End of an Era

I've been reading NT Wright lately on Bible interpretation and worldview - he's been talking about worldview in terms of the dominant stories that people tell themselves within culture. It made me think of a bumper sticker I saw a few weeks ago on my drive out to Seattle (posted above).
All of my life I've heard a similar story: American Democracy is a beautiful creation, and the high point of cultural development in history. The Democracy we have today was established for us by brilliant men (probably with the benevolent aid of God), and was purchased for us and protected down through history by the blood of our fathers. The wars we've fought have been primarily about protecting this form of government for ourselves and for others. The twentieth century was a glorious ear wherein Democracy finally stood champion over it's arch enemies: fascism, socialism, and communism. The duty of all Americans today is to be thankful of those who gave their lives so we could enjoy this great gift, and to give of our efforts, money, and prayers, so that other people might also share in this marvelous institution.
That's the story I heard growing up - at school, at home, at church, and in the media. But it doesn’t seem like a story many people are telling anymore. I can't think of anyone I know, high school age or younger who responds to the Democracy story with much passion or comprehension. I think our foundational story collapsed some time in the last decade or two. I wasn’t really surprised by the bumper sticker at all, but it stick in my mind as poignant sign of the end of an era.

Satisfaction

Last week my pastor said that, like a statistical sampling, we should let the experience that we have had of the world thus far be enough to prove for us that the world will not satisfy us. "You could eat the whole world and not be satisfied!" He often says. This week he spoke of satisfaction again as he was preparing communion, offering communion as a symbol of something that will genuinely satisfy.
I realized in thinking about satisfaction that it is the goal of my life. If I could have one thing, it would be to be filled and happy all the time! (Or at least most of the time). Food, relationships, nature, daydreams, travel: these are the sorts of things that I am continuously looking for because sometimes they satisfy me, and I never tire of the desire that some day soon they will fully satisfy me.
My pastor is right: nothing here has ever really fully satisfied me. And I reguarly find in communion a peace and staisfaction that I can not live without, and that I find no where else.
And yet here I am on Monday morning and I have already sought after a long string of things to satisfy me.
I've been reading proverbs again for the first time in years. According to proverbs the goal of life is to aquire wisdom, insight, and obedience. I am somewhat taken aback this morning that those things sound so different than satisfaction.
I hope that the Lord will help me to believe my needs a little less, or at least to listen to them with more of a sense of humor.

Cultures in the Church

Check out this article by Tim Keller, Sr Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC.

What are your thoughts on the 3 cultures he finds in the PCA?

Are there other cultures (ie, is this too general)?

Where would you estimate you fall in the cultures he presented...R-h, R-c, or R-e?

It seems like Dr Keller has a good eye for what trends are going on in the church. I would probably fall mostly within the R-e camp, feeling that our doctrines are very important, but also that it is important to engage the world in mission rather than holding the world/culture at arms length. I've got some more ideas, but wanted to see what others thought as well.

Monday Quote (yeah, I know it's Wednesday)

So the Monday quote is back (although it is Wednesday).

I've been reading Overcoming Sin & Temptation: Three Classic Works by John Owen, so here is a quote from the venerable Dr Owen:

"Do you mortify;

do you make it your daily work;

be always at it while you live;

cease not a day from this work;

be killing sin or it will be killing you."

-John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers

For all of you feeling the chill of winter's breath, gather warmth from this:

"True faith is an herb that grows best in winter weather."
Samuel Rutherford (1600-61), Communion Sermon 2, found at A Puritan's Mind

Monday Quote

In honor of the recent Thanksgiving holiday, here's a quote about our Pilgrim forebearers:

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. - H.U. Westermayer

How often do we really understand what true thankfulness is unless we know why we should be thankful? It seems like there is a general air of thankfulness in our culture that is really just a masked version our own self importance. Are we truly thankful for the many blessings that our Heavenly Father has seen fit to bestow upon us, or do we just think that all the blessings that we have in life are just owed to us anyhow? It doesn't seem like there is anything good in my life that I deserve, outside of the grace and mercy of God. Our persecuted brothers and sisters are often more thankful than we who have so much; it is not poverty or riches, pain or health, persecution or peace that makes us grateful, it is the knowledge that outside of God, we can rely on no other.

Monday Quote

It is not that we keep his commandments first, and that then He loves; but that He loves us, and then we keep His commandments. This is that grace, which is revealed to the humble, but hidden from the proud ... God chooses us, not because we believe, but that we may believe. - Augustine