I’m seeing the impact of the economic crunch is some very personal ways. One of my students works in a financial planning office. Well, he did. His job went along with the profits. I’m on the board of Pregnancy Resource Centers of Portland. They are far 25% their very tight budget at the same time the visits into their clinics are up markedly. They have already done a pay reduction but projections for spring look bleak.

Most difficult right now is seeing one of the churches I consult with that will not be able to make payroll and mortgage payments. The emergency meetings are bringing out many tensions among the leadership team. "Faith in God’s provision" led to commitments that can’t be met now. It’s really hard not to fall into blaming. It wakes me up in the middle of the night praying.

On the other side, the baby in the Emanuel NICU I blogged about last time went through the surgery well. It’s really weird that she’s much better when she’s laying in her wired bed with her chest wide open to allow her heart to do its swelling. Please keep praying.

One of the many emails from a student asked me to comment on a woman in her ministry who sees the LORD roaming the earth, selecting her to be His bride. I tried to figure out why that image bothered me when it’s a biblical metaphor. It certainly makes her feel very loved and special. But when you look in Bible, it’s Israel or the Church, not an individual, who is the bride. It’s not an individual, but the people of God that the Father prepares to be a beautiful bride for His precious Son. Individuals are children of God, not the bride. We are one of many children, all of whom are special. There is only one bride and that relationship excludes all others. Ironically, applying the bride or marriage metaphor to our relationship makes us too special!

As I reflected, I found my mind singing the wonderful Twila Paris song, "How Beautiful" with the second stanza that goes like this:

How Beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sins and bore it instead
How beautiful the tender eyes
That choose to forgive and never despise
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful is the body of Christ

It’s a song that always brings a quiet smile because of the power of His love made real in and through the Body. There’s a genuine hope when that happens.

Sherry heads off on Sunday for her first cruise, a week long excursion with her Mom, sister and sister in law. It will be a very fun family time for them. They picked the time to coincide with my trip to Evangelical Theological Society, this year in Providence, Rhode Island.

And I have to include a couple of grandgirl pictures:

I have never had such an amazing weekend as this last weekend when I preached at Living Hope Community Church in Vancouver, WA. John Bishop, the founding senior pastor, and Duane Warren, are both Western alums and great friends. I’ve taught the staff and pastors in training many times over the years, but this is the first time I’ve preached there. John had just returned from a three week preaching tour in Australia that climaxed at the Hillsong United. Living Hope is quite large, around 5,000, as it comes to its 12th anniversary. They are on several campuses and run six services in their main Brush Prairie campus. So I did two sermons Saturday and three (9, 11, and 1) on Sunday. I preached on the sacrifice of Isaac from Genesis 22, with John closing the service.

The sermon came after we sang "This is our God," a great song John heard in Australia. You can hear it here. The story of the woman who sings in this video has a testimony that is overwhelmingly powerful. You can hear it here and enjoy "Desert Song" as well. When I finished, I had the worship team come back and sing it again with new meaning. John’s invitation was in the middle of the song. The Spirit made the song and the words incredibly powerful.

In the Saturday service, there were dozens of people on their knees at the stage, doing business with Jesus. On Sunday many more also responded to the call to deal with spiritual issues. The atmosphere was electric. In the second Sunday service, John spontaneously led people in a salvation prayer, and then asked for those who had prayed that prayer to raise their hands so he could pray for them. Imagine my astonishment when 52 people responded. He did it again in the final service and another 42 people raised their hands. I could hardly believe it. You can hear the the center of the service here or the whole service on the Internet campus.

There is an evangelistic anointing on the church that’s unique in the Portland metro area. How many churches would have 100 seekers in their services, I wonder. And the working of the Spirit to make the gospel that real is astounding. Many area churches benefit as they get involved in discipling the new believers. Living Hope cannot possibly disciple that many converts.

The last couple of weeks have had more than its share of crisis things. There’s a new born in the NICU at Emanuel with a backward plumbed heart, a hole in her diaphragm among other things. Her parents are from way north in Alaska, not believers, but met a guy from Grace whose daughter had similar problems. I ended up joining him and the father around the baby in the NICU. As my emotions were hit by memory of Elizabeth struggling for life in Children’s Mercy less than a year earlier, we talked as her father stroked his desperately ill tiny girl. Then we joined hands and I prayed for her healing. Her parents went back to their village and will return before the heart repair surgery on Nov. 11. Please pray with me that she will survive until then and that the surgery will work. I want her parents, who have seen the power of the LORD in community, to take a beautiful little daughter home with them.

I prayed today with a friend who had a afflicting presence related to a severe trauma in her life. As I began to pray, the LORD worked, not only overcoming the presence, but doing some deep healing as well. There was a kinship of spirit around His work that left us in silent awe before the joy broke out.

The awesome power of our LORD is astounding. That makes it all the harder when things don’t work as they should. I wait on the LORD, but often in expectant agony or in hopeful sadness. It a place where knowing the support of a friend is so important. It’s a place where the Spirit lives.

Jeremy posted a comment that is both thought provoking and close to a theme of atonement discussion among Evangelicals:

The section about the wrath of God is interesting to me. I guess I’ve always just assumed Christ was crushed under God’s wrath not differentiating between God pouring out His wrath/punishing His son and His son being a suitable sacrifice. I think the key word here is “appeasing”.

How do you respond to the idea that God’s wrath was poured out onto His son and is demonstrated by Christ’s ……I’ll use the word….stress…over going to the cross? Did it come up in your conversation? There’s the “let this cup pass from me” verse and of course the agony demonstrated by sweating drops of blood. I’ve heard it argued that countless martyrs have gone on to brutal deaths, more brutal than Christ’s even, and yet were joyful even to the point of singing hymns. It’s then deduced that Christ wouldn’t be agonizing over losing his life at the hands of man but rather the facing of the wrath of God. Is there anything to this?

There’s no doubt that the Cross was stressful for Jesus, to say the least! God’s response to sin is a holy just wrath. The Scripture is quite clear and it also makes sense that a compassionate, loving God would be angry at the evil done in His creation and to His creatures. The legal versions of the penal substitution view of atonement is that main reason for the wrath is the just response to broken law. It’s not an "emotional" but a "rational" wrath, There is a penalty arising from broken law. There has to be punishment for the broken law and the penalty must be paid to satisfy the just demands of the law. God could pour out His wrath on sinners, but in His love, He poured it out on a substitute, the God-man, Jesus. So the cup Jesus refers to in the Garden is the cup of God’s wrath which He must drink.

This is a tight logic to this. But the thing I look for is not tight logic, but is it biblical? I’m not against logic in any way, but realize that logic is only as good as the premises. In this case the key premise is whether God must pour out wrath of it if can be satisfied in some other way. Must God always punish someone or can His just wrath be satisfied by a sacrifice? If you start with Noah at the end of Genesis 8 you find a bunch of instances where a sacrifice is made and "The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma." In Ephesians 5:2 this theme comes clear when it says, "Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." This same sacrifice theme is all over the NT: For example, Hebrews 10:12 says, when Jesus "offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God." John says He is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," The reality of a blood offering given to satisfy the righteous wrath and just penalty of sin is very clear in Bible.

But what I don’t find anywhere is that the Father pours out His wrath on a sacrifice. He does pour it out on evildoers who refuse forgiveness in Jesus. John 3:36 intrigues me be because it’s from the "gospel of love" as some put it. But no where in Bible does it say that God punishes the OT sacrifice or that He punishes Jesus. What He does is accept the death of the substitute as a propitiation, appeasing His righteousness.

I’m interested in your responses.

The ECD discussion got very careful in our review of the draft. The key was to affirm as much as all the participants would give Credo to. I was amazed at both the breadth and depth of agreement on what was said. We left it in a quasi-confessional form because that has a familiar feel to it. Here’s the final version of statement:

By our common faith in Jesus Christ we acknowledge and hold as essential to the gospel these life-giving truths:

The Cross is central to the saving mystery of God’s plan for the ages to make all things new in Christ. Therefore it cannot be separated or isolated from the birth of Emanuel, His life and ministry, His passion and death, His resurrection to life, His exaltation to the right hand of the Father, His sending of the Holy Spirit, or His return in glory as judge. In Christ God renews fallen humanity and liberates creation from its ancient curse, the bondage to corruption.

The atonement, the passion and death of Christ, is a Trinitarian event. The Cross is a vicarious sacrifice, a satisfaction, wherein the incarnate God is our substitute, in which the justice and mercy of God are revealed, out of which comes our justification and salvation. Christ is the priest, the sacrificial victim – Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us – and, as God, the one to whom sacrifice is made. Christ’s death on the Cross is the propitiatory sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God against sin and the expiatory sacrifice that cleanses guilt and shame. It is also Christ’s perfect spiritual worship of the Father, the source and example of Christian discipleship. The Father sent His Son into the world, so that the Son in obedience to the Father, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself in the shame of the Cross as a ransom for many. In the Cross He disarmed and triumphed over the evil powers. In His death and resurrection, He overcomes death. In His obedience, He conquers disobedience.

I spent last weekend in Missouri visiting Elizabeth who is almost 11 months old now. Oh, yeah, we saw Donn, Susan too! But this quad miracle baby was the center of attention. She took some first steps while we were there as I had the video camera on her. Of course you’ll want to see them.

I also drove down to Spring Branch Church of the Brethren, near what used to be Avery Missouri to do my Uncle Richard Poulicek’s memorial service. I grew up there and as I drove, I knew it would be my last time to go there for a long time if ever. So I was quite nostalgic in the early morning mists. I drove through Peculiar and headed toward Tightwad and Racket. I came round a bend and saw a marvelous sun rising to call me. It was just exquisitely beautiful. I stopped to marvel and take pictures before driving on. When I left Tightwad, I entered into the rolling hills, hardwood forests, and rocky crags of the Ozarks. It’s so familiar, touching deep in my heart.

As I took the shortcut on the lake road toward Whitacerville, going down the steep hill, I saw another bucolic scene that gripped me. In the nook was a large pond, almost a small lake  with mists all round and geese settled quietly on the water. I drove by since the road was too narrow to stop safely on with visibility so limited by the hills. But I had to come back and take three or four pictures from different perspectives. I turned around and took a couple more . It was so incredibly peaceful.

But as I took the last picture, something moved. Then there were two loud pops. Hunters sprung out of the blind and fired at birds flying overhead. Double click on the picture above (the last one I took) so you can see it large, and you’ll see the shotgun coming up. It was a graphic reminder that things can be so very different than they seem. The bucolic peace was actually frought with danger. And it was too late to do anything about it.

The memorial service was a small group gathered round the grave. We talked for an hour and then I put on my coat and tie to become Rev. Breshears and lead the service. As we began, a group of 5 or 6 white pelicans flew quietly over head. We looked and in the distance was another flight of 50 or 75 of the giant birds. As we proceeded, the flight moved toward us. As I read the final Scripture and prayed, they circled over us several times before continuing their divinely beautiful journey. It was God’s way of placing the beauty of forgiveness on a live that had much sin in it. But Richard did turn to Jesus later in life and did his best to live a repentant life of faithfulness to his wife and LORD. As I drove by the places I lived as a boy, I gloried in the beauty of Jesus and healing, praying it for places where rifts are still real.

We took Elizabeth for her first outing away from Mom. Susan was glad but nervous as Sherry and I drove away with her child, her only child, her beloved child. Donn and I saw a marvelous football game and we celebrated family at Jack’s Stack.

Cyndee and I will go to Phoenix this weekend to connect with her sister. A very long story of miraculous proportion there. And it will be a very good Poppa daughter time as she and I spend the weekend at the Grand Canyon. I’m so sorry. I thought you were off the list. This has been a lot of family time. David, Sam, Nicole and Joy came here Monday and Tuesday for the first celebration of Nicole’s eighth birthday. Very fun to have family.

Things are not always as they seem. Sometimes they are dangerous, sometimes way better.

I preached on the parable of the minas at Grace today. More on that in a moment. It was fun to begin with pictures of grandgirls and our new great grandson, Griffin Braun Haddon. You can see more pictures here. Sherry and I took Nicole and Joy with us to Roseburg last weekend. I preached at Redeemer’s, so we all went down on Friday, spent Saturday at Wildlife Safari enjoying all the animals as well as evenings in the Windmill Inn swimming pool. I remembered doing this a few years ago with friends and with my Mother before that.

As I prepared to preach, I realized that I wanted to give a quick summary of Jesus’ message of the kingdom. It’s not easy to do, I found. So I looked on the web to see what was there. There are nut cases:

The 1,000 year kingdom that starts on 2008Nisan16, March 23rd, 2008. Wherein Satan and the demons are locked up for the duration. God and Jesus and the 144,000 first new covenant saints rule from heaven in one to one correspondence with Melchizedek and Gordon and the 144,000 second new covenant saints who rule from earth. There are heavenly lords/administrators and earthly lords/administrators, and earthly priests and of course earthly citizens. 29% of mankind survives Armageddon through a rapture. All humans in the kingdom have bodies which do not age, like Adam had in the Garden of Eden. This Kingdom is the antitypical garden of Eden, the second Eden.

This is from "The Lord’s Witnesses," a spin off from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, I suppose. I really wonder who "Gordon" is!

Then there’s a more serious proposal from Michael Beckwith, of Agape International Spiritual Center. He’s a key teacher on the widely sold DVD, The Secret, and a frequent guest on Oprah. He represents New Thought teaching, the law of attraction: What you think about, you bring about. When asked if this treats the universe as sort of a personal ATM, he replied, "well, that’s not the entire teaching." You can see the CBS News interview here. His idea of the Kingdom of God goes like this:

The kingdom of God is actually in us, and what comes out of your mouth, what you think about. It is not some far off divine event, but within the mind.

You don’t need God, Jesus or anything outside yourself other than a guru like him who will help you find the kingdom inside yourself. If you think good thoughts, that’s heaven. If you don’t, I guess that’s hell.

I went to Bible, of course. Psalm 96:10, 13. Psalm 72 speaks of Messiah who will come, bringing righteousness, justice, prosperity, defending the afflicted, crushing the oppressor. Isaiah 2:1-4 speaks of a time when people will study war no more. Zechariah 2:10 is a particular favorite promise: "Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD." A heart level thing is the personal presence of the King, the LORD Himself. So my definition is

The dynamic activity of the sovereign, triune God to manifest His authority in His sin-alienated creation, by redeeming it from the domain of evil, judging all enemies, and bringing righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, on and through His people to the praise of His glory.

It’s kind of an intermediate divine rescue mission under the presence and power of the Spirit, leading to the kingdom in its fullness when Jesus comes personally to reign.

This has been a week of triumph as well as rough stuff. I’ve worked in a couple of situations I can only call miracle change and growth. But I’ve also watched two relationships fail with huge pain. A large lawsuit was filed against a church as a result of a situation I’ve worked closely with over the last few months. When I heard of the suit, it kinda put me over the edge. I asked the prayer group I meet with at Western how they process overwhelm. I said the best is talk deeply with a friend, one who knows my soul so well that I don’t have to edit, where the emotions can dump without concern for misunderstanding. That can’t happen just now. So I touch the words and remember as I listen prayerfully to Fernando Ortega. And I pray for the LORD of reconciliation to do His powerful work and beg, "Thy Kingdom come."

He comes in the stillness

I dialogued with a fellow a couple of weeks ago about Vintage Jesus. He had very mixed response. After our dialogue he was much more positive, but still pretty dismayed with the "hipness" and such. I affirmed the legitimacy of his his opinion while noting that it was aimed at people for whom this was their native language.

This morning, I get this email from him (I’ve edited it slightly to remove some identifying details):

I had to share a quick story with you about VINTAGE JESUS.  As you may recall, my major criticism of the book was its "hippness."  My fiance is getting her MDiv from a liberal school.  She is a smart girl and radiates the love of Christ to folks.  She’ll make a great pastor, but she’s not theologically inclined at all.  She’ll text me in the middle of class saying stuff like "My prof says Adam and Eve didn’t exist and Genesis is just a Sumerian story that was retold with different characters" or "The prof is saying that Jesus didn’t even exist as a person" or "Did you know that Paul was gay and that was his thorn in the flesh."   She’ll then ask me what’s true.  I really try and communicate good and sound biblical theology to her, but often times she doesn’t get it.  I even started my blog with her in mind.

Well, I sent her my copy of VINTAGE JESUS.  She read it over the weekend and loved it.  What she loved the most was the hippness of the book.  In her words: "It cracked me up and was entertaining."  She learned lots of theological truths that I had tried to communicate to her in the past.  She’s got a new Bible study starting this fall and just emailed all 12 ladies telling them that the pre-req is to read VINTAGE JESUS.

So, who knows if my criticism is even valid.  You touched her and at least 12 other women with the book’s hipness.  Keep up the great work!

I laughed aloud for joy. This story came from a very different direction than I’d expected. M.Div. students at liberal seminaries aren’t what I was thinking about, but I’m certainly glad for it~

One fun development is that after almost eight years of being a grandfather, I’m about to become a great grandfather. You can see the portrait of Gelayol, our very pregnant Persian granddaughter, and her husband, Brian. She’s due Sept. 20. We eagerly await the word if the next generation will be girl or boy.

The last couple weeks have been unexpectedly packed. We are doing our American Theological Schools accreditation report. I turned my section on the MAET program in on the due date, a Monday in mid-August, with great relief. On Wednesday Randy Roberts, the president, came by my office and asked me a strange question that left me wondering. So I went to his office to inquire further. It turned out I’d missed the small fact that a whole chapter had been assigned to me. There was an email that announced that and I totally missed it. So now, two days late, with no thought or research, I’m supposed to write a whole chapter. Panic!

I gathered data, looked at materials, tried to think in terms of teaching, learning and scholarship at Western (the chapter topics), and began to draft. Then I went to Fort Worth for the Evangelical Theological Society executive committee meeting and spent three days with my sister an brother in law in Dallas, a true vacation. . . . except that I spent three or four hours each morning doing the chapter! But I got it done and the whole report is finished.

This is a part of what has made this a challenging month emotionally. I’m working with two marriages that are going very badly and that troubles me deeply. I feel very helpless to make things go in the right direction. Similar helplessness around missing SF is super hard. There are leadership challenges in consultations with two churches I care a lot about that are taxing my energy. Driving Hood to Coast again was great though tiring. I stood in Dave Wenzel’s mother’s yard in the middle of the night wanting so much to make the impossible long distance phone call. Happily Sherry was a Race volunteer, monitoring a turn of the race in downtown Portland. It was super to hear her giggling with her friend at 3 am! Did I mention that book 4, Doctrine: What the Church Should Believe has to to into high writing gear immediately? Not fun anticipation. I get to teach my first class at Corban on Labor Day, a mixed blessing. And I preach on prayer this weekend at Grace.

I’m really thankful for the comments on the prior post. The Shack and Paul are raising the question of what is the LORD like in powerful ways. As long as it goes back to Bible, rather than what I’m comfortable with, I’m happy. But even when we go to the Bible we tend to see and return to what we are comfortable with, I’m finding. Weird how we do that.

Now to the excellent comments: Terrance wonders if The Shack will be read in fifty years. My guess is that it won’t. But the verdict of history could be in now! But whatever the long term impact, the immediate impact is huge. It is being read by millions now. The assessment needs to be done wisely and biblically.

I also remember Charles Sheldon’s book, What Would Jesus Do? which was written as standard liberal social gospel trash which emerged into real popularity in young evangelicals who put the "missional" writing back into the context of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then it became a national joke. So it’s hard to predict the future of a book. I wonder that about Vintage Jesus (shorter life) and Death by Love (longer life).  Thinking of no one reading the books I work on makes me all the more committed to not writing! But I’m working on Doctrine: What the Church Should Believe now.

Terrance and Cal are right on when we question the balance between otherness and closeness. That’s exactly where the rub comes. Most in my camp (Reformed Evangelical more or less) tend to otherness. They also go toward holy justice and wrath as key attributes and see grace and love in the setting aside of His righteous anger rather than a genuine compassion and desire to come alongside and help. Exodus 34:6-7 is the best balance I know.

Mike and I agree: Really seeing God is a relatively rare thing for Abraham, Moses, Isaiah and such folk. It’s virtually a never thing for ordinary people. Even David never saw the LORD. At least it’s not mentioned in the Scriptural account if He did. It is a commentary on our self centeredness that I want to see God RIGHT NOW!

But there’s a sense of His reality that comes through the Spirit and through the body. It can go a bit nuts, but it can also be quenched by sin or lack of pursuit. I think of intimacy in marriage as a similar concept.

Glenn, when I heard Mark’s criticism of The Shack, I suspected that he’d followed his on advice and not read the book. I can’t for the life of me see how anyone could accuse Paul of teaching goddess theology in The Shack. The issue of authority relation in the eternal Trinity is a big debate in the books, blogs, and in Evangelical Theological Society I’m doing a paper on that topic in November. I’ll argue there’s not enough biblical data to decide if the Son was submitted to the Father in eternity. The early church went that way as they developed the fourth century creeds of course.

Bottom line: Exodus 34:6-7. The most quoted verse in the Bible by the Bible.

And a historical note: Sherry is doing a scrapbooking day with Bonnie Holland tomorrow. She’s going through old pictures to do a brief family history. We’ve been laughing over lots of things. This was 27years ago, my first computer. 64k memory (kilo, not mega or giga!) was huge. TWO floppy disk drives with 92k-bytes each. CPM operating system and Wordstar. It was wonderful. I did most of my dissertation on this machine. But I’m really glad it’s gone now, replaced by my new "little guy" that has far more power of the huge IBM 360 that was in the basement of Milliken Hall in those days.

Also you see my coke bottle glasses. I’m totally thankful for Lasik surgery that means no corrective lenses of any kind for me now.

I went to Living Hope Church in Vancouver (web sit here) to hear Paul Young, the author of a most unlikely New York Times best seller, tell his story . . . or give his testimony if you prefer that language.

The big point is that the shack is a metaphor for all the trash in our lives. We build a facade in front of it hoping that God and others will be impressed and like us, all the while desperately hiding the shack with its sin, ugliness that is our shame. Paul’s power point is that the LORD not up there disappointedly demanding that we clean up our shack, but waiting to meet us in the shack.

You can read much of Paul’s story in this week’s Portland Tribune (here). But hearing it live is far more impacting. I hope you can view the video when it comes on line at the Living Hope site later this week.

I read the book straight through in one sitting, deeply impacted by the story. Then I drilled down deep into key passages to mine the teaching there. I love his exposition of Genesis 3, the model of incarnation, among others. In particular, I resonated with God pursuing Mack to help him face his deep sadness. But God did not leave him as the victim of his father’s failure or the murder of his daughter. He took Mack on to face his own sin and find true forgiveness. It is the lavish grace of God that goes to the root of things in the gentle power called grace.

But there is so much controversy as you can see in Tim Challies review (here) and many others on Amazon. The main criticism is that God is too familiar, too much the best buddy. Where is the Isaiah 6 "holy, holy, holy is the LORD" who brings Isaiah to cry, "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined!"? It’s a very legitimate question. If it were pursued as a question, I wouldn’t be so frustrated with the criticism as I am with the blasts that this book "insidiously deadly. Look, we can allegorize many things, but we don’t mess with the Trinity. This book is a Trojan horse subtly infiltrating the Christian community — one that makes our God extremely small and completely manageable, a God who, in the final analysis, is no God at all" as Michal Burton’s Amazon review characterizes it.

I turn people to Genesis 18 where the LORD comes to Abraham (v. 1) and then three guys accept his invitation to sit down for lunch and conversation. That is a very different picture than Isaiah 6, one that’s a lot closer to The Shack. The thing that grips me in Genesis 18 is the apparently trinitarian picture of God (yes, there’s a LOT more to say here). Note how gentle the LORD is here. In one scene He repeats the promise of a child. The withered old lady, Sarah, who was betrayed by the broken promise of a child, cannot hold her bitter laughter in. The LORD hears her unbelief. He doesn’t ignore it, but pursues her. But instead of rebuking her unbelief, He gently reaffirms the promise. How "Shack-like." Then He and Abraham discuss the LORD’s righteousness. "How can You destroy innocent people?" Abraham dares ask. Instead of rising to His holy throne of omnipotent holiness, the LORD gently interacts with Abraham so he will understand gracious justice. How "Shack-like."

Now I’ll quickly admit that The Shack’s portrayal of the Father as Aunt Jememiah fixing pancakes for the boys isn’t a picture that resonates with me at all. But instead of blasting it as heresy, perhaps it would be good to listen to the explanation of why He comes to Mack in this particular form and see the change of appearance into a strong male figure when Mack needs that form later on.

There’s much more to say, but for the moment let me suggest that you read the book if you haven’t. Then reflect on Genesis 18 as well as Isaiah 6. Perhaps it will help you face your deep sadness, to join me in hearing PLG, to hope for the day of healing in the friend whom I hurt so deeply, face the people I’ve disappointed, and all those Shackish things and know that the Lord of Glory really is the Lord of Exodus 34:6-7.

We’ll talk with open Bibles, trying to hear all of His Word.

Sherry and I put our best clothes on for Bruce and Cody’s wedding. It was at First Presbyterian Church, an exquisitely beautiful building that was way less attractive than the wedding itself. The theme of the wedding was "as in heaven, so also on earth." Cody is a chaplain at OHSU, working with some of the most difficult situations and marking them for Christ. God was at work in their relationship for eight years, preparing them both for the wonderful work He has for them. Tom Miller got to pronounce them husband wife since he’s the pastor at the church. I was "associate presiding minister" I suppose, and got to do their vows and to encourage them to enjoy their first kiss as husband and wife.

Among the six [yes, you heard me right, six] speakers, was Father Jim Kolb, a Roman Catholic priest who does a lot of work at the hospital. I’d met him when I preached Cody’s ordination a couple of years ago. Partaking of communion was one aspect of the hour and a half ceremony. I was rather surprised that Father Jim was serving, since it was not a Roman Catholic mass. I asked him at dinner following. It seems he didn’t know he was supposed to serve until a few minutes before the ceremony. There was no good way for him to decline. So being a fine fellow, he held the bread for people to take. I was pleased when he told me the miracle of Communion is in the LORD, so he could do his part. But he said nothing since any words over the element would have been sacrilege.

Seeing the different views of communion was quite dramatic. I happily looked people in the eye, saying "The body of Christ given for you." People received it joyfully or reverently or in some cases with a bit of confusion with my words. From Father Jim they heard nothing. For me it was Eucharist. For him it was a place for polite submission, serving bread in a foreign service.

Having six speakers including one fifth neurosurgical resident who earned a PhD in classics before beginning his medical training, speaking on the significance of taking a name along with the magnificent organ, an ensemble, trumpet, violin, a dozen attendants each for bride and groom, and pealing bells as the pronouncement was proclaimed made it the most elaborate and beautiful wedding I’ve ever been a part of. The only one close was about 15 years ago which was even more memorable because among the five pastors, I was listed as special friend of the bride and groom. There are many memories.

I love doing weddings. I get the best seat in the house, though I rarely sit. I get to see all the emotions of the couple (and provoke a few of them, too). I’m so looking forward to what we practicing for: the wedding supper of the Lamb. I can hardly wait!

Oh, yeah. I’m thinking about the role of church and government for a presentation I’ll be doing in early August. What do you think of this T-shirt? Remember, this is a PG rated blog!

I love celebrating events. I’ve blogged several in previous entries. It’s that time for another. David, my baby, and Samantha celebrate their fifteenth anniversary tomorrow. I won’t be there tomorrow, but they will be coming by here to begin the big celebration next Tuesday. Sherry and I will get to keep Nicole and Joy while David and Sam go do their very special thing. In collaboration with David, we get facilitate some very nice stuff for them. It’s all a surprise for Samantha and some of it is a surprise for David. It was great fun for me to negotiate with some folk to make some provisions for them that will make their special time even more special.

I find that doing this sort of thing turns my gears more than almost anything I can think of. That I get to work with them to celebrate goodness is so fun. To get to enhance that for them in a surprise way is even funner. And I’ll get to hang with my grandgirls too.

My mind tends to go to intense and hard, so my outlook can get pretty serious and sadness can take over. Collaborating a celebration like this one is the other side. It’s where joy flows full and free. The intensity gives power to joy. But there are celebrations I can’t join, say a long time friend’s birthday that circumstances keep me from, or anniversaries of special people that I am far away from. These are mixed memories. I celebrate the event, but with a deep sadness that the separation brings.

Perhaps the epitome of this mixture is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. I want so much to be there. The regular practices we call the Lord’s Supper enhance the anticipation. The sadness of living in a broken world with broken relationships make that longing keen.

Next week I’ll have part in Bruce and Cody’s wedding. I’ve done their pre-marital and will be one of five ministers in the service. Their theme is "As in heaven so also on earth." It will be a beautiful celebration. I hope to be around when they do their fifteenth!