Monthly Archives: August 2006

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Words, Words, Words


Oh, how I love Hamlet. (I just used a Shakespearian allusion. I’m so proud of myself.)

I just finished The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. Wow. Ever since I discovered Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell of Mars Hill fame, and the whole emerging church along with it, I’ve been caught up into this theological renewal that’s going on in areas from ecclesiology to missiology to ecumenism to biblical studies to… It’s been a beautiful thing that perfectly epitomizes the type of “theological journeying” that my blog is (mostly) centred around.

And in wonderful postmodern fashion, for McLaren, Bell and other EC crew, “Das Gespräch ist der Geburtsort aller Theologie.” I myself learned painfully and reasonably quickly that my personal interpretations of Scripture are not necessarily the most correct interpretations. For postmoderns, truth-acquisition occurs through intersubjectivity, which means truth appears neither in an objective, abstract vacuum nor in the inner recesses of the individual. We are all twisted by our own Weltanschauung, and therefore, the best interpretations are derived communally.

(Yeah, that last paragraph was a tangent. Sorry guys.)

What I really loved about this book was the way in which it delved into and incorporated so much of Jesus’ teaching into the conversation. I’ve recently become uncomfortable with understanding “the kingdom of God” as synonymous with “heaven after you die”, sensing somehow that it had some deeper, broader meaning, and it’s precisely this concept that McLaren deals with in his work. He holds that “the kingdom of God” is the reign of God coming to earth in all its beauty and majesty–and its power to heal the nations–embodied in the person of Jesus, and the Church, the “body of Christ”. “Eternal life” is not simply “heaven after you die”, but is a way of life that we begin here and now–the way of living that God originally intended for us–”life to the full”–that will continue into eternity. (This line of thought is explored in Velvet Elvis as well.)

There are certain passages where it does make sense to conceive of the “kingdom of God” and “eternal life” in traditional terms, but there are plenty of instances in which understanding these phrases simply as “heaven after you die” does not add up. Here are a few: Luke 18:18-27, John 5:39-40, and John 17:3.

P.S. I think I’m going to embark on a reading of the four Gospels in light of this understanding of these two key phrases. Maybe I’ll blog my way through it :) .

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Faith, Hope, Love (Pt. II)


I’ve been thoroughly enjoying learning from The Drama of Scripture by Drs. Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen. I’m about to finish, but I thought I’d pause for a second to comment and share on something I’ve run across. Bartholomew and Goheen conceptualize the Bible, along with an increasing number of Biblical scholars, as one large, continuing story, “one whole and vast structure” (24). This is the framework and overall thrust of their text.

It is in the midst of this “grand narrative” (18) that we find ourselves–and particularly, we find ourselves at the end of the fifth act. We live in the hope and anticipation of the sixth act: the return of Christ to consummate His kingdom. Bartholomew and Goheen write, “The believer lives in hope, and this hope is a spur to growing obedience and comfort while living in the present evil age” (195). Although we do not presently enjoy the riches of that coming age, our firm hope in the immanence of that age itself encourages us to live lives obedient to Christ.

Using the triadic category that I have been thinking on for a while, Bartholomew and Goheen describe our faith, love and hope this way:

“Faith is the means by which we appropriate the salvation accomplished in Jesus Christ. Love is the outward expression of that faith, which marks the life of the believing community. And hope is the confident expectation that God’s future kingdom will come. Hope is a settled conviction about the future, a conviction giving meaning and shape to life in the present.” (206)

It is this meaning-giving and shaping nature of hope that Paul speaks of when he writes about “the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven” (Colossians 1:5). It is also evident in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, where Paul uses the faith-love-hope triad once again: “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

P.S. Yes, I guess I’m cheating by picking up this text early, but I’m cheating in a most positive and constructive way :) .

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Road to Redeemer


Well, there are only twelve days until opening convocation at Redeemer UC, and I am oh so excited. Since I sent out my application in December of last year, I’ve experienced a building excitement, and from what I hear, I won’t be disappointed. I also get this sense from what little I’ve seen of Redeemer myself.When I first started looking into post-secondary a couple years ago, I discovered Redeemer but immediately dismissed it, just because of the cost of tuition, which seems bizarre to me now–I’ll come back to that point later. I checked out my denomination’s local Bible College, but I was less than impressed with the level of intellectual engagement. So I kept searching. I ended up seriously considering a Christian university in Toronto, but the brutal daily commute made me think twice. As well, the tuition level was just below Redeemer’s.

I looked into it and discovered the academics of Redeemer were definitely at the level I had been looking for, but I wanted to make sure that spiritual growth was taken just as seriously. Walking to the campus (yes, I walked–it was a much longer walk than I had thought and I ended up running the last fifteen minutes so I wouldn’t be late) I was pretty torn about whether or not to attend there, but as soon as I entered the room where all the potential students were gathering, our day was opened with prayer. It was beautiful, passionate and theologically rich–I was sold instantly. We then spent time in worship.

As I’ve been privileged to make a few more visits over the months, I get this growing sense that Redeemer is a Christian community first and a Christian university second. It is a truly beautiful thing that I look forward to becoming a part of.

Oh, and about the high cost of tuition–God has amazingly given me some $8000 in scholarships.

Twelve sleeps :) .

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Faith, Hope, Love

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). This is a well-known, oft-quoted verse–especially at marriages and such, but I’ve been thinking lately of what we might gain by using these three virtues as categories for Christian growth. What benefit is there if we define the direction of our Christian life as being ‘strengthened in faith, growing in love and sustained by hope’?

The reason I bring this up, and the reason I’ve been turning this thought-bit over and over in my head, is that I’ve heard so many messages on the necessity of being strengthened in our faith and growing in our love, but I have heard so little about the hope that we have in Christ (and I realize that this may be just my experience, so bear with me). I’m not saying that speaking on faith and love is fruitless–certainly we need to be constantly reminded about the powerful, benevolent, active God that we serve, and how He desires for us to be ever growing in our love for each other and the world–but perhaps more preaching on our hope in God would serve to even further balance our understanding of our faith.

I find myself longing for the kind of community that is described in Acts 2:42-47, the resurrection of this decaying body outlined in 1 Corinthians 15:42-58, and the beauty of the new creation detailed in Revelation 21:1-7. And notice, by the way, how Paul finishes his discourse on the resurrection of the body: “Therefore,”–that is, in light of this great hope–”my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). Hope, I find, is the greatest resource for strengthening in faith and growing in love.

I’ll leave you with this beautiful verse I came across in my devotions this morning:

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18-19).

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The Emerging Urban Church

Working in the poor east end of Hamilton during this summer has been quite the eye-opener. There is an incredible amount of need there, and it’s been really rewarding to help out with a few kids in the area, just running sports, art and reading programs. Perhaps the thing I’ve had the most difficulty with is sharing my faith with the children. Although they seem to deeply appreciate what I’m doing for them, they don’t know my source of motivation. The church should be filling this need in the inner city, focusing on spiritual as well as economic and social renewal. The emerging church must have something to say to those who are neither affluent nor educated. It must say it with their hands, in practical and direct ways.

I recently read an article titled “A New Kind of Urban Christian“, written by Tim Keller, Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Keller has managed to navigate the new post-conservative, post-liberal landscape by promoting a thoroughly conservative Reformed theology, as well as a robust liberal orthopraxy, deliberately pursuing social transformation and cultural renewal in the name of Christ–on the streets, not only in the pulpit.

Redeemer Presbyterian is a refreshing project that gives hope to the emerging church. As the Christian postmodern conversation that is the EC seeks to deliberately include systemic urban problems in their discussion, Redeemer Presbyterian, although not itself part of the emerging church movement, holds much promise as an ‘ecclesial prototype’. Hopefully the lower Manhattan church will become a key guide for churches and Christians that seek to bridge the conservative/liberal divide of modernism.