Sermon: Lord’s Prayer – Part 1 – “Righteous, Pious”

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio. Click HERE for PowerPoint slides. Click HERE for PowerPoint Viewer.)

This is the first of (probably) five sermons on the Lord’s Prayer. This sermon is an introduction, exploring the context in which we find the Lord’s Prayer. I touch briefly on the context in Luke, but most of the sermon is spent on the Sermon on the Mount context.

Much of the sermon is spent discussing true vs. false righteousness and piety, true vs. false rewards, true vs. false kingdoms and how Christ’s disciples must hold to the correct, biblical understandings of these things. This leads to how the Lord’s Prayer appears to be Jesus’ instructions to his disciples on how to petition God to give them the proper perspectives as disciples of Christ.

Calm after the storm

Autumn is certainly here with us. Starting late yesterday afternoon the wind picked up and the rain fell in heavy torrents. It continued through the night. It was quite a surprise then, to see the sun breaking through this morning.

Since by last night I had completed the sermon preparation for tomorrow, I was able to take time out to go wander about in the muskeg. Even though the landscape here doesn’t get the spectacular colors of say, Vermont, as you can see from the photos, we do get color. The color is much on a much smaller scale. What I noticed most is how the dying tufts of grass seem to glow orange against the more drab colors of the already dead plants.

I found what I’m pretty sure are bog cranberries. I picked one, squeezed it, and it had a familiar scent to it. The taste resembles a cranberry – quite tart. I hope it was a cranberry… I’m pretty sure it wasn’t one of the toxic, red berries that the field guides warn about. At least I’m still feeling fine a couple hours later… :)

I also noticed quite a few mushrooms poking their caps up. I don’t think I saw quite as many during the spring and summer months.

Winter is not too far away. One weather forecast says we might see our first snow flurries in about a week.

The Atonement: God’s Nature

The following are some of my thoughts on this week’s Sabbath School Study, Lesson 1, God’s Nature: The Basis of Atonement.

“The subject of the Atonement is absolutely central in Christian theology; and it is directly related to that of the nature of God. Each and every interpretation of the Atonement is most closely connected with some conception of the essential meaning of Christianity, and reflects some conception of the Divine nature. Indeed, it is in some conception of the nature of God that every doctrine of the Atonement has its ultimate ground…”¹ [Emphasis mine.]

What this says to me is that how one interprets and views the Atonement is colored by his or her understanding of God’s nature. Not only that, but his or her understanding of God’s nature is itself colored by how he or she understands the Atonement.

Is the above statement true? I believe it is. If a person believes that law-based justice is the overriding nature of God, it is easy to see the Atonement as merely a legal transaction. If the Atonement is primarily about satisfying legal demands, it becomes much easier to see God’s nature in forensic and judicial terms.

On the other hand, if a person believes instead that God’s nature is primarily one of love based relationships, is becomes difficult to accept any kind of legal and substitutionary metaphor in the Atonement, but rather see it more as a demonstration of God’s love. If the Atonement is viewed primarily as demonstration of love, it becomes much easier to interpret everything about God through that lens.

What is being described is a case of cyclical dependency. If we are not careful, the more we study the Atonement, the more narrow and rigid our mindset can become both in regards to the Atonement and of God’s nature. When we become rigid, we tend to become intolerant. When we become intolerant, we become unloving. When we become unloving, we defeat the whole purpose of the Atonement.

The two perspectives I mentioned a few paragraphs ago are termed, respectively, as the objective and subjective views on the Atonement. The former is attributed to Anselm (1033-1109). The latter is attributed to Abelard (1079-1142). As you might guess, the one held to by most Christians today is the objective view.^{2, 3}

Aulen argues that neither is the view held to by the early Christians. (From the dates of Anselm and Abelard, it looks like possibly up to the first 1,000 years of Christianity.) He puts forth the idea of a classical view on the Atonement, which he calls the dramatic view of the Christus Victor.⁴ From the broad descriptions I’ve read, he seems to have some strong points in favor of this view. I might even suggest that as Seventh-day Adventists, our Great Controversy metanarrative might fit the Christus Victor perspective better than the more common perspectives. I’ve only begun to read his historical survey, so I cannot comment much more than this.

I think the key for the set of studies this final quarter of 2008 is to try to open up our perspectives to examine other points of view and to engage ideas with which we don’t agree in a respectful, courteous, and loving way. As finite beings, we need to realize that when we attempt to make sense out of and understand God, we are going to encounter paradoxes (what Aulen terms dualisms⁵). We must learn to live with both/and perspectives rather than either/or.

I believe God speaks to each person in ways that they best understand. For some, one perspective on the Atonement may work better than another, while for a different set of people, the one that works for the other may not work at all. We must be willing to at least try to see things from other perspectives, and to disagree agreeably. God does not change, but our perspectives and experience do change. I believe God accommodates our changes and reveals Himself in ways that are best at each stage of our journey.

Finally, as we study the Atonement this quarter, I believe whatever it means must translate into practical significance. If it doesn’t, then perhaps it isn’t as important as we’ve been led to believe; or, we missed something really key; or, the meaning of the Atonement we have isn’t quite right.

For further studies and commentary on this week’s lesson, I highly recommend the audio and study guide at Good Word.

_______________

¹Aulen, Gustaf. Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement, WIPF an STOCK Publishers, 2003 edition. p. 13.

²ibid., pp. 1-3.

³Knight, George R. The Cross of Christ: God’s Work for Us, Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2008. pp. 21-22.

⁴Aulen. pp. 4-7.

⁵Aulen, pp. 4, 11.

Audio, video, computers

Yesterday was a bit like Christmas morning, I suppose. I got a number of items: an audio interface for my notebook PC, a travel WiFi router/access point, and Elise’s dad got the FTA satellite dish installed and connected.

First off, the audio interface. I got the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8x8 USB 2.0 audio interface. I had originally tried to get the Alesis MultiMix 8 USB 2.0. This is the one where I got the earlier USB 1.1 product (which is still sitting next to me because I still have not received the return shipping label from Alesis and/or inMusic, and I am getting more and more annoyed with both companies. I keep contacting customer service but they don’t seem very responsive. I wasn’t going to name names, but it’s been about a week now and it’s getting ridiculous).

So far I’m fairly pleased with the M-Audio unit. It does what I need, which is to bring in my synth audio and microphone input (has phantom power, so I no longer need to use a battery in the mic) into the PC for recording. It’s able to record 8 separate input tracks at up to 96KHz/24-bits. I like being able to monitor with headphones separately from the main output.

The one thing that I’ve noticed, and not likely the interface’s fault, is that the connection between the synth and the interface is noisy. I think it has to do something with noisy power and/or ground loop with the PC. I suspect both are problems. When I record the synth output, I get occasional clipping noises. I wondered if recording the synth wouldn’t be possible, but then I tried recording a separate take on a new track and cutting/pasting/replacing the clipped measures and it seemed to work well.

The travel WiFi router is the D-Link DWL-G730AP. It’s a tiny device and comes with a nice carrying case. I had to adjust some networking stuff this morning to get everything to function the way I wanted them to. The Vista notebook I was using to configure the router stopped communicating with the Internet after I got done. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. I fiddled with the firewall and location settings to no avail. Restarting seemed to clear everything up.

There are two reasons why I chose this device. The first is that some places where I stay when I travel don’t have WiFi but have wired Ethernet connections. I have at least two devices (and there will be three) that would like to connect to the Internet wirelessly. Being able to take a little router with me would be handy. Not only that, but I’m never too sure about the network security provided by hotels and such. A router is another way of isolating my private network from the rest of the world.

The second reason is that the original router doesn’t adequately cover our house. The cable modem and network hubs are located in the garage, which is way off on one extreme corner of the building. The opposing corner of the house has pretty poor coverage. This router, used as an AP, can extend the network coverage. This is important now, because Shelley has a new notebook PC (on loan from IDEA – the distance education school district) and her room is about as far as one can get from the main router. With the D-Link now sitting in my office area, the whole house has pretty good coverage.

Finally, the satellite dish. It receives FTA (Free to Air) channels – primarily for some of the Adventist channels such as Hope and Loma Linda Broadcasting (though reception on this is rather poor due to location). The dish is located just behind the house. A hold was drilled in the office closet outside wall on the second floor (it’s conveniently located under roofs) and then the cable sent down to the dish.

The trick was trying to get Windows Media Center Edition 2005 to recognize the signal. I could get Nero’s video capture utility to see the signal (but no audio), but MCE didn’t like it. I searched the Web for some possible hints. I came across the tip that in order for MCE to recognize the S-Video signal, the IR-blaster has to be connected to the IR-receiver. Fortunately, in recent weeks while going through boxes from our move 2 years ago, I located the small box with the IR accessories. As soon as I connected the IR-blaster and worked through the setup steps, the input was recognized and I was able to get the satellite output showing on the MCE PC.

Now you know what I’ve been up to during the last day.

The last several days have been very rainy. The forecast for today was supposed to be more rain. But the clouds broke apart and some sun is coming through. The early dawn (about 7:00 a.m. now) was quite nice. The sunlight was filtering through the trees to the back of our house, backlighting the leaves. I might have gone out had I not been starting to prepare some waffles for breakfast.

Sermon: “Follow Me”

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This sermon concludes the trip through the gospel account of John. Today I worked through chapter 21.

This chapter seems to speak to times of uncertainty. The disciples weren’t sure yet what exactly Jesus was up to. The audience of John’s gospel weren’t sure why Jesus hadn’t come yet, and weren’t sure what was going to happen when the last of the apostles departed the scene. I think this chapter is John’s response to how believers ought to live between the “already here” and “not yet” of God’s kingdom, particularly during those time when there doesn’t appear to be a clear answer to the question, “Now what?”

Even though I’ve spent nearly two years working through John’s gospel account, I know that I’ve only scratched a surface of all that could be learned. Nevertheless it has been a fruitful, inspiring, and productive journey. I think I’ve gained a better understanding of what it means to follow Christ, and for those that have followed along on this journey, I hope the same is true of you.

Now that I’ve reached the end of John, the question you might have is, “Now what?” For the next few weeks my plan is to work through the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:5-13. I also have some unfinished business with the book of Daniel that I ought to resume. With the holiday season approaching, that means any new, long series will likely wait until the beginning of 2009.

Live and Learn

Or, “Why I’m not a handyman.”

I threw $5 in the trash today. Well, not quite so literally, but it might as well have been.

See, I decided to see if I could weatherseal the front door a little better, so I bought some foam strips to tape onto the door frame. After I did one side, the door wouldn’t close anymore. So I ended up taking it all off. Threw it into the trash. I then went and got a thinner tape. Installed it. Door wouldn’t close again.

A light finally turned on and I went out the door onto the porch, closed the door, and observed how the door closed onto the frame. It turns out the door and the frame are not very square when closed. The top corner has quite a wide gap, while the bottom half is fits rather tightly against the frame. No wonder any amount of tape along the entire length caused the door to no longer close and latch.

I was able to leave most of the thinner tape on the frame by cutting away the area that was the most problematic. I then opened a new package of the thicker tape and used that around the top corner.

Winter approacheth…

The last two nights, the lows have dipped into the mid-30’s. And that means our oil heater is starting to turn on every now and then during the night. Our portable electrics can’t completely replace the oil. The oil truck was here yesterday to top up the tank. We had only used 12.8 gallons since this spring. Even so, at $4.73 (including tax) per gallon, it quickly adds up. The cost of auto fuel (regular) is currently $4.52/gallon.

I looked at a few photos from the Juneau area today, and they’re already getting dustings of snow up on the mountains. We’re not quite there yet.

Missionaries: The Call

These are comments on Sabbath School Lesson 13, “Here Am I; Send Me:” The Prophet Isaiah.

For me, this final lesson raises more questions than it answers. The lesson primarily discusses “the call” Isaiah received (recorded in Isaiah 6:1-10). Here are some of questions that rise up in my mind:

• Are calls supposed to be dramatic like this?
• How does one know for sure that the call is from God, rather than say, wishful thinking, self-delusions, or foolishness?
• Are calls only given to few individuals?
• When one thinks/believes he/she has been called, should they make no effort to test, verify and validate before responding? (Back to the question, “How do you know it’s really God calling?”)
• How should one respond to someone who says they’ve “received a call?”
• Related to the previous question: What of people who use “the call” as an excuse to do shoddy work and then move on before the consequences catch up with them?
• Why does the Seventh-day Adventist denomination use “the call” almost exclusively to paid, denominational employment? A related question is, why are plain old job offers (because that’s what they are) termed “the call” anyway?

Here’s my taken on all this. You may or may not agree. But here it is…

Everyone who has chosen to follow Christ has received a call: it is to reflect Jesus’ methods and attitudes of self-sacrificing love to the world. No more and no less. In the great majority of cases (80%, 90%, 95%, 99%, 99.999%?) how one chooses to live out this call is not specifically selected by God.

I believe that the will of God for each person is quite broad. One can choose many different paths and still be heading in the right direction. I think that when Jesus’ saying about the narrow gate and path (Matthew 7:13-14; c.f., Luke 13:24) are interpreted to mean that God’s will is narrow and specific, I think that interpretation misses the context. The context (as I read around these texts) is that because self-sacrificing love is so contrary to sinful nature, many will find it difficult to find the gate and pathway into the way of self-sacrificing love (Christ) which is eternal life.

We should keep in mind that what is recorded in history, including the Bible, are typically the extraordinary cases, the one-in-a-million case. Of the millions of Hebrews and Jews through multiple millenia, only a handful are recorded as prophets.

For me the message this week is to live a life the reflects God’s love to the world. As long as I’m doing that, I’m following God’s call and will for my life. I shouldn’t worry that I have or haven’t received some dramatic “call” for a specific work in a specific place to a specific people. I am a missionary right where I am.

Next week begins a new set of lessons on the Atonement of Christ. I just received a book that I’m looking forward to reading and using as a resource for the next three months: Christus Victor: An Historical Study of The Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement by Gustaf Aulen.

A Walkabout

The sun does shine in Petersburg! For photographs, today ended being too sunny as all the clouds disappeared by early afternoon. Blank sky is not terribly interesting in a photo.

The day started out rather foggy. I went to Helse’s for the weekly ministers’ get-together but discovered that Helse’s was closed because the owner was sick. There was a note to head to Northern Lights, which I did. There, while chit chatting, I watched the fog and clouds burn off. I think that the landscape was probably much more interesting in the morning.

By the time I returned home and finished a few things, it was early afternoon. I had forgotten to recharge the camera batteries earlier, so I had to wait while they recharged. The batteries eventually topped off and I headed out.

I went straight down to North Nordic, over the guardrail, and down to the beach where I slowly meandered along towards PFI. I walked back up to the street level and made my way through town and over towards the harbors. I didn’t find anything that caught my eye at either the North or Middle Harbors, so I went down Sing Lee Alley. From there I headed down to South Harbor where I found the resident Sea Lions swimming about. Once I was done there, I headed up the hill to the Post Office, retrieved today’s mail, then walked the muskeg trail back towards home.

Click on the image below to open the photo gallery.

The saga of packages continues

I got a hold of the reseller who sent me the wrong device. Indeed it was the wrong device, and they don’t have any of the ones I want in stock. I thus had to go to another online reseller and find a different audio interface device. They had a non-factory sealed item at a reduced price, and supposedly with free shipping. It will end up costing $20 more than my original purchase, if all goes well.

Anyway, for returning the wrong unit I’m supposed to be getting a prepaid call tag (okay, I’m not sure what it is). I left a message for the cartage agent in town to see if they know what it is and if they will accept it. If they don’t, well, I guess the saga will go on a bit longer.

I got no word back today from the canopy factory regarding the door shipment. I guess I’ll have to try to talk to someone tomorrow and see if I can get any more definite answers.

Speaking of tomorrow, it’s supposed to be mostly sunny. Today has been dry though mostly cloudy. My plan is to head out of the house tomorrow and see what I can find in the muskeg and on the beach. But with the best laid plans going awry lately, who knows what will happen.

All this is once again showing me how much I like to have order and control over my own life. When things are beyond my control, I get frustrated and anxious. Looks like there’s still a lot more growing to do.

There was an interesting column last week in the Wall Street Journal by Peggy Noonan, titled “Why It’s Getting Mean.” (You probably need a subscription to see the entire article.) I think it speaks to people’s search for security and control when things seem to be spiraling out of control.

The article begins,

The financial crisis changes the entire shape and feel of the presidential election. It isn't just bad news, it's bad news that reveals what many people deep down feared, and hoped not to see revealed: that the huge and sprawling financial system of Wall Street is maintained essentially on faith, mood and assumption; that its problems are deep; that at some level the system looks to have been a house of cards. It isn't just bad news; it's deep bad news that reaches into the heart of widespread national anxiety.

Everyone is afraid…

About midway through she writes,

The economic crisis brings a new question, unarticulated so far but there, and I know because when I mention it to people they go off like rockets. It is: Do you worry that neither of them is up to it? Up to the job in general? Is either Mr. McCain or Mr. Obama actually up to getting us through this and other challenges? I haven't heard a single person say, "Yes, my guy is the answer." A lot of shrugging is going on out there. This is a read not only on the men but on the moment.

In the concluding paragraphs she writes,

A final point. Do you ever have the passing thought that the presidential election doesn't matter as much as we think? Whoever wins will govern within more of less the same limits, both domestically and internationally…

I wonder if we follow the election so passionately because we're afraid. We're afraid a lot of our national problems are intractable, and the future too full of challenge.

We cannot tolerate feeling this way. So we make believe the election can change everything. And we follow it passionately to convince ourselves its outcome will be decisive and make everything better. We reassure ourselves with pictures of the cheering crowds at the rally. We even find some comfort in the latest story of the latest dirty trick. But deep inside we think: Ah, that won't work either…

Package and shipment troubles

Earlier today I contacted the manufacturer of our pickup bed canopy to find out what the status is on the replacement glass door. It turns out it hasn’t shipped yet! It’s been two weeks now. Sigh. The CC was charged at the time of order. If I don’t get confirmation and proof of shipment by the end of the month, I guess I’ll have to start the charge dispute procedure…

I got two packages today. One was a microphone stand. I had one that I’m sure was moved up from Oregon, but I can’t find it anywhere. I ended up having to purchase another. Fortunately that was only $25 with shipping.

The second package was what I thought was the mixer and USB audio interface that I ordered. Well, it was a mixer and USB audio interface – just not the right one. It was an older model that looks pretty much identical (except for the color) to the new version. The feature set is considerably inferior and the price that much lower. I purchased from a factory authorized B-stock reseller, so it may be that they got the units mixed up. Whatever the case, I was not at all pleased. I only figured out something was wrong when I tried to install the device driver and the installer kept saying it couldn’t find the hardware. I think I tried six or seven times. I finally looked in the manual one more time and it started to dawn on me that something was seriously wrong in that the features described were definitely not what I had expected. On closer inspection it became quite clear that I was sent the wrong product. The reseller being in Florida, 4 hours time difference, even if I had figured it out earlier in the day would have done no good in trying to get the problem resolved. I sent an e-mail to customer service with my complaints. Maybe they will see it while I’m still asleep in the morning. It will be interesting to find out how they are going to arrange for return freight. They sent it UPS, but it gets transferred to a 3rd party in Anchorage in order to get it here. We don’t have UPS, so giving me a pre-paid billing account for UPS likely won’t do any good. Ah, the joys of missing some of the commonly expected infrastructures…

Cabbages, cabbages

Cabbage is on sale this week (last Thurs. to this Wed.) at 49 cents per pound. Shelley used some of it (though this cabbage was purchased at the other store that doesn’t have cabbage on sale) in the egg rolls last Friday. I used the remaining half of it in a pasta casserole last night. The recipe came from a fruit and vegetable cookbook sent by my mother-in-law a few weeks back. I had some misgivings about how it might turn out, but the result was quite acceptable.

For the remainder of the week, I think we’re going to have quite a few more cabbage dishes. I looked up cabbages in the indices of my two Indian cookbooks and discovered I could probably prepare a different Indian dish for two weeks.

I’ve never been too fond of raw cabbage; nor the usual plain, cooked cabbage; but I’m discovering that as long as the cabbage is cooked and seasoned in interesting ways, it can be quite tasty.

Walk in sun and rain along South Harbor

The weather was mixed today. The day started out fairly sunny and dry (after a rather rainy night). It continued that way throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, but then the clouds and rain began to come through. By the time we had finished lunch and drove out to South Harbor, the rain was coming down fairly consistently. There were breaks in the clouds, so after several minutes of staying under the shelter of the ramp going down to the docks, the rain eased up to a light sprinkle and we began walking. Over the next hour or so the rain continued in varying degrees of intensity.

Here are a few snapshots along the way.

China and Egg Rolls

As part of her curriculum this year, Shelley is studying China. Part of this involved cooking some kind of Chinese dish. Her selection was egg rolls. Thus last night we had egg rolls. It’s a difficult balance to maintain in providing the right amount of advice and demonstrations in cooking tips and techniques. I think it’s more difficult to watch someone else cooking than it is to do it myself.

In any case, Shelley got it done. The recipe called for pork and shrimp, but since we don’t use those ingredients, I suggested substituting some of the meatless burgers and adding a bit of soy sauce and fish sauce to restore a bit of the flavors that the amino acids from the protein sources would normally have contributed to the egg rolls. The results were quite good. We used some store-bought sweet and sour sauce for dipping. After looking at the ingredients, I quickly realized it is something that is rather easily reproducible: sugar, water, vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, corn starch… oh, and some artificial colorings.

Sermon: We Have Seen the Lord – Part 4: Signs, Sight, Faith

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio. Click HERE for PowerPoint slides. Click HERE for PowerPoint Viewer.)

This morning, I had the “opportunity” to use the recording capability on my new notebook PC. I say “opportunity” because the only reason was that I forgot to bring along my digital voice recorder. Since I had never used the sound recording capabilities on the PC prior to this, I didn’t know how it would turn out. The results were quite good, though the file size was immense. It took a long time to load into my audio editor for post processing, and it took much longer to convert to an MP3 and save it out. So even though the quality is probably better, the file from the voice recorder is much easier to work with. Anyway, enough of that.

Today’s sermon is the conclusion of my four-part series on John chapter 20. I take a bit of a detour away from John and try to place the concluding verses of chapter 20 into a broader context of what it could mean for today’s Christians. I talk about how Jesus and the writers of the New Testament foretold of false christs and a counterfeit second coming, and how Jesus’ words of blessing to those who come to believe without seeing might bear relevance for us. I discuss what I believe this counterfeit and deception could involve and how we might prepare to meet it.

A thought for today

From ASBO Jesus --

Missionaries: The Gift

These are comments on this week’s Sabbath School lesson 12, Gifted for Service: Philip.

Going through this lesson, one of the thoughts that came to my mind is how differently the initial believers viewed the relative importance of administration vs. field work. Today quite a few ministers think it is a promotion and a step up to leave the pastorate and become administrators. That is not how things were viewed in Acts 6. Though the text uses the word “deacon,” I think it was in the Good Word discussion that one of the individuals there noted that the deacons were more akin to what we would call today, administrators.

For the first generation of believers, field work, the evangelist and the pastor were doing the most critical work. Administration was something that became a necessity, but it was not seen as a step up. Looking at the story of Philip, how he soon became a preacher, evangelist, and effectively a pastor at Caesarea, I could even imagine administration functioning as a training ground for field work. That got me thinking how we’ve got things quite upside down today, and is it even realistic to think of placing new ministers into administrative positions and as they become more experienced to place them in the field? What if the pay scales were turned upside down so that the president made the least money and the youth pastor was given the most? I haven’t really thought through this, but I think it’s worth thinking about.

Another idea that was triggered by the lesson was how the name “Philip” being a Greek name, could mean that Philip was a Hellenistic Jew, one who was already accustomed (to some extent) to other cultures. There is an interesting study note on the NET Bible for Acts 8:1:

“Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.”

For me these provide some insight into how and why Philip was able and eager to share the gospel to non-Jews. He may have harbored less prejudice than the non-Hellenistic Jews. He may already have had multicultural perspectives. He obviously had a heart for those outside Judaism and understood, even before the Apostles, that the gospel was for all people.

The main theme of this week’s lesson is the Holy Spirit and the gifts given through Him for service. One of the most helpful books I’ve read on the subject of spiritual gifts is Henry and Mel Blackaby’s What’s So Spiritual About Your Gifts? The thesis is that whereas many Christians focus on specific spiritual gifts, the real gift is the Holy Spirit Himself. The manifestations of specific gifts depend upon what is needed at a specific place and time. The authors also clearly differentiate between natural abilities and talents vs. spiritual gifts. The former is always available whereas the latter is something specifically given by the Holy Spirit to meet a specific need. They also suggest that in many cases, God may lead believers into areas where none of their strengths are of use, just so that they may learn to depend upon Him so that any success can only be due to His strength working through human weakness.

The lesson references a couple of the standard “spiritual gifts” passages in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. Romans 12:6 is quite interesting in that “gifts” in Greek is “charisma” and “grace” is “charis.” One could say that spiritual gifts are directly related to grace that is given by God. When I read 1 Corinthians 12 (specifically vv. 4, 7, and 11) and put it together with Jesus’ words in John 14 and 16, it is quite clear to me that the Blackabys are onto something when they write that “the Holy Spirit is the gift.”

Philip appears to be an example of what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (ESV) Philip didn’t know from one moment to another what was going to happen, but the important thing is that he was open to the Spirit’s leading, wherever it lead.

As missionaries for God, we should be open to the Spirit’s leading. We should be confident that when the Spirit leads, He will also equip. Too often, I know that I’ve been afraid of taking risks and going into the unknown because the destination didn’t seem to fit in with my strengths and skill-set. We often want the equipping before the going. We might even use a pre-equipping as a “test” of God’s calling. But more often than not, if I am willing to go first, God is also able to strengthen and equip.

City needs another doctor

Earlier this year, one of the three four doctors in town moved away. We thought there was someone that would end up here, but it turns out that person chose to go to Ketchikan. So now, we are hoping someone else will find Petersburg to be a nice place to practice medicine.

If you are a physician, or someone you know is one, who is looking for a change, perhaps Petersburg might be the place for you.

Why no recent photos?

Well frankly, the conditions have been pretty miserable much of the time. Even when there's a sun break, I never know for how long it will last and if it will suddenly turn into a downpour. Not only that, but if the better weather happens towards the end of the week, that does me no good because that is when I am most busy, preparing for church.

The hopeful news is that the weather forecasts are starting to align on possibly better weather this weekend and early next week. The mountain ash are covered with red berries. The leaves are turning color. The birds have returned from their northern migrations. (Okay, why do birds migrate? Wouldn't it be more efficient for them to stay put? We have gulls and other birds that winter here and migrate north during the summer.) The muskeg is starting to die back for winter. The fog and mist make interesting patterns against the water and mountains. I'm not quite sure yet what will make interesting images.

What I've read, What I'm reading

Here are some titles that I've read recently, or which I'm currently just starting. I thought about writing more comprehensive reviews of the ones I've read, but thought that would take too much time (and unless I feel really strongly about a book, I have difficulty writing a review).

What I've Read

1. Jaded: Hope for Believers Who Have Given Up on Church But Not on God by A. J. Kiesling

This is a (another?) book about why people are disillusioned with the institutional church. I found it in the bargain section of ChristianBook.com. Although the Amazon reviews average out to just average, I thought the author provided some thought provoking material, particularly for church leaders. The main premise I got out of it was that the purpose of Christianity ought to be in finding God and getting to know Him, rather than church membership and/or attendance. According to the author, the institutional church is merely a tool in people's journey of getting to know God. The author echoes some of the misgivings and disillusionments I personally have with the church, so I found myself agreeing with most of the points made.

2. A Dangerous Hope: Encountering the God of Grace by Al Truesdale and Bonnie Perry

This was another title in the bargain bin at ChristianBook.com. Until I read this book, I didn't realize that the Nazarenes are Wesleyans, and therefore, close cousins of the Seventh-day Adventists. The premise of the book is that the Bible shows that the sovereignty of God is love, rather than absolute power. The authors develop this reasoning, based on scriptural evidence, to show how love, it being His essential character, necessarily limits what God is able to do in the universe without violating His own character. The authors work through themes including liberty and freedom, grace, already but not yet, and the kingdom of heaven to show how the Wesleyan perspective on salvation provides hope and assurance.

I found this book particularly enjoyable and stimulating. To my eyes, it seems most of the popular Christian titles are written by authors of the Reformed (Calvin) persuasion. I've been wondering recently if Seventh-day Adventists have been getting subconsciously influenced by the Calvinistic views of God's sovereignty and salvation. From what I see and hear, this might be the case. That is why I found this title so refreshing to read. I highly recommend it, if you can find a copy.

3. Ordinary People, Faithful God compiled and edited by Nathan Brown

This is one I picked up at campmeeting in July. It's a collection of stories about miracles and answered prayers. I realize many people are edified by such tales. I'm not one of them. It's not that I don't believe in miracles and answered prayers, because I do and I believe I've personally experienced some. But they're not the norm, and a large collection like this could possibly give the impression that it ought to be the norm. Nice book, nice stories, but it/they just didn't do anything for me.

What I'm Reading

1. Grounds for Belief by Ed Dickerson

This is another one I picked up at campmeeting. I've only read the introduction and the first chapter, so I can only give my initial impressions. So far it looks like something I'll enjoy. This is another of the titles that challenge in-the-box thinking and encourage out-of-the-box ones in regards to the topic of religion and religion-related things. I plan to read portions of the book during our weekly Sabbath gatherings (BTW, I really dislike the term "service" applied to church and worship).

2. Armageddon at the Door by Jon Paulien

This is yet another title picked up at campmeeting. I have Paulien's earlier Revelation book, The Deep Things of God. This is the next installment in a series from Paulien helping non-scholars develop tools to understand the book of Revelation. I've so far read through the first few chapters where the author describes the current Middle East situation. I'm not sure where things are going to head from here. It looks interesting, however.

3. Landmines in the Path of the Believer:Avoiding the Hidden Dangers by Charles F. Stanley

I belong to a "book club" type subscription by Thomas Nelson. Every four to six weeks I get a book. There are some authors that I simply can't stand to read, so I request they not be sent. I'm not sure as to which category this book and author is going to end up. I've only read the introduction, but the impression I get is that the author's primary definition of "sin" is behavior and thoughts contrary to God's commands. This is not the definition that I use as my starting point. "Sin" as I've come to understand it is primarily a broken relationship with God, or in slightly different words, a refusal to trust and depend completely upon God.

I'm not exactly looking forward to reading through this book, because it may just leave me frustrated and annoyed due to the differing views on the main thematic material. But I suppose that from time to time I need to read things that don't match my perspectives so that I don't get locked inside a box of my own creation. Not only that, but there just might be something I can learn from this book.