Law of Love (i.e., the character of Christ being formed in me) is in demonstrating such compassion to those who are religiously quick to the kill, very narrow in their approach to their version of Christianity, and who tend to look down on others in bold judgment for not articulating their faith in an identical way. Some might call these kinds of people fundamentalists, describing more of a disposition than a movement. They do not kill with bombs and bullets but with rending words and icy stares. In my opinion, quite different than the Christ presented to us in the Scriptures.

Recently, what I found to be quite humbling is that we seem to find two prominent Apostles, the sons of Zebedee, James and John, being initially given the nickname "Boanerges" (Gk. transliteration = βοανεργες).¹ Lawrence Farley, in a commentary on Mark that I am going through for devotional purposes, suggested that perhaps the nickname "Sons of Thunder" refers to their "ability to thunder and react forcibly". This may be exemplified in the Boanerges' suggestion to Jesus to rain down fire from heaven on the Samaritans by whom they felt insulted (cf. Luke 9:52-54).²

Of course Jesus does not command such fire. The fire that had come from heaven, that which was Jesus' baptism, was not first for the Samaritans out of judgment, but for the Apostles -- even the Boanerges -- as the promised baptism of the Holy Spirit, that comes convincing and converting sinners and building them up in holiness and comfort unto salvation in Christ. The fire from heaven is rooted first in the compassion of God for His lost sheep.

So why did this strike me so today? First, as I mentioned above, I am convicted at my own lack of compassion for those who may be the modern day derivative of the Boanerges, i.e., those in the Church who are themselves quick to call down fire on others. I am at once pierced to see that I have laid down my duty as a brother to lovingly encourage those who might need growth in grace in this manner of quickness towards Christ. I have neglected the obligation that I have, being united to these with whom I struggle because we are together united to the One Christ Jesus. I have put this aside to take up the desire to see fire called down from heaven because they do not love as I think they should, and perhaps as they ought as those professing the Name of Jesus.

The bitter irony is that while I sincerely believe my concern is correct in this case, I am reduced to the very thing that I despise. And so I am forced once again to confess my utter poverty before Christ and cry out for His magnitude to be shown forth in both myself and my adversaries. Forgive me brothers and sisters for my small, mundane capacity to love as Christ loves.

__________
¹ Boanerges is very difficult to translate because it is originally an Aramaic colloquial term, which has not been passed down clearly to us in the present day. The Bible interprets "Boanerges" as "Sons of Thunder", which is sufficient for us, because we are interested in the teaching of the Bible.
² Farley, Lawrence. The Gospel of Mark : The Suffering Servant The Orthodox Bible Study Companion Series. (Ben Lomond, Calif.: Conciliar Press, 2004) p. 54.

The Haven Adelphétos and the Caves of Isolation (Part 1)

“Despair, or folly?” said Gandalf. “It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.”

--

What in the world does Gandalf the Grey have to do with us in this world? We are worlds away from Middle Earth and yet we cannot escape that for Tolkien, Middle Earth was a vehicle, communicating something of his own thoughts about this world, our world.

All of us bear scars left from the teeth and claws of Despair. Some have more than others, perhaps because they live closer, by choice or circumstance, to the Caves of Isolation where Despair dwells. Or perhaps we have ventured to the Caves at the request of Folly, who bids us come and see. For some it is the casual curiosity with which Folly resonates. For others the appeal takes root in our sense of arrogant individualism. All the same, Folly's tune out of the land of Autonomía draws us out from the Haven Adelphétos, her subtle song luring us on.

Once upon the precipice of the cave, Folly descends casually into the darkness leaving us facing the jagged eyes of Despair, piercing us down to the bone, tearing even deeply rooted hope from our breast. The Caves of Isolation have power over the fool who ventures there unaided in solitude. Wisdom recognizes necessity and flees back to the Haven Adelphétos.

For many of us (particularly for those most acclimated to the American culture) the lessons of community do not come easily. We resist them and even cling to false hope. Some have tried to tame Despair with whiskey. At first such tactics seem to calm the beast; however, Despair has great affinity for consumption and after a short time both the bottle and the bringer are found shattered deeper still in the Caves of Isolation.

Others have sought to overwhelm Despair by consuming pragmateuomatic potions ("potions of busyness" in the common tongue). While the potions do afford the drinker great bursts of strength and speed, at the last analysis, he is still running from the beast Despair, only faster. The positive effects of the potion are only temporary. Having allowed the drinker to put a little distance between himself and the beast, it wears off leaving one in a state of helpless exhaustion to lay limp and lame, easy prey for Despair. Some suspect that this is not an unplanned effect, for it is known that the land of Prasso (from which the potions come) pays tribute to Despair, biding their own time at the expense of others.

All the while there is the Haven Adelphétos, whose gates are wide open, yet not unguarded. The towers of Adelphétos are tall; however, for some they are hard to find. It is said that long ago it was built by the Elves for the race of Men as a shelter from the dangers of the world at large. But the race of Men since an age long past and not often remembered have succumbed to wanderlust, longing for the lands of Autonomía, where the creature Folly dwells.

To be continued...

A Household in Capernaum: A poetic reflection on Mark 2:1-12

Crowds surrounding,
Words abounding,
While inertia begins to pass.
Household ventricles swollen,
Hoping, Xenons expelled at last.
They were pressing.
Regal dressing.

Despondent droves,
Vibrantly flow,
Washing over the breaker walls,
Lifting desperately tile and thatch,
Carrying Helpless through the halls
To One he owes,
Who cures our woes.

A word of pow'r,
A timely hour.
Lameness rushes the Corner Stone,
Up the face of fine Compassion,
Remaining, not to shrink back 'lone:
A blooming flower
Held by the Lover.

--

by
Will Nielsen
Dec 31, 2005