Experiencing the Trinity

For a couple of months, I felt like I was hocking Peter Scazerro’s Emotionally Healthy Spirituality wherever I was going. Through last fall and into the New Year, I was telling everyone to read his book. I preached three sermons that were inspired by it. I sold copies of it at church. I should have received some kind of commission!

Now I am on to a new book. This is the book you’ve got to read.

Experiencing the Trinity by Darrell Johnson

It is about 100 pages. You can read it in three sittings. I would consider it a must read. It is a wonderful little primer on the doctrine of the Trinity. If you have never explored the Trinity, this book is the book that I would start with.

As noted by the title, it is written as more of a "popular" book. It is not written for academic theologians, but for the everyday follower of Jesus. He makes passionate and compelling pleas to pursue the Trinity in your spiritual walk, as well as in your attempts to love the Lord with all of your mind. He opens with the age old question/complaint: "Why do I need all of this theological talk about the Trinity, why can’t I just simply follow Jesus?" His resounding answer is what I have found to be true and that is that following Jesus leads you to the Trinity. Following Jesus leads you to see the Son of God empowered by the Spirit of God in obedience to Father God. The Bible clearly talks about the divinity of the Father, Son and the Spirit—the question is how to we make sense of the three and their claims to divinity, when we believe in one God.

Johnson does not try to solve the mystery of the threeness and the oneness of God, instead he invites us in. He brings in insight from various theologians like the Torrance brothers – who have gone before us on the journey of exploring the Trinity. Reading T.F. Torrance’s Trinitarian Perspectives was a watershed event. In it Torrance states, "God draws near to us in such a way as to draw us near to himself within the circle of his knowing of himself." In other words, God comes to us in order to draw us into the community of himself.

Johnson’s writing is filled with signposts like this on his own journey, which has inspired me on my journey of exploring the Trinity. God is not singular; he is plural. He exist in a community of persons, in an eternal relationship with love. As Johnson notes, "At the center of the universe is relationship." At the core of all reality is a love relationship that we are invited into. The doctrine of the Trinity is not man’s attempt to intellectualize the faith. It is certainly a mystery, but it is "God’s way of being God." It is his self-disclosure. It is his way of showing us himself and the way of life, which is experienced through loving relationship. When we are baptized in the name, the singular name, of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – we are being immersed not only in the water, but into this loving divine relationship of persons.

Join us on this journey.

Hairology: The Doctrine of Hair

One of the greatest benefits of email and the Internet has been the increase of laughter around the world. This may not be the most noble uses of technology, but you have to admit that the number of funny pictures, emails, videos and audio clips that have circulated has made the Internet one of the greatest inventions of the modern world…thanks Al Gore. :-)

I just finished listening to Dr. G. I. Barber on the "Fundamentalist Hour," apparently a Christian radio broadcast from the 1960s. On this broadcast the esteemed Dr. G. I. (his friends call him "Upper G.I.") discusses the doctrine of hair (hairology), which he has studied through a masters and doctoral degree. He discusses the spiritual and scriptural length of hair for men and women. He even goes into a spiritual defense for the comb over…no joke. He even goes it to the biblical direction of hair. This has got to be made up, but it sounds real!

You owe it to yourself to spend the next 16 minutes listening to one of our "no-fun-damentialist" brothers. He sums up the whole spirit behind the Christian fundamentalists when he says: "We know that it is right, because that is what us fundamentalist preachers teach."

Click here to download the clip: hairology.mp3 (1.93 MB)

(Thanks to Todd Rhodes who posted this on his MMI blog
Go to his blog and hear the music that followed Dr. Barber’s teaching in "The Doctrine of Hairology - Part 2)

The Keystroke Heard ‘Round the World

I did it. This morning I finished the rough draft of my dissertation. I cannot believe after over two years of writing, research, writing, interviews, edits, writing, revisions and…oh yes…writing, the final keystroke for the rough draft has been made. It is done!

Well sorta…

I am not really done. I have to revise this draft a bit and send it to my faculty advisor, who is on sabbatical, but is sticking in there with me (Thanks Steve!). He will then return it to me and I will make his corrections. I then send it to the seminary editor, along with a 15 page journal article that I need to write. She will edit it while I am in India next month. I will get it back during Holy Week (the first week of April) and edit it again. I then get it sent to my dissertation committee and defend my dissertation on April 16th. After making what I hope are minor revisions, I send it in for editing ONE MORE TIME! Make final corrections and then graduation.

I am so close I can feel it.

Pray for me.

Rescue, the Trinity & Christ our Example

On the iPod this morning: Battle Cry by Michael Gungor.

He was the worship leader at the church Jenni and I attended in Tulsa in the late 90s. He is a phenomenal guitar player and he has developed into a great worship leader. He is currently at Resurrection Life Church in Grand Rapids, MI and travel a lot, so it seems. Battle Cry was the 2006 Aquire the Fire youth conference album. I am happy to see that God is using Michael in a variety of ways. Check him out at http://www.michaelgungor.com/.

Track 5 on Battle Cry is the song “Rescue.” As I was listening to it this morning, it got me thinking a bit about Jesus, his work and our response. For over two years I have been consumed with this trinitarian vision of spiritual transformation. It has become the theological backbone of my dissertation (which is nearly completed). In this trinitarian vision, spiritual transformation is viewed as the WORK OF THE SPIRIT to transform us into the IMAGE OF THE SON for the JOY OF GOD, THE FATHER.

Forgive me as I dive into a bit of the historical background of the doctrine of the Trinity.

I am reading Stan Grenz’s Rediscovering the Triune God. He does a good job of providing an overview of contemporary theologies of the Trinity. I have finished the chapter on the “Karls” (Barth and Rahner) and I am moving on to Pannenberg, Moltmann and Jenson. Both of the Karls were interested in moving away from the speculative nature of trinitarian theology. It is speculative discussions of the Trinity that causes the average church goer to cry: "BORING!" The Karls wanted to look closer at the doctrine of the trinity through God’s revelation (Barth) and God-in-salvation (Rahner), that is the centrality of the incarnation “God with us.” Rahner’s contribution known as “Rahner’s Rule” is that God as he exists in eternity is the God who reveals himself in salvation. The importance of this is that is makes the study of the trinity both biblical and practical. The unknowable, immutable eternal God (the immanent Trinity) makes himself known in his activity (the economic Trinity). This move takes discussions of the trinity to the church, to worship, to discipliship and for me, spiritual transformation.

It is upon this theological foundation that I have built my trinitarian vision of spiritual formation. God is revealing himself in his work of spiritual transformation, because it is God’s work through the Spirit to transform us into the image of God through Jesus for the pleasure of God himself. We see him in what he does.

Now back to Gungor’s song “Rescue.”

As I was listening to “Rescue,” I was reminded of an important point of clarification when I talk about Jesus our example. Jesus is our example of spiritual transformation. He is what we are being conformed into. He is the model for ethical behavior and moral character, but he can only be our example AFTER he has become our savior. The danger of emphasizing the role of Jesus as our example can lead us down the road of pelagianism, a heresy that was condemned by the Church in the fifth century and taught that you can be forgiven of your sins and justified with God by patterning your life after Christ’s moral example. If this was true, then the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (the central piece of the Christian story) is not necessary.

Jesus our example (Christus exemplar) is a part of the work of God the Son, but it is subsequent to Jesus our savior, our rescuer. We need Jesus to come and rescue us from our sin and spiritual poverty, before we can follow him and allow the Spirit to transform us into his image. Living a life patterned after Jesus’ example is simply not enough. Beyond that it will leave you frustrated and disillusioned. You cannot try out the Christian life. You have to dive in headlong and allow Jesus to rescue you through faith and repentance. Only then can he become your example.

“Rescue” has some further trinitarian imagery. As I have been meditating on the trinity, I have been thinking about how God makes himself known through salvation. He becomes “God with us” which encapsulates the wholeness of substance of the three persons, but it can also represent the distinct personhood of the Son. From here we can see God the Father as “God created us” (creation); Jesus the Son as “God with us” (incarnation); and God the Holy Spirit as “God in us” (sanctification). I heard this imagery in “Rescue.” Here are some lines from the song:

You are the source of the life
I can't be left behind
No one else will do
I will take hold of You
… “God created us” (the Father)

I need You Jesus
To come to my rescue
Where else can I go
… “God with us” (the Son)

Capture me with grace
… “God in us” (the Spirit)

Click here for more on the song “Rescue”

Spiritual Poverty

The following is an email I sent to a pastor friend who is preaching on the beatitudes this Sunday. As I was thinking through the blessing towards the poor in spirit, there was a worshipful convergence of a lot of thoughts, Scriptures, books and songs that I have been thinking about recently...

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I am mentioning “blessed are those who are poor in spirit,” which I define as spiritual poverty not spiritual immaturity. I wrote this one liner that I am going to use Sunday, maybe it can spur your thinking on the subject. Here is the thought:

Spiritual poverty is realizing that there is nothing that I have in myself that is of any value in God’s economy.

This is not just the experiential outcome of total depravity, it is something different. It is not that we are corrupt in our soul, will and lives. It is that our inner spiritual life is impoverished. It is empty. It is worthless and useless. We are completely spiritually bankrupt. We are hopeless, helpless, dazed and confused in all spiritual matters. We have no direction home to return to our Creator, no roadmap in our hearts, no inner light, no inner consciousness, no divine spark, no little man on the inside pointing us towards God, truth, peace, satisfaction or life. When we come to realize this, we become poor in spirit. Only then can we inherit the kingdom of God. Only then can we look outside ourselves to see God’s revelation of himself through himself (Barth) which is Jesus, the Word of God, the Way of God.

When we become poor in spirit we confess the truth of Jesus’ words that we can do nothing without him (John 15:5).

“Thunder on the mountain, rolling like a drum
Gonna sleep over there, that's where the music coming from
I don't need any guide, I already know the way
Remember this, I'm your servant both night and day”
--- Bob Dylan

Heaven is the source of the music, the place where we will sleep and Jesus is the WAY.

Let's continue to proclaim this truth. We are poor. Jesus is rich. We have no direction home. Jesus is the way.

What is the Worship Service X Factor?

Earl Creps wrote a great article for Monday Morning Insight about the X factor in worship services. He writes, I get a strange sensation with unnerving regularity when visiting Sunday morning worship services around the country. Sometimes it hits me right away, and other times I realize it’s happening only afterwards, when the pastor takes me for lunch and over chips and salsa asks, “so what did you think, what could we improve?” What I’m feeling could be described most clearly if I were to answer the pastor’s “what can we improve” question with one simple word: everything. What is this X factor that seems to be missing in churches that are struggling?

Here is the response that I posted:

It is true that there is an X factor in church worship services. This is where worship services become more of an art than a science. The X factor that we strive for is much more artistic than it is scientific. Meaning, I do not think that we can boil it down to an exact formula.

There is the "spiritual factor" which refers to the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit.

There is the "relational factor" which refers to the love and friendship (partnership?) between the people present.

There is a "missional/contextual factor" which refers to the relatability of music, language and the aesthetic of the service. Are there cultural barriers in a worship service that drain the X factor?

There is a “leadership factor” which refers to the worship leader and pastor ability to lead people in worship. There is a difference between leading “songs” / preaching sermons and leading people into a time of deep encounter with Jesus.

There is a “flow factor” which refers to the worship planning process that places worship elements together in way that causes worship to flow uninterrupted. This also includes thinking through transitions and creative elements of the worship service.

There is the “suck-a-bility factor” which refers to the musicians and preachers. Are they mildly talented and having a bad day or are they just crummy musicians? Does the pastor have a spiritual gift of teaching or exhortation or are they just really nice guys who have no public speaking ability?

There is the "superstar factor" which refers to the charisma of the pastor and worship leader. I have found that this increases with the brightness of their teeth! So if we can all get bleech white teeth like Chris Tomlin then our superstar factor rises! Insert laughter here :-)

There is the “enthusiasm factor” which refers to the energy level of the people in the worship service. Charles Finney talked about preaching to “sinners” at certain times when it feels like “pulling a freight train uphill.” Haven’t will all experienced services where the congregation is just not engaging, because they are tired or distracted?

(I added two factors after posting to the original artical on MMI)

There are some factors that make worship services better than others, but I can’t say they are the X factor. Maybe the X factor is a combination of these things???

What do you think? What is the X factor in the worship services that you attend?

So I asked my son, "Who is Jesus?"

Our youngest son Taylor is mildly autistic. He is in kindergarten and spends about half of us day in special ed. He is on target with this intellectually development, but is still delayed in his communication and socialization. Because his communication is delayed, we sometimes do not know what he understands when we are talking to him. We are coming to find that he understands more than we think.

We got home last night during the fourth quarter of the Superbowl. (Congrats to the Colts BTW) I was putting Taylor to bed and he said that he was “so scared” because it was dark. I told him not to worry, because Jesus would protect him. I then wanted to see if he understood, so I said, “Bubs, who is Jesus?” (Bubs, bubba, bub…are his nick names) To my surprise, he said, “God.” I asked again. He said, “God.” I walked out and told Jenni to go in there and ask him, and again, I heard him say, “God.”

Sure he still likes to pick his nose and eat what he finds, but this is a huge step forward. To be able to connect Jesus with God is a huge step, a giant step forward in his theological development. I don’t know if he can explain who God is yet, but I am praying that he comes to know Him.