Category Archives: The Big Idea Book Preview

The Contemplative Pastor

Posted on by

2

By: Eugene H. Peterson

Article written by: rm Kocak

“Your task is to keep telling the basic story, representing the presence of the Spirit, insisting on the priority of God, speaking the biblical words of command and promise and invitation.”

- The Contemplative Pastor, pg. 139.

I am currently a transitional Deacon in the Anglican Mission who is planting churches, making disciples, and preparing for ordination to the Presbyterate (Priesthood) next month. Part of that preparation is being assigned a mentor. Fortunately for me, mine is a huge Eugene Peterson buff. So I’ve been reading through some of Peterson’s books on Pastoral Theology. This present book, The Contemplative Pastor rubs against the grain of the Protestant work ethic, the mega church leadership model, and current cultural definition of “Pastor.” It is a timely read for me personally as a young church planter and Pastor since the “tyranny of the urgent” is always at my heels begging me to be consumed with my “work.”

THE BIG IDEA

“A healthy noun doesn’t need adjectives… “Pastor” used to be that kind of noun – energetic and virile…. But when I observe the way the vocation of pastor is lived out in America and listen to the tone and context in which the word “pastor” is spoken,  I realize that what I hear in the word and what others hear is very different…

The essence of being a pastor begs for redefinition. To that end, I offer three adjectives to clarify the noun: unbusy, subversive, and apocalyptic.”

- The Contemplative Pastor, pgs. 15-16.

Peterson is a poet and writes with depth, clarity, beauty, and passion about a vocational calling that is near and dear to his heart: “Pastor.” The term begs for redefinition because how it has been wrongly shaped by parody, diluted by opportunism, and hijacked by wolves in sheep’s clothing. For Peterson the Pastor is called to a quietness of soul in Christ and not the “business of running a church.” I don’t know about you, but I almost feel obligated to try to justify to others how “busy” I have been in ministry. And when I go through the litany of work, I usually leave out the essential parts of being a Pastor: prayer, worship, study of Scripture, and theological contemplation. Not that I don’t do these things, but because of the perception that these things aren’t as important as “doing the tasks of running/planting a church.” For Peterson, business comes down to either being vain or lazy.

By subversion, Peterson isn’t suggestion to Pastors to be “subversive” as the world is, but to:

  1. Challenge the status quo of this world.
  2.  Show another world is livable and not just imaginary.
  3. The means of overthrow (military force or democratic elections) are not available.
Finally, the apocalyptic Pastor isn’t one who is a Zionist or calls for the Christians to run to the hills for the end of the world. The apocalyptic pastor calls people to faithful obedience to the Kingdom of God now. The apocalyptic pastor doesn’t call people to programs or to Pastors so they can manage their care for them, but to the mystery of God and the messiness of their souls to allow the Holy Spirit to do a refining work. The archetype of the apocalyptic pastor for Peterson is John of Revelation:  his apocalyptic prayer and poetry and patience.

LITTLE IDEA #1

“But this is my basic work: on the one hand to proclaim the word of God that is personal – God addressing us in love, inviting us into a life of trust in him; on the other hand to guide and encourage an answering word that is likewise personal – to speak in the first person to the second person, I to Though, and avoid commentary as much as possible.””

- The Contemplative Pastor, pg. 93.

There is a theme with language that keeps coming to the surface in this book. Whether it’s the need to reclaim the middle voice in prayer or using first language in proclamation, Peterson calls pastors to consider the words they use and the rhetoric they clothe them in. Peterson remarks at one point how the language of the community of faith often mirrors the image of the culture: a lot of information, a lot of publicity, but not much intimacy. While Peterson doesn’t suggest to do away with Tier II language (language of information) or Tier III language (language of motivation), he calls pastors to reclaim and primarily speak with Tier I language (language of intimacy and relationship).

LITTLE IDEA #2

“The Christian gospel is rooted in langauge: God spoke a creation into being; our Savrior was the Word made flesh. The poet is the person who uses words not primarily to convey information but to make a relationship, shape beauty,  form truth…

Isn’t it odd that pastors, who are responsible for interpreting the Scriptures, so much of which come in the form of poetry, have so little interest in poetry? … Words create. God’s word creates; our words can participate in creation.” ”

- The Contemplative Pastor, pg. 44-45.

Another minor theme that comes up throughout the book is that of poetry (it reminds me of my friend J.D. Walt who encourages pastors to read a poem a day). The entire last section in the book is a series of poems that Peterson wrote himself. For Peterson it isn’t just a “taste” or a “preference” for Pastors to engage in poetry, but as part of getting immersed in the prose of Scripture. He sees a lot of things in common between poets and pastors: reverence of words, immersion in the everyday particulars of life, warn of illusions, attention to rhythm, tone, meaning, and spirit.

THE TAKE HOME

With the McDonaldizaiton of the Church in America, Peterson is offering another way that is more akin to quality, slowly cooked barbecue than fast food. Peterson’s way isn’t programmatic, easy, quick, or comfortable, but it causes one to consider what it means to be a Pastor in our current age of pragmatism, materialism, and hedonism. Peterson raises a lot of questions, calls out the “golden calves” of many American pastors, and offers an “ideal” for pastors to strive for. I find in my own life that everything militates against being unbusy, subversive, and apocalyptic. I must as a leader make it a priority to spend time in prayer, Scripture, and study or else no one else will for me. According to Peterson, they will gladly congratulate me for my busy work schedule, accomplishments in the community, long hours, and the sacrifice of my relationship with God and family on the altar of Pastoral Ministry.

The Deeper Journery

Posted on by

0

By: M. Robert Mulholland Jr. (Ph.D., Harvard)

Article written by: rm Kocak

“The world will not believe in Christ because of our sound theology, our correct creed, our well-defined dogma, our rigorous religiosity. The world will believe when it sees Christlikeness  manifested in our life. The world will know that God has sent Christ not simply because we pronounce it to be so, but when they see Christlikeness lived out in their midst in our lives in the world.”

- The Deeper Journey, pg. 16.

With tears in my eyes, I emotionally navigated my way through Dr. Mulholland’s book, The Deeper Journey. I had flashbacks as I read through the book of sitting in Dr. Mulholland’s office (I was a former student of his),  hearing him praying over me and explaining a lot of the concepts laid out in this book. The Deeper Journey is Mulholland’s second book on spiritual formation. In his first book on spiritual formation, Invitation to a Journey, Mulholland laid out a general roadmap, but in The Deeper Journey he articulates the contours, definitions, and realities of that roadmap. Reading this book was very timely for me in my personal journey of wholeness in Christ as I have been searching for a job upon graduation from seminary. The book is also the first book read from my 2011 booklist.

The book is shaped by the movement that Mulholland suggests in spiritual formation: from the false self (our self-referenced mode of being) and religious false self  into lives hid in Christ (a Christ-centered mode of being). The outline of Mulholland’s book looks like this:

  1. Introduction (Ch1)
  2. The False Self
    1. Into the Jungle: The False Self (Ch2)
  3. The Religious False self
    1. The Idol in the box: The Religious False Self (Ch3)
  4. The Transition
    1. Hidden with Christ in God: The False Self and the Christ Self (Ch 4)
  5. Our Life Hid in Christ:
    1. Abandoning the False Self (Ch5)
    2. Putting on the New Nature (Ch6)
    3. Principles of the Deeper Life (Ch7)

Mulholland’s book is not just for the closet mystic, but is written to be applied by all those in the body of Christ desiring to grow into maturity. Mulholland speaks plainly in his writing: exegeting (interpreting) Scripture (Mulholland is a N.T. Professor), quoting Christian mystics (his favorites include Thomas Merton and Thomas Kelly), and giving examples from his own life.

THE BIG IDEA

“When God enters into our false self, it is the sacrament of God’s presence, another image of the cross. God comes into the core of our self-referenced being. God comes to bring light into our darkness, cleansing into our sin, life into our deadness, healing into our brokeness, liberation into our bondage; to nurture us there into wholeness in the very image of God. But to open that door is to acknowledge our false self and to allow God to come in, knowing that when the love of God encounters the false self, it is always a cruciform encounter for God and for us.”

- The Deeper Journey, pg. 80.

The offering of ourselves to the cruciform love of Christ transforms our entire being into one that is Christ and others-referenced. I remember sitting in a chair as Dr. Mulholland explained this concept to me for the first time. I was questioning why I remained so selfish, prideful, and full of sin despite having Christ at the core of my being. His explanation is that precisely because Christ is at the core of my being that the false ways of being that I had reflexively developed in my life each need to be encountered with God’s presence. These false patterns and ways should not avoided or ignored like the traditions that see personal holiness in forensic terms, but these false patterns in us should be encountered, transformed, and replaced. This concept put simply is sanctification.

little IDEA #1

“For those of us on an intentional spiritual journey, our awareness of the deadly and debilitating nature of the religious false self is essential. Rigorous religious practices, devoted discipleship, sacrificial service, deeper devotional activities may do nothing more than turn a nominally religious false self into a fanatically religious false self.”

- The Deeper Journey, pg. 48.

Do you ever wonder how people can claim to be a Christian, but live lives lacking in christ-likeness? Do you ever wonder why some people love to pray in front of people at church, point out flaws in others, and love to talk about theology, but appear to have little love for God or people in their daily lives? This is what happens when the false self (self-referenced mode of being) becomes religious. It’s not that the religious false-self doesn’t believe in God, but it is a God they can control, reason with, and protect. The religious false self presumes, “Because we are religious, that everything is fine in our relationship with God (47).” The tendency of the religious false-self is to be so busy at being “in the world for God” that they forget to “be in God for the world.”

Little IDEA #2

“Detachment is the discipline of removing our roots from the soils and offering those roots to God. Such detachment is difficult and painful. Detachment is the ongoing process of disconnecting our false self from all  our life-support systems (or, in reality, its death-support systems.). Our false-self will resist such detachment with unbelievable power. We will even become fanatically religious as along as we don’t have to lose our self.”

- The Deeper Journey, pg. 111.

Detachment was always a spiritual practice that was cloaked in confusion for me. It always appeared, as the name suggests, a separation from the pain, hardship, and trials of this world. It sounded almost gnostic (rejection of the material world for the spiritual). Mulholland articulates detachment differently, clearly stating that it is a separation from false identities and agendas that have come to shape our identity in a false way. Detachment is a re-appropriation of our wrongly invested love.

THE TAKE HOME

Don’t let the title of this book deter you from reading it. “The Deeper Journey” is not a path only for religious professionals (few of which would ever see the need for such a journey), the educated elites, or the spiritual mystics. This journey is one we all need to take if we want to grow into the fullness of Christ. Mulholland’s book is a tool, resource, and road map that offers language, navigation, and encouragement on that journey.

Liturgical Theology

Posted on by

2

By: Simon Chan (Ph.D., Cambridge)

Article written by: rm Kocak

“What marks Christians as God’s people is that they have become a community that worships God in spirit and in truth. This is what the church must aim at in mission. Mission does not seek to turn sinners into saved individuals; it seeks, rather, to turn disparate individuals into a worshipping community.”

- Liturgical Theology, pg. 45.

I first began reading Simon Chan’s Liturgical Theology last summer when I was in St. Louis on a tour with the Air Force. As I pieced through my  notes to write this book preview, I realized how influential and timely Chan’s book was for me. Chan gives  stinging critique of some of Evangelicalism’s ‘bad habits’ (I would call it EPS: Enlightenment Presupposition Syndrome); however, Chan clearly states, “If my critique is severe, it is because the tradition is worth correcting.” Chan’s premier concern in the the book is not to bash Evangelicals (he is one), but to develop and articulate an ecclesiology (view of the church) that is rooted in Scripture, Church History, and worship.

After a page of acknowledgements and an introduction to the book, Chan plots a course that deals with two aspects of the church:

  1. Foundations:
    1. The Ontology of the Church
    2. The Worship of the Church
    3. The Shape of the Liturgy
    4. The Liturgy as Ecclesial Practice
  2. Practices:
    1. The Catechumenate
    2. The Sunday Liturgy
    3. Active Participation

Liturgical Theology uses an occasional theological word or two that the average person may not be acquainted with (I even learned a few new theological terms myself), but don’t let this deter you from working through this MUST READ book (a pocket dictionary of theological terms or a Google search will help).

THE BIG IDEA

“We are not saved as individuals first and then incorporated into the church; rather, to be a Christian is to be incorporated into the church by baptism and nourished by the spiritual food of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. Failure to understand this fact has led to a reduction of the church’s role to a largely sociological one of a service provider catering to individual believers’ spiritual needs.”

- Liturgical Theology, pg. 24.

Chan’s chapter on the “Ontology of the Church” awakened me to a deeper reality of what it means to be a member of the Church, the body of Christ. Chan echoes the famous assertion of Cyprian: “He who has not the Church for his mother, has not God for his Father.” Chan further develops the church’s ontological relationship with the triune God in terms of three biblical images: the people of God, body of Christ, and temple of the Spirit.

Seed Idea #1

“… truth is not part of living worship but is almost exclusively confined to the sermon… The operating assumption is that teaching people the right things will lead to right living… Right belief and right practice (orthopraxis) can only come from right worship (orthodoxia), and vice versa.”

- Liturgical Theology, pg. 52.

In the chapter on “The Worship of the Church,” one can find a treasure chest full of seed ideas concerning various aspects of worship. Chan develops his view of worship by looking at the dialectical nature of worship and theology. Chan refers to the use of liturgy in worship as participating in “primary theology.” It is out of this primary theology that secondary theology (Doctrine) arises.  There is a connection between the rule of praying (worship) and the rule of belief. A section that is particularly worth reading in this chapter is concerning worship and divine glory. God’s glory is characterized in the following ways: First, it can never be something we do for God. Second, it is its own end. Third, it is a response to God’s total character, more specifically to the triune God (53).

SEED IDEA #2

“Sunday points to the transformation of time. It is one of the days of the week, the first day, yet it points beyond present time to the new creation, the kingdom ‘not of this world, ‘ the eighth day. “By remaining one of the ordinary days, and yet by revealing itself through the Eucharist as the eighth and first day, it gave all days their true meaning. It made the time of this world a time of the end, and it made it also the time of the beginning.”

- Liturgical Theology, pg. 81.

Chan has a way of articulating the significance of liturgy in a way that is not sterile, dry, or lethargic. In studying the sacramental theology of the Reformation, I have found very few Reformers (perhaps maybe Calvin) who have articulated the eschatological nature of the Eucharist (as evidenced in the liturgies of the early Church). Chan does well in exploring the church calendar, liturgies, and sacraments in light of eschatology.

THE TAKE HOME

Whether or not you come from a sacramental background (Chan is ironically, a Pentecostal), Liturgical Theology remains a MUST READ for seminary students, pastors, and worship leaders.

The “Big Idea” About the “Golden Egg Format”

Posted on by

1

About a month ago I introduced you to what I deemed to be the “Golden Egg Format.” The purpose of the format was to give readers a simple and  coherent summary of a book. After reading this book preview, one should have a better idea whether or not they should purchase and read the entire book.

The driving force behind developing a user-friendly book preview format was for a new project that I was helping with called LeVite Camp. LeVite Camp is a website devoted to generating conversations about worship design in a way that goes beyond the “worship wars” of the 90s. LeVite Camp is a resource for young worship leaders, pastors, and the global church who desire to journey from a “professional pragmatism” concerning worship  to one marked by “doxological excellence.”

The feedback I got from fellow bloggers, J.D. Walt (http://www.jdwalt.com/) and Chad Brooks  (Outside is Better and PostModern Eschatology) is that the nomenclature in the format needs to be even more clear (plus the language of “Golden Egg” may be proprietary). Therefore, the format of previewing books will be now be called “The Big Idea.” It will still consist of 3 main parts: The summary and introduction, the “Big Idea” of the book, and 2-3 “Ideas” that are seeds for later thought development.

Chad sums up the purpose of blogs and of this book preview format when he says, “With blogging, especially doing this type of book preview (which is really good and needed) I think you should keep it as simple as possible…avoid anything that might either confuse or alienate people.”

Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail

Posted on by

0

Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals Are Attracted to the Liturgical Church

By: Robert E. Webber

Article written by: rm Kocak

“Why would I, the son of a Baptist minister, become an Episcopalian? Why would I , a graduate of Bob Jones University, walk the Canterbury Trail? Why would I, an ordained minister of the Reformed Presbyterian denomination, forsake my orders? Why would I, a professor at a main-line evangelical college, risk misunderstanding and put my career in a possible jeopardy to follow my heart?”

- Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail - page 11.

In Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail, Robert Webber (and friends) seek to answer the question of “Why.” He tells his personal testimony of the journey into liturgical worship in a way that doesn’t suggest a superiority of the Anglican tradition over any others. The entire book is highly personal in its tone and invites the reader to join with the author on his liturgical journey.

The Book is broken up into three distinct parts:

  1. Why the Anglican Tradition?
  2. Six Pilgrims Share Their Stories
  3. The Church of the Future.

During the first part of the book, Webber takes you on his own sacramental journey and what attracted him to liturgical worship. To that end Webber gives six themes or motifs in his journey: a return to mystery, a longing for the experience of Worship, a desire of sacramental reality, the search for spiritual identity, embracing the whole church, and growing into a holistic spirituality. In the second portion Webber invites six other evangelicals who have made similar pilgrimages to share their story. Finally, Webber concludes in a brief chapter in Part 3 with the renewal movement within liturgical worship. Webber stresses that evangelicals can bring a lot of beneficial elements into the liturgical tradition and not forsake an “evangelical identity” for a “liturgical identity.”

The BIG Idea

Experiencing Worship

“It amazes me that I went through seminary without a course in worship, without any professor asking me to address the question: What is worship all about … My longing for more satisfying worship grew as each route I took in worship led me to a dead-end street.”
- pg. 36.

The desire for an experiential, mysterious, and sacramental reality in worship drips from the beginning chapters, as Webber reflects on mystery, experience, and sacramental reality in liturgical worship. This journey is rooted for Weber in a visit to a Roman Catholic worship service before Easter, the worship of the early church fathers, and hosting “Agape meals” with students and friends.

Idea #1

Discovering A Spiritual Identity

“I was introduced to the “Trail of Blood” theory. True Christians, it was argued, always stood outside the established church.”
-pg 59

Webber comments on how he felt divorced from the greater Christian body of believers. Webber was indoctrinated to believe that a true Christian was to stand outside the organized religions of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and mainline Protestant denominations. Webber boldly discusses how he was rooted in the pride of the Puritans against Anglicans and Lutherans for what they perceive to be “rags of popery” and against Anabaptists for their pacifism. He said all these biases were good and fine until he would actually meet an Arminian, Lutheran, Anabaptist, or Roman Catholic who was devout in the Christian faith.

Idea #2

Eucharistic Spirituality

“Eucharistic Spirituality is the experience of being spiritually nourished and strengthened by eating the bread and drinking the wine… The mystery of what Christ did for me on the  cross reaches into my inner person in a way that I cannot describe.”
- Pg. 83.

Webber has a chapter on “Growing into a Holistic Spirituality” that really captures the essence of having a spirituality of experience; namely, to be in Christ. Both justification and sanctification are communicated at the Lord’s Supper in a tangible, physical way. Webber also shows the spirituality of experience in following the church year as a personal devotion.