Monday, October 24, 2005

Cracking The Da Vinci Code

Glenn Lucke, of Common Grounds Online, recently encouraged me to respond to La Shawn Barber's call for a blog swarm around the upcoming (May 19, 2006) release of The Da Vinci Code movie. As it turns out, I'll be speaking on that very topic in just a few weeks at Church of the Holy Spirit in Roanoke, Virginia. Time to pull out my copy of DVC and, sigh, read it again...

Of course, if the movie generates anything near the interest roused by the book, spring 2006 may come to resemble spring 2004. I vividly remember agreeing to speak on "Cracking The Da Vinci Code" at the Darden School back in February of that year. The Darden Christian Fellowship and I had never seen anything like it. One hundred and sixty people showed up, filling the room to overflowing. The free Chick-Fil-A may have had something to do with it... But then again, that same night over one hundred people came to the Center for Christian Study for just the lecture-no food.

I pretty much spent the rest of that spring talking about the book, I'm afraid. Not that that's a bad thing; it's just that there are, well, other things (like Paul's understanding of resurrection and the new creation) that I would rather talk about. But we'll see if spring '04 is a harbinger of things to come in the New Year. In any case, that initial Wednesday night lecture at the Study Center is still available, if you're interested. Still just the lecture--no food. Consider it my way of contributing (in my own bee-wildered way) to the blog swarm.

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Wednesday, October 12, 2005

God's will for your life--and mine

I slowed down a bit this morning. Not because the list of things I have to do suddenly decreased. Indeed, to get caught up I should making time like some of the cross country runners I so enjoy cheering on in their meets and invitationals around here.

Instead, I slowed down and walked. Quite literally. That is, I took a prayer walk, something I sometimes do to get away from the temptation simply to stay busy at home or the office. So, taking along Kenneth Boa's Handbook to Prayer, I began to walk and worship, praising God for his many blessings. And as I walked, I was reminded of God's primary calling on my life. It wasn't to get caught up on the gazillion things I have to do, as important as those things are. One of the Scriptures listed under the "Adoration" section for the day in the Handbook was 1 Thess 5:16-18:
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
The mention of God's will here reminded me of a recent panel discussion I attended on "Finding God's Will in the Job Search"--and made me wish that I had mentioned this passage. For whatever God's specific will may be for our individual lives, this much is plain: he calls us to worship. To gratitude. To the giving of thanks for his blessings. In all circumstances.

Indeed, it is striking how central and pervasive thanksgiving is to be in our lives:

Ephesians 5:17-20 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is..., 20 always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.

Colossians 3:17 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
It is the ultimate motivation for even our petitions in prayer. We pray for others so that they may give thanks:

2 Corinthians 1:11 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.

And Paul models such thanksgiving constantly:

1 Corinthians 15:57 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:16 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers...

Philemon 4 4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers...

1 Thessalonians 1:2 2 We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers...

2 Thessalonians 1:3 3 We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren...
Paul can even say that the world is condemned because of its failure to give thanks!

Romans 1:20-21 20 Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; 21 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 senseless minds were darkened.

All this makes sense, of course, because our primary vocation as human beings is to worship God. Called to be priests and kings (our twin calling as humans), we are first of all priestly worshipers. All else flows from that.

So let us give thanks. With and in all that we have to do, that's God's will for us today. Walking or running.


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Monday, October 03, 2005

Christian(s in) higher education

Ken Elzinga is the Robert C. Taylor Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia and a board member for the Center for Christian Study. As a speaker at the Abilene Christian University centennial celebration, he recently addressed himself to this question: "What is the difference between Christians in higher education and Christian higher education?" An excerpt follows from an online version of this address. You may find the full text here.
Christians in higher education, at secular schools, can be placed in two different bins or categories. I’m not happy with the terms, but I’ll call one group the “privatizers” and the other, the “evangelicals"...

...Privatizers in higher education view their faith as disconnected from their work as professors. They are involved in a local church (often heavily involved); if they are married, they are probably faithful to their spouse; if they have children, they love their kids; and their names do not show up in the newspapers having done something that embarrasses their school.

But these professors, the privatizers, are not identified at their schools as Christians; this aspect of their identity may never be known by students or colleagues. Not that their faith is a deep or dark secret; they probably consider the information irrelevant. They are identified as professors of chemistry or accounting or German literature. That’s it. Their Christian faith is private and apart from their jobs.

These professors live in two worlds, not simultaneously, but sequentially: one is secular; that’s the campus; the other is sacred; that’s their church.

Now let me say, as an aside, that by my observation some Christian faculty at Christian colleges and universities live like privatizers as well. I have yet to decide whether this is sad, or scandalous, but they are not the subject of this discussion.

The second kind of Christian professor in higher education I’ll call the evangelical. The professors, researchers, and scholars in higher education I have labeled the evangelicals believe that the quest for truth begins and ends with Jesus. Their work involves teaching and research in their disciplines. But their calling entails extending the reign of Jesus into all realms.

The evangelicals resonate with the words of the Dutch Reformer Abraham Kuyper: “There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘This is mine! This belongs to me.’"...

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