Common Grounds Online

Mount Hood Climber Tragedy, Deja Vu

In December 2006 I was drawn into the tragedy of three missing climbers on Mount Hood because one of them, Kelly James, was the brother of beloved professor and friend, Frank James (then president of RTS-Orlando, now provost of Gordon-Conwell). Frank and Carolyn are friends and comrades in the gospel, and I fervently prayed that the Lord would rescue Frank's brother and the other two climbers.

The Lord didn't rescue them, so all who loved the missing climbers grieved.

This morning, while sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office, I saw the headline news on TV. More missing climbers on Mt. Hood, one found dead.

I wondered if Frank or another survivor would write something in light of the news. Frank did. Read this piercing post about his grief over his brother Kelly that he shares with more families this year.

Deja Vu, by Frank James

Excerpt:

I don’t exactly know what this will mean for each one. For me, it has meant that I can shout out loud my frustrations and even say things I don’t really mean; I can weep quietly in my bed in the middle of the night; I can look up into the sky, stretch out my arms and ask why? In all of this anguish, God was present even when I felt alone. I don’t understand this paradox: how I can feel so alone and yet sense in my bones that God is near? David describes much the same experience in Psalm 10. David cries out in verse 1: “Why, O Lord do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” But then David declares unequivocally in verse 17: “You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.” It is a mystery—somehow both are true at the same time.

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As for me, I'm praying for Frank and Carolyn and the families of the 2006 and 2009 families who lost loved ones to Mount hood. Lord, have mercy.

Matt Chandler Video Before Brain Surgery

Video from Matt.

Video from Matt

Matt Chandler's Post, Prior to Brain Surgery: My Heart Is Full & I Am Thankful

Matt Chandler is the pastor of the Village Church in Flower Mound, TX, north of Dallas/Fort Worth. Because he's a pastor, perhaps some readers will yawn at this verbiage: Matt loves Jesus.

He really does love Jesus. It's not perfunctory or staged. It's not schtick or a spiel. Matt is a servant to a King, a disciple to a Master, a son to a Father. His fondest ambitions are not the human-fabricated benchmarks of "success." Matt is not about building an empire, he's about growing the Kingdom.

Last week, after Matt experienced a seizure, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor. The doctors scheduled the surgery for today, Friday, December 4. Read what Matt Chandler wrote at his blog prior to the surgery.

My Heart is Full...I Am Thankful

Excerpts:

I am grateful for the men of God in my life, namely John Piper who taught me to hold my life cheap and to join with Paul in saying “I don’t count my life of any value or as precious to myself if only I might finish my course and complete the work that He gave me to do to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. I’m nothing, I just have a job. God keep me faithful on the job and then let me drop and go to the reward.” Without this strong view of God’s sovereign will, I’m not sure how you don’t despair in circumstances like mine.

I am thankful for my wife Lauren. “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.’” “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”

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Please pray for Matt,  his wife Lauren and their three little children.

Tim McConnell Recommends 'Love Shall Be Our Token' by High Street Hymns

  Also from the Charlottesville Christian music scene this Advent comes the latest from High Street Hymns, led by Alex Mejias.  "Love Shall Be Our Token" is a new collection of classic Advent and Christmas hymns put to guitar-driven folk rhythms and melodies.

I highly recommend!

"Tim Keller Will Save Your Yuppie Soul" in New York Magazine

Check out this article on Tim Keller and Redeemer in New York City.

Other Reviews of "Salvation is Created" by Bifrost Arts

Today I've seen two more reviews of the stunning Bifrost Arts new Christmas record, "Salvation is Created":

Steve McCoy, a pastor who blogs at Reformissionary.

Ryan Hamm, writing for Relevant Magazine.

Kevin Twit Reviews Bifrost Arts Christmas Record "Salvation is Created"

Record: Salvation is Created by Bifrost Arts

Review by Rev. Kevin Twit who is the Campus Minister with Reformed University Fellowship at Belmont University. Kevin is also the founder of Indelible Grace Music.

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One of the barriers to the evangelical church being taken seriously is her penchant for closing her eyes to brokenness.  We often prefer to live in what Walter Kirn (in an excellent article in GQ a few years back) called "the ark culture."  Kirn, who does not profess faith in Christ, spent thirty days completely immersed in the Christian subculture – only listening to Christian music, watching Christian TV, and getting his news from Christian websites.  He even strictly followed the "WWJE" (what would Jesus eat?) diet.  He describes what it felt like to live in this weird little world for thirty days as being like living on an "ark" desperately trying to maintain the illusion that we are safe and that all is well.  His words need to be taken seriously by those of us who care about Christ and His cause in this world.

“Salvation Is Created” A Christmas Record from BiFrost Arts –Review by Todd Bragg

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season is officially upon us.  I always have a hard time believing that the year has gone by so quickly.  Why is it so hard to get into the Christmas spirit?  I tend to think about all of the things that I don’t like about it, such as shopping craziness and the overemphasis of Santa Clause.  However, these feelings are being swayed as I remind myself that Jesus being born is my only hope of true joy.  Playing/listening to music reinforces this truth and the new Christmas Record from BiFrost Arts, “Salvation Is Created”, Produced by Isaac Wardell and Mason Neely is helping tremendously.

There are ten beautifully produced tracks on this album; mostly traditional hymns written hundreds of years ago.  It is evident that great care was taken to preserve the musical integrity and reverence of each lyric and melody.  There is something so powerful about music and how it can connect us to truth and beauty and remind us that we are eternal beings.  I love the balance of appropriate instrumentation and interesting production, specifically on “Out of Heaven” (featuring Derek Webb/Evan Gregory) and “Veiled in Darkness Judah Lay” (featuring Matt Bauer/Maeve).  You may or may not recognize all of these songs, but regardless, your spirit will be drawn to ponder the truth communicated in lyric and instrument.

Living in a culture that thrives on our consumerist hearts, the need to remind myself of where true joy comes from is essential.  “Salvation Is Created” not only reminds me of this truth, but also, connects me with my brothers and sisters in the faith from years past who now know the Joy our hearts long for fully.  I am encouraged and inspired by this album and am officially excited about this Christmas season.  Thank you BiFrost Arts.

Linc Ashby, If You Listen to One Sermon Online This Week Make It This One

Please check out my good friend, Walter Henegar's, sermon here from this past Sunday.  It's on hell of all things.  Grab a box of tissues for the last 5-8 minutes.  I rarely cry but I was teared up big time at the end of this one.

"Dying Well" - A Tribute to Broadcasting Great, Ernie Harwell

Baseball fans know that there is something magical about the great broadcasting voices throughout the history of the sport. Legendary broadcasters like Harry Kalas (Phillies), Vin Scully (Dodgers), and Ernie Harwell (Tigers) are about as important a part of the sport’s rich lore as the players themselves. Therefore, as a big baseball fan, I was intrigued by an article discussing the faith of Tigers Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Ernie Harwell as he is dying of cancer. The article is entitled “Dying Well – Lessons from a Baseball Legend,” and it reminds me of John Piper’s article “Don’t Waste Your Cancer.” Here are a couple excerpts:

 

His confidence in God came during a frustrating time in his brilliant career. It was the early 90s and Harwell was being forced out by new leaders in the Tigers front office and an overzealous marketing director at the radio station for which he had labored for decades. But, due largely to the overwhelming outrage by the sports-viewing public in Detroit and across the country, Harwell was retained and many of those behind the attempted ouster were themselves shown the door. I'll never forget the godly Harwell's response when asked if his Christian faith had been tested by the events. "No, God is in charge of every sparrow that falls from the sky. If He wants me to continue on as announcer for the Tigers, I will. If He doesn't, I can't force my way back in. My life is completely in His hands and he always does what is right." Amen.

 

One of the founders of Baseball Chapel - a formal Lord's Day chapel service for baseball players - Harwell is known and respected across baseball as a humble, unashamed disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he is dying like a humble, unashamed follower of Christ. Doctors expect Harwell to live about six months, but he is clearly dying well. When asked whether he was worried about dying, his answer was reminiscent of Paul's attitude in Philippians 1. "If you worry, that's like telling God that you don't think he can handle things. It's a slap in the face of God," said Harwell. "My confidence is in God. Long ago, I gave my life to him. My life is in his hands."

It All Just Looks a Little Different

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received." - 1 Corinthians 15:3

"The gospel is still the gospel.  Sin is still sin.  It all just looks a little different."  I have repeated this line a dozen times a day for the past nine months.  

I have recently made a move that has been a bit of a culture shock.  For the past five years, I have been doing college ministry on a campus of 39,000 students that has been ranked as one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse campuses in the nation. Out of those 39,000 students, we only had 500 involved in evangelical ministries.    Do the math - there are more professing christians in Muslim Turkey than we had on our campus.

And now, I am the Senior Pastor of a 202 year old church in a small town in middle Tennessee.  A town whose population is smaller than the campus I left.  A town that has four churches just in its downtown.  A town that has a benefactor who has given ten acres of land just for new churches to build buildings on (there are already three there now, with space for three more).  We have more churches than fast food restaurants...a lot more.

And yet, with just a little digging into the souls of the people here, I find the same problem of idolatry.  With just a few questions, I find the same expressions of unbelief.  The stories here are littered with just as much brokenness as the stories I would hear on the college campus.  It all just looks a little different.

But, the gospel is still the gospel too.  The assumption that I run into on a daily basis is that I need some other ministry tool besides what I have been using for the past ten years now that I am no longer on a college campus.  The gospel is still the gospel.  It just looks a little different. 

"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved." - 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

I have been reminding myself frequently that the apostle Paul didn't need a new gospel as he traveled from such culturally and religiously diverse places as Jerusalem and Corinth.  Sure, the outworking and application of his ministry looked a little different in each of those places.  But at the core of his ministry, he was careful (very, very careful) to bring them back to the content of the gospel (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 for one of the few places he summarizes the gospel).

So, while it all looks a little different.  The gospel is still the gospel.  And sin is still sin.  And Jesus is reigning over all things. 

"Secularization or Exodus?" in First Things

I read an intriguing article in First Things entitled "Secularization or Exodus" by Peter Leithart, and I wanted to see if CGO readers have any thoughts on the article. I think this is the money quote:

Christianity does not promote “secularity” in the modern sense. Where Christianity has become dominant, Christians have always sought to reshape public life, law, social order, custom, and economic life, in accord with the demands of the gospel. They have not considered public life a safe-zone, free from the influence of the gospel. But the gospel does challenge and overthrow the institutions and patterns of the old world. Wherever the gospel arrives, sacred sites lose their sacredness, the gods go silent, the religious ceremonies that encrust daily life go by the wayside, blood and sacrifice cease. When the good news gets to the scattered tribes of the Amazon, or unevangelized peoples of Africa or Asia, it comes as an announcement of a new exodus, a baptism that leads out of Egypt into a new world, guided by the pillar of the Spirit.

Thoughts?