Hearing the Music

Our Integrated Selves

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Over the past few Wednesday nights we have been wading into some of the percolating cultural issues (abortion, euthanasia, and gender confusion) seeking scriptural guidance both for understanding how to think about these topics and how best to respond. 

One of the main lenses we have been using for scriptural understanding is that of soul-body integration. Throughout the scriptures we see the presentation of humanity as an integrated whole: body, soul, spirit (cf. Genesis 1:26–27, Psalm 32:2–3, Psalm 44:25, Psalm 63:1, Proverbs 4:20-23, John 1:14, 1 Corinthians 15:12–13, 20–21, among many others). Each aspect of who we are is to be celebrated, not denigrated. Practically this means we can not separate our physical bodies from our personhood (i.e. sense of self).  In week 1, we saw how this separation has disastrous consequences when applied to abortion or euthanasia. If we allow for this separation, we find the leeway to kill a body because they are not yet, or are no longer, a "person". This past week, we noted how this idea of body-self separation figures prominently into much of the gender confusion as well. When we isolate who we are as a person apart from our bodies, our biological sex, etc.. we fail to recognize the beautiful unity of who God made us to be. This idea of soul-body unity is a foundational truth woven into creation, reaffirmed in both the incarnation and resurrection, and will be fully realized when Christ comes again and restores all things.

While this is objectively true and provides a backdrop for the Biblical understanding of preserving life, straightening out gender confusion, informing our sexual preferences, etc... it remains a fact that we live in a fallen world where confusion is real, life is hard, and the way forward often seems fuzzy. Part of what we have been grappling with is how do we as a church balance truth and grace in dealing with friends, family, folks in our Christian circles, as well as outside of those circles, who are struggling. This past Wednesday, we spent a little time in John 4 looking at Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman who came to draw water at the well. She was a woman who was in many ways an outcast, on the fringes of society, yet Jesus dealt with her in a way that saw her, gave her dignity and allowed her to reckon with some hard truths in her life. In his dealings with the woman, Jesus not only called her to leave something behind, but he invited her to something better, a life filled with truth and grace. It is an incredibly attractive approach and one that we would do well to live into. 

The call for the church to be the church may feel like a tall order in the 21st century amidst the backdrop of these thorny cultural issues. But as we will see Sunday in Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul earnestly prays for Christians in the 1st century to grab hold of the truths about God and leverage them into a life that is lived confidently and convincingly. This really is an incredibly encouraging chapter of scripture!

 

If you missed our time together Wednesday, or want to take a deeper dive into what we discussed, we recommend this resource from the Evangelical Association of the United Kingdom call Transformed.  In addition to helpful testimonies and clear teaching, there is a great bibliography for those wanting to go deeper still.

Posted by Andrew VanderMaas

What Matters Most

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It is always interesting when your avocation and vocation collide. Many of you know that for the last 15 years or so my avocation has been coaching basketball, from Jr. High girls to High School boys. In coaching, I have always tried to put my best foot forward, both interpersonally and strategically. Developing strategically is a joy, as I am both a student of the game and a fan. Along the way I found a kindred spirit in basketball writer Jonathan Tjarks. 

As a professional basketball writer, Tjarks was insightful, concise, and had a gift for breaking down personnel and analyzing strategy in a way that both fans and professionals alike could appreciate. But the real connection with Tjarks came as I learned of his conversion to the Christian faith. Coming out of a deeply secular background, he was quite literally snatched by God from a life of destruction (think Ephesians 1!) and placed on a Gospel path. Vocationally, he found himself in a very secular media outlet as a Christian, a topic he shared some observations on with The Gospel Coalition.

This feel good story took a seemingly dark turn a couple of years ago, when shortly after the birth of his first child, Jonathan was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that would tragically claim his life earlier this month. Prior to his passing, Tjarks spoke openly about his faith and the role that his church community was playing in his life, and that he hoped would continue to play in his son's life. He wrote a piece for the Ringer that was incredibly moving, speaking to the ongoing role of community entitled "Does my Son Know You?.

In an interview with David French and Curtis Strange on the Good Faith podcast, Tjarks talks about the role of the church in bringing him to faith, maintaining his faith, and sustaining him through his trial and beyond. I can't imagine what his wife and young son are going through right now, but they must be proud of the way that their husband and father faced his disease, and they too can find comfort in the truths that sustained Jonathan.

Watching this story play out has been an occasion to reflect on many things: my own mortality, the nature of the community that we are building here through Christ Church, the foundations that are being erected to withstand the day of trial, the sometimes unexpected junction of faith and work, the graciousness of God to turn even the hardest lives around, etc...  As we continue our journey through Ephesians 1, Paul culminates the glories of God with a marvelous highlighting of the inheritance that is ours in Christ sealed by the Spirit. It is the kind of truth that sustains the Tjarks and brings life to us all.

 

Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

Posted by Andrew VanderMaas

Food and Cheer

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Recently a newer attendee at Christ Church commented to my wife, “This church sure eats together a lot." I suppose that is true. From Wednesday night dinners, both in the Atrium and on the lawn, to C-Groups, to that food that appears at Bible Studies and session meetings, to gathering for breakfast and hosting one another for meals in the home, we do eat together a fair bit! As we noted in kicking off our Ephesians study, there is something about food that both identifies us and connects us to one another. In the shared vulnerability of hunger we draw close in ways that we might otherwise not.

One of the great creations of J.R.R. Tolkien are the merry little hobbits, a people that value good food, drink and good company. It was the very ordinariness of their delight that often protected them from falling prey to more sinister hungers. Tolkien illustrates this in The Hobbit through the character of Thorin Oakenshield. Thorin was the the leader of the band of dwarves intent on reclaiming their treasure from the dragon, Smaug. While they do recover the treasure, it is not without the treasure first grabbing hold of Thorin's heart and twisting it with greed. Along the way he becomes dark and bitter, and drives away friends that he should have kept close. Thorin does have a change of heart, though. As he lays dying, he says this to Bilbo, the hobbit, "“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

The Preacher of Ecclesiastes gives us a similar teaching, "There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? (Ecclesiastes 2:24–25)". Some have seen these so-called "Epicurean statements" of Ecclesiastes (3:I2, I3; 3:22; 5:18, I9; 8:15; 9:7-9) as a sort of throw up your hands, there is no point to life, might as well enjoy it kind of sentiment. Such statements do characterize that Greek hedonistic philosophy, but then one remembers that Solomon lived long before the Epicureans so we must be careful to read their meaning into these statements. When we take these statements in context of the rest of Ecclesiastes, Solomon does in fact seem to be saying, in all seriousness, 'Fear God and keep his commandments (12:13), and enjoy the little things in life that he has put before us’ — like eating together. So join us Wednesday night, or in a C-Group, or wherever as we continue to grab the casserole, gobble the cookies, and grow closer to one another even as we grow closer to the Lord.

This Sunday we will be joined by Great Lakes Presbytery church planter Ryan McVicar. About 10 years ago Ryan moved his family to the Detroit area and began a work that became New City Presbyterian Church (Ferndale). This past summer he stepped down from that work to begin a new plant under direction of the GLP in Ann Arbor. Ryan will be opening the word for us this Sunday, plugging into our Ephesians series by looking at chapter 1:7-10. 

 

Photo by Emma van der Veen

 

Posted by Andrew VanderMaas

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