Yes, we acknowledge there’s cause for joy and celebration on this day for moms and motherhood. Yes, indeed celebrate!

But we also acknowledge that some women have been made to feel unloved, or less important, or forgotten, or less of a woman on this day because they are not married or do not have children (whether by choice or chance) on this day.

And we also acknowledge there’s cause for lament, mourning, and grieving on this day. The suffering and pain of miscarriage, infant loss (and yes, even abortion though most churches seem to want to steer as far clear of this as they can), infertility, failed adoption, and losing an older or adult child through estrangement or death, and other sufferings that fail to come to my mind at this time (feel free to acknowledge these in the comments below) can be especially acute on this day. Remember to mourn as well.

So, today I celebrate my wife Christie (C.C.), the mother of my children, for her love and unwavering, tenacious devotion. Today we celebrate our daughter, Damaris, for the gift that she is, and for the Jesus shaped young woman she is becoming. Today we celebrate our mothers, ‘Nana’ Jimmie (my mom) and ‘Bma’ Becky (Christie’s mom), for their love and care in raising us and being devoted grandmothers.

Yes, indeed we celebrate!

But we also grieve our babies who are not with us due to miscarriage – our little Jordan Taylor, Micah Jayden, and Noah Avery – who we never got a chance to know, but deeply love all the same. We hold on to (and celebrate) the hope of the resurrection and the new heavens and new earth when we will be able to hold them in our arms, and not only our hearts. We grieve our failed adoptions, which feel like another kind of miscarriage, particularly Kerioth Cherie who we knew for far too short a time.

There is not a day, on this side of the ‘already but not yet’ Kingdom of God, in which we cannot feel their absence. So, yes, we mourn deeply as well.

And for those churches, that have realized that Mother’s Day is not always ‘happy’ and seek in some way to acknowledge the difference of experience and pain involved for some – we sincerely thank you. But also remember that, unless the church in its everyday life and liturgy has endeavored to lament, mourn, and grieve with those lamenting, mourning, and grieving the other 364 days of the year, such acknowledgements will likely seem hollow and fall on deaf ears. Just like celebrating must extend beyond a ‘special day’, so must the practice of grieving in community with others if it is to be genuine.

Celebrating with those celebrating, and mourning with those mourning are not mutually exclusive. They mix together and are coterminous with each other. We need to learn to do both well at the same time.

To all those celebrating and grieving on this day, have a blessed Mother’s Day.

A litany for Mother’s Day…

In peace let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy

For all the women of God’s church across the face of the earth, who have loved and nurtured others into the faith.
Lord have mercy

For those who are single mothers and struggle to provide for their family.
Lord have mercy

For the poor and widowed whose child has been taken from them because they couldn’t care for them.
Lord have mercy

For those held captive by abuse who fear for their children and their life.
Lord have mercy

For those who are estranged from their chlidren.
Lord have mercy

For those have suffered the loss of a child either through miscarriage, abortion or the premature death of a child.
Lord have mercy

For those who have lost their own mothers and feel the dull ache of their loss.
Lord have mercy

For those who have never, and may never, have the opportunity to have a child.
Lord have mercy

For strength in joy and hope for all women and confidence in God’s care for them.
Lord have mercy

For . . .(names of women you feel led to pray for)
Lord have mercy

For all those who call on you from their hearts.
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy

Χριστός Ανέστη! – Ἀληθῶς Ανέστη!; Christós Anésti! – Alithós Anésti!; Christ is risen! - He Has Risen Indeed!

οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε, ἠγέρθη γὰρ καθὼς εἶπεν· δεῦτε ἴδετε τὸν τόπον ὅπου ἔκειτο. καὶ ταχὺ πορευθεῖσαι εἴπατε τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἠγέρθη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ ἰδοὺ προάγει ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν, ἐκεῖ αὐτὸν ὄψεσθε· ἰδοὺ εἶπον ὑμῖν. (Matthew 28:6-7)

ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐταῖς· μὴ ἐκθαμβεῖσθε· Ἰησοῦν ζητεῖτε τὸν Ναζαρηνὸν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον· ἠγέρθη, οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε· ἴδε ὁ τόπος ὅπου ἔθηκαν αὐτόν. (Mark 16:6)

οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε, ἀλλ’ ἠγέρθη. μνήσθητε ὡς ἐλάλησεν ὑμῖν ἔτι ὢν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ (Luke 24:6)

N.T. Wright on the meaning of Easter

Three collects or prayers from The Book of Common Prayer for Resurrection Sunday:

O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

or

O God, who made this most holy night to shine with the glory of the Lord’s resurrection: Stir up in your Church that Spirit of adoption which is given to us in Baptism, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

or

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

“So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 CEB)

Greek text from Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece 28th Edition

To begin here is a brief bio for Saint Patrick of Ireland from the Common Prayer reading for March 17:

Patrick of Ireland (389 – 461)

At the age of sixteen, Patrick was kidnapped from his home by Irish marauders and taken to Ireland, where he was sold as a slave to a chieftain and forced to herd livestock. After six years of slavery, Patrick escaped to his native Britain. Because he believed that his captivity and deliverance were ordained by God, Patrick devoted his life to ministry. While studying for the priesthood, he experienced recurring dreams in which he heard voices say, “O holy youth, come back to Erin and walk once more amongst us.” He convinced his superiors to let him return to Ireland in 432, not to seek revenge for injustice but to seek reconciliation and to spread his faith. Over the next thirty years, Patrick established churches and monastic communities across Ireland. When he was not engaged in the work of spreading the Christian faith, Patrick spent his time praying in his favorite places of solitude and retreat.

One of my favorite prayers is called The Lorica (or Breastplate) of Saint Patrick. You can find several shorter forms of the prayer around the web, but below is an expanded version:

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

(Note: Instead of ‘I arise’, some versions say ‘I bind unto myself today, the strong name of the Trinity’ and so forth.)

Here’s a version of Saint Patrick’s prayer set to music (I’ll confess I don’t know who the singer is, but the video is probably worth it if only for the scenic ruins and Celtic crosses):

“The Deer’s Cry”, or St. Patrick’s Breatplate, sung by Angelina

And this is just a humorous video (originally from Veggie Tales) that may or may not take some ‘creative’ license:

St. Patrick, Veggie Tales

Finally, I leave you with the collect from the Book of Common Prayer for Saint Patrick’s Day:

“Almighty God, who in your providence chose your servant Patrick to be the apostle of the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so to walk in that light, that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.”

We’ll be sharing more details as we know them. Prayers are of course appreciated.

These caught my attention because in my current season in life I talk to numerous people daily about the pros and cons of different Bible translations as they search for a Bible to purchase. It can honestly be tricky bumping up against or tripping over the ideologies some (perhaps most?) Christians bring with them when buying a Bible (my pastoral and chaplaincy training and experience have come in handy here on multiple occasions). I’ve been told more than once I don’t know what I’m talking about when I recommend a Common English Bible (CEB) or a NIV2011 for example (and this despite my theological training, complete with high marks in Greek and Hebrew even! ).

The NIV2011 in particular draws a great deal of mistrust and criticism. The two major objections to the NIV2011 that I hear most often are 1) that the NIV2011 is not a ‘word for word’ or ‘literal’ translation and a word for word/literal translation is not only preferred but the best, most trustworthy, and most accurate and 2) the use of gender-inclusive pronouns in the NIV2011 means its ‘corrupted’ and ‘inaccurate’. The basic claim I hear most often (levied by self-proclaimed ‘complementarians’) is that the NIV2011 is somehow ‘compromised’ or a collusion with radical feminism due to its gender-inclusive translation of generic masculines (ie, ‘brothers and sisters’ vs ‘brothers’).  Generally set in opposition to the NIV2011 (as the ‘bad’ or even pejoratively called ‘liberal’ translation) is not only the older standard fare KJV/NKJV as ‘good’ translations but also the newer English Standard Version (ESV) since its doesn’t follow the gender-inclusive philosophy of the NIV2011 and puts forth a claim to be an ‘essentially literal’ translation.

It’s highly interesting then that Wallace* lists the first two myths as 1) that a word for word translation is the best kind and 2) that a literal translation is the best kind. Here we ought to notice that (whether intentional or not) the ESV’s claim of being ‘essentially literal’ plays precisely to these myths and gives the impression that the ESV is somehow ‘more accurate’ and better than translations such as the NIV2011. I’ve seen this dynamic at work in person and even heard others state it as fact. But we should reiterate: this impression is based on perpetuated myths about Bible translation.

In fact, Wallace says,

“Anyone who is conversant in more than one language recognizes that a word-for-word translation is simply not possible if one is going to communicate in an understandable way in the receptor language. Yet, ironically, even some biblical scholars who should know better continue to tout word-for-word translations as though they were the best.”

It’s here that I think we do best to also admit that the ESV is not actually as word for word or literal as the ‘essentially literal’ claim leads one to believe. In fact, where the ESV is concerned, once ‘literal’ is qualified with the word ‘essentially’ it means it’s essentially NOT literal as well. So for those ESV advocates who press on this because the ESV markets itself as ‘essentially literal’, please hear this: as far as any of the most popular translations go, none of them are strictly of the word for word or literal sort. They all sacrifice ‘word for word-ness’ and ‘literal-ness’ for the sake of comprehension in English.

Beyond this it is additionally interesting that the 13^th myth that Wallace lists is that gender inclusive translations are driven by some sort of a social agenda. To this, Wallace states well,

“The NIV 2011, for example, strives to be an accurate translation that is understandable by today’s English speaker. And the translators note that the English language is changing. In reality, the older gender-exclusive translations may miscommunicate the meaning of the Bible in today’s world if readers understand the words ‘men,’ ‘brothers,’ and the like in numerous passages to be restricted to the male gender. Translations must keep up with the evolution of the receptor language.”

Worthy of notice here is that Wallace admits gender-exclusive translations (like the ESV) actually run the risk of being less accurate than gender-inclusive translations in this regard. Incidentally, this is one reason why I sometimes refer to the NIV2011 translation as ‘gender accurate’ – a claim that Wallace here seems to support. The NIV2011 may have its issues (there is no translation that doesn’t have ‘issues’ – including the ESV – as the Italian proverb says, “traduttore, traditore”, the translator is a traitor) but they are not related to gender-inclusive (or accurate) language. This is one of the things the NIV2011 does right in my opinion.

Now, my aim here is not to malign either the ESV as a translation nor those who prefer the ESV. I know there are quite a lot of folks that use and love the ESV and that’s fine with me. For me, personally, the CEB is fast becoming my go to, preferred translation. However, I also use the NIV2011 (and even the unfairly maligned TNIV which came before the NIV2011), the Voice Bible (especially for my lectionary readings), the ESV on occasion, as well as doing my own translations. If one favors the ESV that is fine, but the impulse of some (not all) ESV supporters to actively demonize the NIV2011 is deeply disturbing to me.

What’s not fine I think is disparaging the NIV2011 as not accurate, as somehow corrupted, or as compromised and then portraying the ESV as somehow more accurate, not corrupted, and not compromised in contrast to the NIV2011 based on these perpetuated myths concerning Bible translation that Wallace lists. Doing so only serves to perpetuate the polarities found in North American Christianity. Not only is this poor pastoral practice and potentially harmful to people’s faith, but when the NIV2011 specifically is termed inaccurate because its not ‘word for word’ or ‘literal’, or pejoratively labeled as corrupted or compromised in regards to the gender-inclusive translations, this unfairly denigrates and casts aspersions on the work of the many fine scholars of the broadly evangelical NIV translation committee (including Douglas Moo who was the chair of the NIV2011 translation committee and general editor of the NIV2011 and happens to be a conservative complementarian who has no sort of ‘social agenda’ in regards to the gender inclusive pronouns).

The bottom line I think is this: there is no reason to demonize one or another translation based on these myths to somehow bolster or make the case for one’s preferred translation – ESV or otherwise.

*Wallace, it seems, is uniquely qualified to speak to these myths and the issues involved. Not only is he one of the foremost Greek, Bible translation, and textual scholars alive today, he also served as a translation consultant for both the ESV and the NIV2011.

Image Credit

We lament the death of a beloved (a spouse, child, family, friend, etc):

Lamb of God
You take away the sins of the world
Have mercy on us.
Grant us peace.

For the unbearable toil of our sinful world,
We plead for remission.
For the terror of absence from our beloved,
We plead for your comfort.
For the scandalous presence of death in your Creation,
We plead for the resurrection.

Lamb of God
You take away the sins of the world
Have mercy on us.
Grant us peace.

We lament in the aftermath of evil and tragedy:

O Holy One, I can no longer see.
Blinded by tears
that will not cease,
I can only cry out to you
and listen
for your footsteps.

Are you, too, O God,
blinded by tears?
Have you watched this world
pile its hate
onto the faces
of your little ones
until your eyes are so filled with tears
that you cannot see me
waiting for you?
Are you, O God,
deafened by the expletives
of destruction and death?
Have you heard
so many obscenities
that you cannot hear
my moaning?
O God, if you are blind,
can’t you hold out
your hand to me?
If you’re deaf,
can’t you call my name?

How long, O God,
am I to sit
on the plain of blindness?

How long am I to listen
to the profanity
of my enemies
who mock:
“Where is your God now?”

Show them, O my God,
that you remember.
Reach out your hand
and dry my eyes
that I might see
a new beginning.
Open your mouth
and call me by name
that I might know
you remember me.
Claim me that I might
announce in the marketplace
that my God is here.

O my heart,
give thanks!
My God is here even
in the midst of destruction.

We lament in song:

We’ve seen mothers bury sons | And were begging You to come

The broken fill our towns | And the hopeless shout aloud

We cannot wait | We cannot wait | Oh, we cannot wait

When the poor are thrown aside | The sick are left to die

We need Your grace, oh God | Your grace, oh God | We need Your grace

We cannot wait, oh God

Your grace, oh God | We need Your grace

You are here | Your Kingdom come

Rescue us from all we’ve done | Help us move and be the love

Save us now from all we’ve done | We’ve seen mothers bury sons

And we are begging You to come | We are begging You to come

God, come

We pray the Prayer/Cry of the Kingdom (Matthew 6: 9-13 CEB):

Our Father who is in heaven,

uphold the holiness of your name.

Bring in your kingdom

so that your will is done on earth as it’s done in heaven.

Give us the bread we need for today.

Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you,

just as we also forgive those who have wronged us.

And don’t lead us into temptation,

but rescue us from the evil one.

O Holy and Compassionate Father, we cry out to you in the name of your Son, our liberating King Jesus, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Hear our prayers … heed our laments … heal our hearts! Amen.

‎”What is the church? It is the unifying, sanctifying, reconciling, and proclaiming activity of Jesus Christ in the world. Mission cannot be something separate from or added to the essence of the Church. The essential nature of the local congregation is, in and of itself, mission, or else the congregation is not really the Church.” Charles Van Engen

“…the church is a sign, a servant and a foretaste of the kingdom of God…” Leslie Newbigin

Missional is everywhere it seems but has become something of a Rorschach inkblot in which folks can see whatever they want – or (along with the language of ‘narrative’ and ‘story’ that is now also being co-opted) simply a new label that can be used to repackage whatever a church has always done or the same standard consumer Evangelical pragamtism with a new wrapper.

When this happens I always want to reply back (along with Inigo Montoya),

“Missional … you keep using that word, I do not think that word means what you think it means.”

The missional shift is ultimately not merely another program of the church or a pragmatic response to decreased attendance or cultural marginalization, but a renewed and robust theological vision rooted in the triune sending of the church by Father, Son, and Spirit in and for the world as a sign, servant, and foretaste of the Kingdom…

“Mission was understood as being derived from the very nature of God. It was thus put in the context of the doctrine of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology, or soteriology. The classical doctrine on the missio Dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and Son sending the Spirit was expanded to include yet another ‘movement’: Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church in the world.” David Bosch

“The missional church vision is not a programmatic response to the crisis of relevance, purpose and identity that the church in the Western World is facing, but a recapturing of biblical views of the Church all too frequently abandoned, ignored, or obscured through long periods of church history. It is a renewed theological vision of the church in mission, which redefines the nature, the mission and the organization of the local church around Jesus’ proclamation of the good news of the Kingdom. Missional churches seek to respond to God’s invitation to join Him in His mission in and for the world, as a sign, a servant and a foretaste of His Kingdom.” Charles Ringma

A statement like this always seems to disturb quite a few folks. One of my friends this past week replied, “But Jesus was resurrected … he ascended … he was re-instated as the second person of the Trinity, right?”

“Yes,” I said. “Resurrected as the Human One, ascended as the Human One, and included in the eternal divine fellowship of Father, Son, and Spirit … as the Human One. Is not the incarnation, and thus the humanity as well as divinity of Jesus; an ongoing, permanent reality? And necessary for historic orthodoxy no less?”

He only answered with a weak, “Well … I suppose it is.”

Now, let’s put the ‘re-instated as the second person of the Trinity’ comment aside (I’m not sure he realized just how problematic his statement here really was). And please keep in mind I’m not simply picking on my friend with this; but my grave concern here is something of a theological undercurrent I have seen from a great deal of conservative Evangelicals, neo-Reformed and otherwise.

That is – there is a (rather well documented) tendency to not only over-emphasize the divinity of Jesus in relation to his humanity but to actually wince when it comes his (continued and ongoing) humanity. The incarnation it seems to them is a scandal … a theological box to be checked off to fulfill all ‘righteousness’ so to speak … but in the end a scandal to be muted.

For those neo-Reformed, or others, who like to appeal to Augustine as their authority (or appeal to those who appeal to Augustine even though you’ve never really read Augustine yourself) consider these two quotes:

The first, on the incarnation…

God has “established and founded this faith, that man might find a way to man’s God through God made man. For this is ‘the Mediator between God and man: the man Christ Jesus’. For it is as man that He is the Mediator and the Way. If there is a way between one who strives and that towards which he strives, there is hope of his reaching his goal; but if there is no way, or if he is ignorant of it, how does it help him to know what the goal is? The only way that is wholly defended against all error is when one and the same person is at once God and man: God our goal, man our way.” (City of God, 11.2)

And the second, where we see that Augustine is not against the flesh…

The incarnation “showed that it is sin which is evil, and not the substance or nature of flesh … He showed also that death itself, though it is the penalty of sin – a penalty which He paid for us without sin – is not something that we are to avoid by sinful means. Rather, if need be, we should suffer death in the name of righteousness. For He was able to redeem us from sin by His own death, because He died, but He died for no sin of His own.” (City of God 10.24)

There is no muting of the incarnated and embodied humanity of Jesus or humanity in general for Augustine here. Let us then not mute the implications of the incarnation and humanity of Jesus, our liberating King. Our faith is unintelligible apart from incarnation (and Trinity).

Tell me: Why do so many run from embodied humanity – Jesus’ or ours?

“Until we wrestle with Scripture like that we are not really honoring it. If this is the book God meant us to have by the Spirit, then it is important we actually take that seriously instead of just snipping it down to make it digestible; like somebody with a huge banquet in front of them who insists on going to the back room and just making a peanut butter sandwich instead.” N.T. Wright

Below is a really great video from ‘The Work of the People’ with N.T. Wright on how to read the Bible. In it he touches on a problem that I take to be rather rampant in North American Christianity – that of picking and choosing verses here and there to the neglect of the whole story.

The holes in North American hermeneutics are revealed in the pursuit of agendas (whether consciously or unconsciously) of making the Bible merely into a source of raw data and proof texts for personal systematic theologies and apologetics (like the HCSB Apologetics Study Bible), a ‘life application’ instruction book (a la the Life Application Study Bible), or a self-help manual (have you seen the Joel Osteen Hope for Today or Joyce Meyer Everyday Life Bibles?). [Yes, I realize I probably just picked on some people's favorite 'study helps' in this paragraph.]

Americans love control and I personally believe these (again, whether consciously or unconsciously) are ways that Scripture is held a bay and at a safe distance … one verse at a time.

Instead Wright encourages us to get swept up in the ‘whole sweep of Scripture’ and compares reading the Bible to listening to a symphony. One of the points of course is that one doesn’t merely listen to a symphony ‘one note at a time’ – one necessarily listens to and experiences the whole thing. To do otherwise simply doesn’t make sense and is to miss the point of the symphony itself. And it also occurs to me that the thought of a ‘note of the day’ devotional is rather odd; its inconceivable that one would think they can get swept up in the symphony in this way. Yet ‘verse of the day’ devotionals seem to be the steady diet of a great many North American Christians.  Are we settling for peanut butter sandwiches when there is a banquet available?

I say let’s put away the daily verse approach and really ‘press our noses against the window’ of Scripture.

The Whole Sweep Of Scripture from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

2012 in review: Its been marked with acute suffering and struggle – financially, physically and health wise (I just wish Christie didn’t have to hurt and suffer so, and that we had the means to get her the medical care she needs), and spiritually (every hear of the dark night of the soul). We have seen the faithfulness of God at work in many ways though, even if it seems God has chosen to keep us on a one day at a time, and even a one moment at a time type arrangement. We have experienced the reality of the provision of DAILY bread, of which the Lord’s Prayer speaks. 2012 has honestly been one of the hardest and most difficult for us ever.

Through the struggling, suffering, and lamenting (and yes, times of rejoicing and celebrating too) I have (re)learned these things (in no particular order):

*The dark night of the soul is not to be resisted. It is to be welcomed as a gift from God. Give up control. It is best to embrace the dark night. Let Father, Son, and Spirit do their work.

*Being ‘Radical’ or ‘Crazy’ (highly touted in some North American Evangelical circles I know) is highly overrated. The greatest acts of faithfulness occur in the simple everyday, mundane stuff of life. This is where the kingdom of Jesus our liberating king is most present.

*One of the most important practices Christians need to learn in this age is how to listen well. Listening is a basic hermeneutical act of love and foundational theological practice. True listening will lead to lament (and this may be why many try to avoid true listening).

*Another practice Christians need to learn is how to lament well. This is a practice that I’ve seen most Christians avoid at all costs. I’ve witnessed the reading of lament Psalms that are simultaneously ignored even as they are read aloud. But lament is a vital part of the grammar of the kingdom, of learning how to ‘speak’ distinctively Christian in a broken world. To be a gospel and kingdom shaped people we need lament. To find our way to true kingdom shaped joy we need lament. I am truly convinced of this.

*The practice of theology demands that we learn how to ask wise questions, not simply seek proof texts for pre-formed answers.

*I am more in love with my wife now than ever before. She inspires me with her faithfulness more than anyone else. She’s beautiful inside and out!

*My daughter Damaris amazes me every day.

*My wife and daughter are a part of God’s provision of every day grace to me – the sacramental enchantment of my world.

*I wish that I had been introduced to a sacramental understanding of the world as a child (but the Baptist churches I grew up in were unprepared/unwilling to do anything like that). One’s view of, well everything and even the smallest of things, changes when the world is charged and enchanted with the grace of God. (And yes, one can still be basically free church/Baptist and sacramental too.)

*All is gift. Everything I have and have been entrusted with is gift and a part of the sacramental enchantment of the world, no matter how mundane it may seem. I am grateful and thankful.

*Sometimes I feel so very obscure, like no one is listening. Sometimes I contemplate changing the name of my blog from ‘DesperateTheologian’ to ‘ObscureTheologian’.

*I have never been more aware of or clear on my God given vocation as an ecclesial theologian, or a theologian for the church, tasked with doing my part to enable faithfulness to the gospel of our liberating king in a post-christendom context. To do (and teach) theology that is at once academically rigorous, creative, imaginative and ecclesially/missionally/spiritually faithful in everyday life.

*I have never been more sure of the need for a robust trinitarian spirituality worked out in narrative and missional praxis (see the header to this blog) as the means to gospel faithfulness – and my desire to be involved in providing spiritual direction and formation towards these ends.

*I don’t know how this will tangibly play out for me personally – though I have some hopes and dreams I am pursuing. I know that I can’t force anything. God does not simply work despite my weakness and failure. (Yes, I said failure. Despite what many tell me I think its ok to admit that we have failed at things, important things even.) God works in and through my weakness and failure. My weakness and failure become sacraments and means of grace in God’s economy.

*All we have to rely on right now is the faithfulness of our triune God and our liberating King Jesus. Faithfulness one step at a time. And this strikes me as entirely and especially appropriate for a ‘theologian.’ I think we should all be theologians in this sense. Perhaps this is the way it’s supposed to have been all along (and perhaps its this kind of faithfulness and resiliency the church will need for mission in post-christendom – I’m not entirely certain I would be saying this if it wasn’t for my own experience of struggle – it seems we only learn cruciformity through suffering)…

*There’s a lot more but I’ll stop there.

I am also reminded that during this season of Advent and Christmas how we as Christians are to mark our time by the narrative of our liberating King Jesus. If we do mark our time this way we are reminded of how out of step we as a people of the King are (or ought to be at least) with the rest of the world since according to the liturgical calendar the Christian new year was the first Sunday of Advent. Now, its ok if you need tonight as an excuse to set off fireworks or to a get kiss from your spouse , but the question before us is this: Will we be a people defined by the calendar Caesar sets for us or will we be a people who mark our time by the narrative of Jesus our liberating King?

My prayer as I move through the seasons of this liturgical year: Father, may the seeds of faithfulness sown in the year(s) past produce gospel resiliency and fruit in the hours, days, weeks, months, and years to come. In the name of your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Thanks for listening. Blessings to you in 2013.