GroshLink

In addition to Psalm Twenty-Three (Illustrated by Tim Ladwig. Eerdmans. 1993), I brought back Images of God for Young Children (Marie-Hélène Delval. Barbara Nascimbeni, illustrator. Eerdmans, 2010) from last week's InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Staff Team Meetings booktable. You may remember Marie-Hélène Delval is also the author of Psalms for Young Children (Marie-Hélène Delval, Arno (illustrator). Grand Rapids, MI:  Eerdmans, 2003), which our family has also found a great resource and I posted on at Psalms for Young Children (Jul 4, 2009).

As with the other titles mentioned, the focus of brief devotionals based upon the material in the Images of God for Young Children is not to fill time or even specifically to impart teachings to children, but instead a time of renewal for the whole family as we draw closer to God (led by proper teaching of the Word and prayer). 

On Sunday, as part of a spontaneous family worship, I read

God is breath.

God is the strong wind

that shapes the earth and sea

and makes the stars shine

to the farthest edge of the heavens.

God is the breath of all living creatures,

the breeze tht stirs their hearts,

that refreshes their souls

and renews their spirits

-- God is breath. Images of God for Young Children. Marie-Hélène Delval. Barbara Nascimbeni, illustrator. Eerdmans, 2010. 10.  Note:  The illustration is of a young boy watching as the wind "fills the sails" of his boat and two birds glide upon the same currents.  Click here to check it out at the Eerdmans website.

What time of joy as flute, violin, clarinet, recorder, little drum came out and we had opportunity not only to try our hand leading song/worship, but also share about how God refreshes and renews us each step of the way.  To God be the glory!

How does one share the reality of the daily walk with God with one's children?  A "rule/way of life" which leans upon the Father/the Good Shepherd each step of the way ... Waking. Eating. Leaving home. Time away from home.  Returning home.  Time together in the evening. Sleeping. Waking ...

A rich resource is Psalm Twenty-Three (Illustrated by Tim Ladwig. Eerdmans. 1993). I brought Psalm Twenty-Three back from last week's InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Staff Team Meetings booktable and it is already a family favorite. We all love the detail in how the Good Shepherd cares for His sheep each step of the way.  I particularly appreciate the boy's constant reminder of the Good Shepherd through stained glass images and drawings.  ... I also must confess that I love the Jordan poster in the boy's room :-)  Wish I had not resisted picking it up last year (and the year before). 

Take away:  Join our family in reading and praying through Psalm 23, rejoicing that the Good Shepherd is with us each step of the way, even the dark places.  Yes, exiles 'in this world,' but part of and looking forward to the new creation where all is restored.

Coming:  snapshots of more excellent resources which I've recently added to the family library (and minister to the whole family in our walk together as part of the sheep of the Good Shepherd's pasture) ...

Update: 3/30/2011. 11:11 EST

After I returned from Chicago, Eden was a fan of a newly checked out book:

Nobody's Mother is in Second Grade.  Robin Pulver.  Illustrated by G. Brian Kraus.  Penguin Books.  1992.

The conclusion sums up the book beautifully:

Miss Gardner turned to Cassandra [2nd grader].  "I hope your mother will join our class again.  She doesn't have to pretend to be a plant."

"Thank-you, Miss Gardner," replied Cassandra.  "But nobody's mother is in second grade.  That would be ridiculous!"

But if you have K - 2 grade kids and haven't read Nobody's Mother is in Second Grade, I'd encourage you to do such.  It's lots of fun :-) 

PS.  After writing the initial post, I found out from Theresa that she finds the story, which she's had to read every day while I was in Chicago for InterVarsity's Graduate & Faculty Meetings, "dumb."  "Why would you read a book about that?"  Is this a difference between father and mother? 

In follow-up I asked Theresa whether should would still find the book "dumb" even if it was about a father dressing up like a plant. The answer was, "Yes." She thinks "the teacher and mom must be in cahoots for this to work."  Also, unlike what she reads by the author, Theresa finds the green plant facts secondary. Some of the science teacher background coming through?  Will I feel the same way after reading the book several times?

Question:  Do you remember better those things which make you laugh ;-)  How is "the ridiculous" accompanied by laughter an approach to teaching/learning?

Last week on my return flight from InterVarsity's Graduate & Faculty Ministry Staff Team Meetings I met

• Captain Eric B. Forsyth, http://www.yachtfiona.com/, a British seaman living in Long Island who had been evacuated from Yosemite National Park due to the snowfall (and expected additional snow).  It was the first time the park had been closed since 1997.  Lots of material on his various voyages, including video of his 2009-2010 circumnavigation of North America via the Northwest Passage, http://vimeo.com/13791194.  Wow!  He's always looking for crew :-)
• a Samoan with stories of flying in the South Pacific Islands and a commentary on the rush of boarding Southwest
• Johns Hopkins Medical student with a mutual friend or two.  We were at the same 2011 Christian Medical & Dental Association Winter Retreat.

i'm thinking about question from someone in capetown south africa..why does God let people die...as a teacher, i am asked "why did you let that student fail"...I didn't want him to fail, I offered help to him..he refused the help...he didn't come to class...he turned away from the very things that would have given him a good grade...he chose to fail, despite my pleas...God often asked israel, "why will you die...why do you choose death"...God is the only source of life, Life is found in him, when we turn against him, we turn against Life, and choose death...the prodigal son chose to leave home...it broke the father's heart...thankfully the prodigal son soon learned that all the joys and happiness of life were back home with the father...he had to live with pigs, and lose everything to come to the end of  living for himself...he returned to the father who welcomed him hom, with undeserved grace and favor...and rejoiced over the son's return... -- a faculty friend.

Over the course of the past week InterVarsity's Graduate & Faculty Ministery gathered to dig into the theme of "Campus Renewal."  Thank-you to Miller for passing along this "case study/story" from Harvard by Jeff Barneson, InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministry.  Jeff has served graduate students at Harvard for 25 years. Below's a quote from his tribute to Peter Gomes, Harvard's Dean of the Chapel, who passed away February 28.

First, Peter was a friend to the Christian fellowships at Harvard—even the evangelical ones.

Shortly after I arrived in Cambridge in 1983, Peter took me aside in his office and told me that he loved evangelical students because their hearts are warmed by the love of Christ. But loving the InterVarsity and Campus Crusade cohorts was not always easy, since students zealous in their witness for Jesus frequently overstepped the rules of engagement set out at Harvard. In those instances when one or another of our groups drew the ire of the administration or other students, Peter would calmly call the Dean of Students or the appropriate House Master and explain that part of life at the University is for students to learn appropriate ways of engaging in conversation about these matters and that these students were still learning.

We were all still learning, in fact, and Peter was a savvy and generous teacher. On one occasion he spoke at one of the regular meetings of the Harvard Graduate School Christian Fellowship—the InterVarsity group I advise. He told the graduate students packed together in Phillips Brooks House that their calling was to "Say the intolerable thing to a generation whose only value is tolerance." During the discussion following his remarks, I asked what he meant by "the intolerable thing." "Jeffrey," he said, "the intolerable thing is that Jesus Christ is Lord."

Jeff's complete tribute is posted at On Peter Gomes and His Many Friends: A Remembrance (Patheos. 3/8/2011).

Our youngest two have been taking a flash back to 1969 with Episode 1 of Sesame Street. 

Do you remember when Oscar the Grouch was orange, Big Bird sported a pointy head, Bert had even more of an edge, "monsters" (and creatures for that matter) received low attention, kids not only played on urban playgrounds but ran around farms affirming the value of milk in/out of the home?  Definitely before I was born ;-) 

Not going to wade through all the educational and political controversy at this time, but if you'd like to learn more about the history check out my post 40 Years of Sesame Street as an Educator? and follow the links.  Quite frankly, I'm loving Sesame Street's first episode (which plays again and again before we return it to the library), particularly as I'm having opportunity to see why so many of the counting exercises made no sense to me at all, e.g., chef falling down the steps with his "3" cakes.  We'll have to look for more of these episodes at the library, maybe if I compare the first three seasons with some of what I catch the younger ones watching now (e.g., more animation and puppets with less on the street/in the world to reach a younger crowd), I'll have more to say :-0 

By-the-way, the younger two both love Mister Rogers segment re-runs on the web ... watching balls, crayons, guitars, shoes, wagons, etc. being made reminds me of my living room growing up.  And my time "in the neighborhood" in Pittsburgh :-)

As I mentioned the other day, Eden and I have been digging into book after book in our local congregation's library.  Although it was hard to top The Song of the King (Max Lucado. Illustrated by Toni Goffe. Crossway. 1995), we both found The Sleeping Rose (Angela Elwell Hunt. Illustrated by Chuck Gillies. Tommy Nelson. 1998), superb.

A simple story which highlighted "what is success?"  And when we offer help to the broken hearted, we offer it to none other than _____ .*

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Thank-you to my friends at Harvard who continue to pass along 'good reports' regarding Jeremy Lin, a follower of Christ who at present is the only Harvard grad in the NBA.  In addition, Lin is the only Asian-American in the NBA.  He's playing with the Golden State Warriors.  Below's a link to his recent CNN interview.  What a joy to hear him share his love of God.  To God be the glory!

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/03/10/exp.am.intv.jeremylin.cnn

Note:  Earlier posts on Jeremy Lin

• How does your faith shape the way you behave on the court?
• InterVarsity covering Harvard Basketball
• More on Harvard Hoops Star

Interested in wrestling with the questions Rob Bell in raises in Love Wins (& their context)? I'd recommend you swing by Byron Borger's posts at Hearts & Minds Bookstore and choose a place to jump into the conversation either at the blog or his Facebook wall. As you may guess, I've made a comment here and there.

A few (very few) thoughts of my own (with more to come): The interview w/Martin Bashir on MSNBC was tough, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg-qgmJ7nzA, but I did not find it too much. Must be too much time in higher education ;-)  Although I appreciate Rob's allusion to the new heaven/new earth, I wish that Rob would have responded to the question about Japan with the book of Job, the cross, and/or the resurrection.  We are in relationship with God, a personal being who comes to us offering redemption.  Note:  just read/posted on a powerful piece, After Shock: Searching for Honest Faith When Your World Is Shaken (Kent Annan), which draws from Psalm 13.

I enjoyed listening to the interview of the interviewer, http://www.godandculture.com/blog/msnbcs-martin-bashir-on-the-paul-edwards-program (audio).

Not sure when I'll have time to read the book, but based on the interview, my first impression is that I disagree w/Rob. Universalism is not one perspective which I affirm in the history or current state of the Church. I agree with Martin that the Gospel is hard to swallow. My practical experience in campus ministry, especially with graduate students, faculty, health care students/professionals has driven this home ... even more deeply over the past several months.

Update (3/26. 6:35 pm. EST):  Thank-you to Barbara Hampton for passing along this review, "On Preaching" (Scott Hoezee. Calvin College. Reflections on Preaching from the Center for Excellence in Preaching), http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/onPreaching/index.php.

As part of my continuing desire to offer every aspect of my life to Christ, I'm exploring the development of a "Ministry Rule of Life" which takes into consideration "family life as a husband and father."  This has become the focus of an "Engaged Learning Project and Integrative Report" for a Spiritual Formation in Ministry Class at Evangelical Theological Seminary, Myerstown, PA. 

If you're in ministry and have a family, what books, mentors/models, practices, resources, and/or seminars have you found helpful to yourself or others with regard to family life in the midst of ministry (could be about parenting in general)?  I'd love to find a book focused on being fully engaged as a father/husband while in the practice of ministry.  It may very well be Nathan Foster's "Wisdom Chaser" which made this topic hard for me to shake (scroll from the bottom up at http://blog.emergingscholars.org/?s=nathan+foster).  Note:  If you're not in ministry, please feel free to make some observations, speak out of your own experience (as a follower of Christ in the midst of the people of God, what you in the lives of ministry families), and/or pass the post along to someone in ministry who you think would have good material to share.

Books I've already 'dug into' include:

• Exhortations to husbands and fathers in Ephesians, Colossians and 1 Peter
• Austin's 'Wise Stewards:  Philosophical Foundations of Christian Parenting'
• Francis Chan's 'Crazy Love:  Overwhelmed by a Relentless God'
• Cloud & Townsend's 'Boundaries'
• Foster's 'Celebration of Discipline,' 'Streams of Living Water' 
• St. Gregory the Great's 'The Book of Pastoral Rule'
• Gordon MacDonald's 'Ordering Your Private World'
• Peterson's 'The Contemplative Pastor,' 'Working the Angles'
• Gary and Barbara Rosberg's '6 Secrets to a Lasting Love: Recapturing Your Dream Marriage'/Video
• Swenson's 'Margin,' 'In Search of Balance'
• Willard's 'Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ,' 'Spirit of the Disciplines:  Understanding How God Changes Lives'

Books in cue, largely by recommendation:

• Chan's 'Spiritual Theology:  A Systematic Study of the Christian Life'
• John Eldredge's 'The Way of the Wild Heart'
• Foster and Griffin, eds., 'Spiritual Classics:  Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups on the Twelve Spiritual Disciplines'
• Marilyn Robinson's Gilead
• Mulholland’s Deeper Journey
• Ortlund's 'Disciplines of the Home'
• Peterson's 'A Pastor's Memoir'
• Romero's 'Seeking:  A Paraphrase of the Rule of Saint Benedict with Commentary' 
• "Bo's Cafe," "True Faced," by John Lynch, Bruce McNichol, and Bill Thrall

Video/Audio:

• "The Two Roads" by John Lynch (video 45 minutes) 
• "The Hope of Prayer," "The Four Streams" by John Eldredge (audio)

Eden and I have been digging into book after book in our local congregation's library.  Recently we read The Song of the King (Max Lucado. Illustrated by Toni Goffe. Crossway. 1995).  What a story!  I think that I enjoyed the quest of the three knights for the hand of princess more than Eden :-)  Lucado provides an excellent exploration of the fears and flaws which accompany our strengths.  May each and everyone of us hear/follow the song of the Father/King, guided by ____ * in the face of "the Hopenots" which inhabit "the forests" through which we travel.

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Pray for the one hundred and twenty Graduate & Faculty Ministries staff to receive refreshed vision and direction from the Father, the Son (and Word), Holy Spirit, testimony of the Body of Christ as we gather March 20-26 for training, learning, and encouragement as we discuss renewal within higher education. I'll join the mtgs March 22-24.

In specific pray for

• safe travel
• strong support for the family as I'm gone
• clarity in communication regarding important topics
• discernment regarding next steps for the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN).  I'll participate in a workshop on ESN with some time focused upon the ESN Blog and the Central PA Christian Scholars Network
• wisdom for those who present
  • Dr. George Marsden, author of "The Soul of the American University" and of "The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship." George recently retired from his teaching responsibilities at Notre Dame.  Dr. Marsden will be addressing, "Renewing the Ideas and People of the University". 3/22/2011. Note: George M. Marsden, “The Soul of the American University,” First Things (January 1991), http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=16.
  • Dr. Santa Ono, Provost at the University of Cincinnati and IVCF Board Member will deliver our second plenary on "Renewing the People and Structures of the University".  3/23/2011
  • Marsden and Ono will be joined by others including Donald Davis, Professor Emeritus of U. of Texas - Austin School of Information, for a panel discussion and extended conversation about what this might mean for our work as staff.  3/23/2011

How long will you hide your face from me?
– Psalm 13:1

1.  Rather than a God of occasional disaster-rescue miracles, I want a God whose miracles prevent the disasters in the first place.‎ -- from "An Annotated Wish List For Changes In/By God." After Shock: Searching for Honest Faith When Your World Is Shaken (Kent Annan. IVP. 2011. 29).  Powerfully portrayed in the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgnQZE9Q4fE.  Yes, I just had to bring it over an post on Groshlink too. ...

Comment:  I wasn't intending to read After Shock: Searching for Honest Faith When Your World Is Shaken (Kent Annan. IVP. 2011) through Lent, but the intensity of the wrestling w/faith-life-work made it difficult for me to read long stretches. As such I didn't finish "After Shock" before the beginning of Lent.

But for that I am grateful.  "After Shock" offers a powerful Lenten reflection piece, including thoughts on Ash Wednesday, the crucifix vs. the cross, Easter (appreciated the brief section on Updike's Seven Stanzas at Easter).  I'm thinking about creating an on-line book discussion.  Let me know if you're interested.

‘After Shock’ as a resource for wrestling with the crisis in Japan (3/17/2011). 

More material from After Shock (InterVarsity Press. 2011) in process ...

I don't know if God better appreciates the hosannas that have emerged from the crucible, but I trust those hosannas more -- whether I hear them being offered up by others or even offered up myself. -- Kent Annan.  After Shock: Searching for Honest Faith When Your World Is Shaken. InterVarsity Press. 2011. 89.  Inspired by Feoder Dostoysvsky's comments on The Brothers Karamazov.

Comment:  As some of you know, I recently had the opportunity hear Kent Annan (author of After Shock: Searching for Honest Faith When Your World Is Shaken and codirector of Haiti Partners) and Enel Angervil (Haitian co-worker with Haiti Partners) share about their journey with God in Haiti.  Wow!  To God be the glory.  For more on the book and a "be ready to wrestle with God video," visit my Emerging Scholars Network Blog Post:

‘After Shock’ as a resource for wrestling with the crisis in Japan (3/17/2011). 

More material from After Shock (InterVarsity Press. 2011) in process ...

The other night, after Ellen played Simple Gifts (Written/composed by Elder Joseph Brackett. 1848.) on violin, we checked out a few on-line pieces. I enjoyed both the simple gift of her playing and the below piece, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwH6-QmvM5c.

Of course Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma/Itzhak Perlman with other notables playing an arrrangement by John Williams at O'Bama's Inauguration are quite good in their own manner.  For one with girls, the pictures associated with the Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss performance is overall quite moving ;-)

Yes, that is everyone but me.  Sometimes I just can't help but shout out, sing, and clap to the Lord.  Praying for the Spirit to provide rhythm or some source of discipline to emerge in my neuro-connections. Looking forward to becoming 'perfected' in the heavenly courts :-)

Reminded of Muppets: I Don't Got Rhythm when listening to Ellen practing (on violin) of Gershwin's I Got Rhythm.  She has rhythm, but I don't.  I spared her the torture of joining in the "music making."

Thank-you to Miller for passing along "Give Me a New Dream" by Catherine Marshall, wife of Peter Marshall, former chaplain of US Senate). 

Father,

Once I had such big dreams, so much anticipation of the future. Now no shimmering horizon beckons me; my days are lack-luster. I see so little of lasting value in the daily round. Where is Your plan for my life? You have told us that without vision, we perish. So, Father in Heaven, knowing that I can ask in confidence for what is Your expressed will to give me, I ask you to deposit in my mind and heart that particular dream, the special vision You have for my life. And along with the dream, will You give me whatever graces, patience, and stamina takes to see the dream through to fruition? I sense this may involve adventures I have not bargained for, but I want to trust You enough to follow even if You lead along new paths. I admit to liking some of my ruts, but I know that habit patterns, that seem like cozy nests from the inside, from Your vantage point may be prison cells. Lord, if you want to break down any prisons of mine before I can see the stars and catch the vision, then, Lord, begin the process now. In joyous expectation.

Amen.

"I think often of these promises when I'm tired."

Galatians 6:9, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

Hebrews 6:10, "For God is not unjust. He will not forget how you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do."

Thank-you to Miller for passing along this encouragement.

As [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:1-2)

If you have chronic illness or a disability of any sort, you have probably had people ask you questions like this one that the disciples asked Jesus. For some perverse reason, outsiders want to blame us for our maladies. It is horrible theology — that our diseases and handicaps are direct punishment for our sin or someone else's.

I am forever grateful that Jesus firmly rejected this erroneous theory when he answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him" (John 9:3). The proper question is not "Who is to blame?" but "What good might God reveal through this affliction?" — and the answer to that question might not even be known in this life. It is a mystery that we will only fully understand at the end of time.

But in the meanwhile, we can be well intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually because we trust the words of Jesus that through whatever illnesses or impairments we might suffer "God's works" will be revealed in us. God's work might be to take us home to be with Himself, but what better work could we imagine? Or the LORD's work might be to reveal his sustaining grace throughout our afflictions. No doubt God has some surprises in store for us as to how the Trinity might act in partnership with us to accomplish divine purposes. The endless possibilities enable us to be well in trust and hope.

—Marva Dawn, BEING WELL WHEN WE'RE ILL: WHOLENESS AND HOPE IN SPITE OF INFIRMITY. Minneapolis: Augsburg Books, 2008, p. 67. ISBN 978-0-8066-8038-5. Highly recommended.

Thank-you to Chip Stam, Director, Institute for Christian Worship, School of Church Ministries, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, for drawing posting this quote at www.wqotw.org. Praying for God's blessing and healing upon Chip as he wrestles with cancer and various resultant health complications.

Daylight Savings (or time in general) bother you, but you're not quite sure why?  Then you'll enjoy Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? (Howard Mansfield. NY Times Opinion. 3/10/2011).  Of course maybe it will just cause more 'alarm.'  Here's how the piece concludes:

We adopted daylight saving time (during World War I), rejected it (after the war), adopted it again (during World War II), and then left it up to the states and localities until 1966, when Congress once more decided it was a national concern. And as much as we complain and point out that it doesn’t make anyone more productive or save any energy, it persists. Almost every state has eight months of it each year and only four months of so-called standard time. As a result, today we rose with the dawn and next week we’ll be eating breakfast in darkness.

The change is disconcerting. But more unsettling still is the mystery we’d rather not face: If clock time isn’t real, what is time, anyway? We don’t understand time, and we definitely don’t want to admit that our allotment is limited. We just want to get on with our day.

A Lenten prayer of mine.  Brought to my remembrance when singing Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (Henry van Dyke. Hymn to Joy. Arr. from Ludwig van Beethoven) earlier in the week with Lily.  Thank-you to my friend who passed along a copy of "Sing of Life & Faith" (Pilgrim Press. 1969).

From a chat with a friend:  Ash Wednesday ... Lent ... Footwashing/Last Supper/Maundy Thursday ... Cross/Good Friday ... Resurrection ... Ascension ... Pentecost ... Come quickly Lord Jesus!

2011 Lent posts on Emerging Scholars Network Blog

• Lenten Preparations: A Time of Contrition
• Lent begins today: Ash Wednesday

Thank-you to my friend Kevin who forwarded a link to Sex Economics 101 (Katelyn Beaty. Christianity Today. 2/18/2011).  The interview of Mark Regnerus, early-marriage sociologist focuses on his new research/book Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying (Oxford University Press), coauthored with Jeremy Uecker.  Teaser ...

Question: You frame your research using sexual economics theory: Sex is a transaction in which men pay, via economic stability or education or as little as dinner, to get access to sex, while women pay with their sexuality to get goods that men can offer. Describing sex this way seems pretty cynical. Why use this theory to explain your research?

I encourage you to ake a few minutes to prayerful consider the piece and pass it along to others.  The material has particular relevance to college students, young adults, and those who are regularly in their midst. Note: Mary Poplin, Professor of Education at Claremont Graduate University, regularly uses the term serial monogamy to describe her pre-Christian relationships when giving her testimony.

Where there is strife, there is pride,
   but wisdom is found in those who take advice. -- Proverbs 13:10 (NIV)

How true.  Praying for discernment in recognizing good advice each step along the way. ...