Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • One Reason Christian Leaders Fall – Overload

    There have been any number of Christian leaders who have fallen recently, and while the publicity makes it appear that there are more and more, I suspect this isn’t anything new.

    One major reason for a failure in leadership is that we put too much trust in people. We give a pastor a great deal of authority, we give him a job that is impossible for any one person to do, and then we’re surprised when failure occurs. I think the pattern of Christian leadership is not supposed to put that much pressure or authority on any single person.

    I believe that reasonable responsibility, reasonable trust, and a reasonable job load would be a good starting point to helping Christian leaders keep their balance.

     

  • Bruce Epperly Series on Philippians

    … at Bob Cornwall’s blog. Bruce Epperly is the author of Philippians: A Participatory Study Guide.

  • Comparing a Three and Four Year Lectionary

    Will Humes, a Methodist pastor in Pennsylvania, is proposing a four year lectionary. Two major benefits he sees for this lectionary is that it would give the gospel of John a bigger place in the lectionary, and also inclusion of more wisdom literature. I have already briefly commented on this. What I’m planning to do here is compare the two lectionaries for the next few weeks to see what preaching/teaching from them might be like.

    I am not currently preaching anywhere, but I do use the lectionary in my devotional study and frequently use it in teaching. When I am invited to preach I normally preach from the lectionary texts. Because of the extra year I’m going to compare three sets of texts: 1) The RCL texts for the coming week, 2) The texts from the same year/gospel from the proposed four year lectionary, and 3) the texts we would use if this was the year for the gospel of John.

    For this coming Sunday, August 21, that would be Proper 16A, Week 16A to match, and 16D for John.

    Here are the texts:

     

    RCL 4Y-A 4Y-D
    Old Testament Exodus 1:10-2:8 or
    Isaiah 51:1-6    		 Genesis 38:1-26 or
    Isaiah 40:21-31    		 Genesis 8:1-13 or
    Acts 26:1, 9-23, 27-29, 31-32
    Psalm Psalm 124 or
    Psalm 138    		 Psalm 18:31-36, 43-50 Psalm 132:1-5, 11-18
    Epistle Romans 12:1-8 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 Revelation 3:14-22
    Gospel Matthew 16:13-20 Matthew 12:1-21 John 8:31-47

    If we were in Year A of the four year series we would have our choice between the rather risque story in Genesis 38 (Judah and Tamar) and the lofty language of Isaiah 40. In the epistle, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 has a remarkably similar (though of course not identical) message to Romans 12:1-8. Obviously that’s not the issue, but I found it interesting! The gospel contains a collection.

    If we were in Year D, we’d have the story of the exit from the ark after the flood, material on the Davidic covenant and God’s faithfulness from Psalm 132, the letter to the church in Laodicea, and a passage from John about whose children Jesus’ opponents really are.

    I find it about equally difficult to create a good overarching theme for these passages and for those in the RCL. Sometimes there’s an intentional theme, and sometimes there’s not, but that’s nothing new.

    I like the inclusion of passages that are not part of the normal lectionary readings. I wonder how many churches would actually read Genesis 38. I can’t recall anyone actually preaching from it!

    In any case, I enjoyed the comparison. I hope to write a bit more on these passages as the week goes on, but it’s a busy week, and I may not get around to it. I will certainly compare a few more weeks of passages to help you get a flavor for this idea.

  • Note on the Four Year Lectionary

    I’m doing a few comparisons of the passages in the four year lectionary I mentioned the other day. I’m posting them on my lectionary blog.

  • Part-Time Ministry Call: Disappointment or Opportunity

    No, this isn’t a topic I know much about, but I know that many past readers of this blog are either in part-time ministry or are (or have) considered it.

    There’s still space in tonight’s Webinar, Part-Time Ministry Call: Disappointment or Opportunity, by Energion author Bob LaRochelle. He’s author of Part-Time Pastor, Full-Time Church (Pilgrim Press, 2010) and of the forthcoming volume, Crossing the Street, to be released by my company Energion Publications in May 2012.

  • Brannon Howse Quotes an Etymological Fallacy

    Well, not a terrible one, at least not in the quoted material, which is from John MacArthur. But Howse makes an even bigger error. He first quotes Romans 16:17-18:

    Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. [as quoted in referenced article, emphasis his]

    In commenting, he then quotes John MacArthur:

    The little word simple of the Hebrew language is real concrete, not abstract like Greek. Simple comes from a root word that means an open door. And a simple-minded person was somebody whose mind was always open… the simpleton was the person who had not enough discernment or discrimination or knowledge or understanding or wisdom to know what to accept and what to reject. And the Word of God will teach you how to close the door. It will teach you how to be wise. Wise is chakam in Hebrew, it means skilled in all aspects of living. [Howse’s source: John MacArthur, The Nature and Sufficiency of Scripture: http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/GTY111_The-Nature-and-Sufficiency-of-Scripture?q=simpleton]

     

    Do you notice the interesting error there? Howse quotes Romans, written in Greek, and then quotes John MacArthur, commenting on a Hebrews word. Now while I don’t think MacArthur’s definition of the Hebrew word is too bad (and he gives the actual reference, Psalms 19:8 [7 Heb], from which one can discover the intended word, pethiy), I still think demonstrating it from the etymology in this case is not the best plan. The word can be studied quite well by usage as it occurs 19 times in Hebrew scripture.

    A second issue for me would be whether this word is indeed more concrete than the Greek word used in Romans 16:18, akakõn. That seems plenty concrete to me. But of course, John MacArthur made no reference to Romans 16:18. He was dealing with Psalm 19:8, so we don’t know that MacArthur thinks pethiy is more concrete than akakõn.

    Howse, on the other hand, borrowed the etymology of a Hebrew word in order to apply it to a Greek passage. I’m not concerned with whether you agree with Howse’s position on the major topic. The problem here is demonstrating a lack of good procedure and knowledge in applying biblical languages.

  • A Comedian Shall Lead Them?

    “Them,” in this case being the media. I’m not about to start recommending Jon Stewart as a balanced news source, but he has definitely put his finger on some things, and often comedy gets closer to the truth than anything else in our political system. And while I disagree with Ron Paul on a number of issues (generally social issues), he’s got some good points that deserve to be heard.

     

  • Biblical Interpretation Influenced by Those Down the Pew

    It seems that one’s approach to biblical interpretation is not influenced just by one’s own education. It may be influenced by the education of those you worship with, according to a study by Baylor doctoral student Samuel Stroope, reports the Christian Post.

    I hadn’t really thought of it, but it’s not as surprising as it first might seem. Our behavior is influenced by the people we associate with. Why should this be different?

    I would be interested in reading the completed study to see how well it was corrected for choice of companions. In other words, were the people influenced, or did they choose the more educated social setting because that was what they tended to like in the first place?

  • What if Church Was Like

    … This!

    This is Discipling from The Foursquare Church on Vimeo.

    (HT: Dave Black Online)

  • Hallelujah: The Soundtrack of Life

    This is an introductory sermon to the current “Summer in the Psalms” series at my home church, First United Methodist Church of Pensacola. It was presented by Rev. Geoffrey Lentz last week, but I missed it. So many members of the congregation commented on it, I had to go back and listen to what I had missed.

    Geoffrey is editing the book I mentioned in my previous post.