O Come, all ye Broken
to the tune (obviously) of 'O come, all ye Faithful'
O Come, all ye broken
Hungry for salvation,
O come and receive from Christ forgiveness and grace
Come and behold Him giv'n for your salvation
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord
Yes, Lord, we greet you
Coming to your table
Your blood shed, your body broken
All to redeem
Glory to God, all glory in the highest.
O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him
O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord
© Rick Lindholtz, 2005
Monday
Diabetic Management
Diabetes invaded Miles' body over 7 years ago now, putting us on a steep learning curve. We started with shots - simple insulin therapy. But Miles was only 2 and couldn't tell us how he was feeling - which was lousy. Simple insulin therapy wasn't doing the trick and our strategy escalated to 5 shots a day with 2 different kinds of insulin. We still were not getting the control we needed. After about 20 months we swtitched to the Disetronic H-Plus Insulin pump, which greatly improved our control, since it gives Miles 480 tiny doses daily - every three minutes day and night. We also must give "bolus doses" in addition to all those "basal doses" - the boluses cover his carbohydrate intake. With the pump, Miles can eat whatever he wants, as long as it is covered by a bolus dose.
Several years back, some caring friends gave us a Palm Visor Pro PDA and accompanying hardware and software that turn it into a combination Palm Pilot/glucometer/record book. Into it we enter every blood glucose reading, every carb eaten, every amount of insulin dosed, notes on his exercise regimen, his insulin site changes, every opening of a new bottle or cartridge of insulin - everything related to his health management. Before his quarterly visit with his pediatric endocrinologist, we print up a month worth of info for Dr. Brosnan's review. (One day's worth of data is almost a full page in11 point type).
Because we have all this info and can sort and access it in various ways, we can spot trends quickly and adjust our strategy when things go wrong. We can easily identify good days and "perfect" days (blood checks 100% within the target range). They don't happen too often - 3-5 times a year.
Here's the good news: In the last 9 days Miles has had 1 perfect day and 3 almost perfect days (missing the target range just barely only once on each of those days). The result is that he now has a 7 day in-target rating of 67.7% That's unusually good! Several days back he had a three day in-target rating of over 90% - a number we have NEVER seen before.
This morning his 7-day average is 135 (the target range is 80-200, with an idealized goal-within-a-goal of 130-150), with a standard deviation of only 71 (the lower, the better).
This is all good. He feels good, and his long-term health prospects are the more hopeful when we get good control. It is an unbelievavble amount of work and emotional investment, but it is worth it. His PDA is nearing the end of its useful life and will be replaced soon, the glucometer add-on hardware is obsolete and off the market now, there's newer Palm software available (though it couldn't be too much of an improvement over what we have), his pump is off the market and about to be replaced with a newer version which we hope to get at some point in the future (since his pump was said to have a life of 5 years and it's going on 6 now) but his health is good.
Friday
Traditional Christmas - for us
CTK has a full slate on Saturday and Sunday. a 4 pm service designed for families with small children, at which I lead the music and Brian does a very interactive message. Traditional Christmas Eve services with choir and brass at 6 and 7:30, with Alicia, ElenaClaire and myself in the choir, and Brian and I doing a dramatic piece we wrote for this service; a 10:30 service that is a little more high church and includes Holy Communion. And a 10:30 AM Worship service (which is our custom EVERY CHristmas, not just those that fall on Sundays) at which I lead worship.
Since Christmas always has that heavy work component, we have a special Christmas meal at noon on Christmas Eve - and we usually have guests for dinner, which you can't do on Christmas Day since most people are with family that day.
The menu is also very traditional (for us) - Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno appetizers, Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas and beef tamales, Salad, Cranberry/Jalapeno relish, fudge, and strong coffee.
It doesn't get any better.
Since Christmas always has that heavy work component, we have a special Christmas meal at noon on Christmas Eve - and we usually have guests for dinner, which you can't do on Christmas Day since most people are with family that day.
The menu is also very traditional (for us) - Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno appetizers, Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas and beef tamales, Salad, Cranberry/Jalapeno relish, fudge, and strong coffee.
It doesn't get any better.
Thursday
Wednesday
Confession / Prayer to be a blessing to others
Heavenly Father, your love surrounds us:
A singular grace touching all our lives.
Yet so easily we live in darkness,
and we neglect the brilliance of Your love.
You pour one blessing after another
While we view the good filling up our lives
As our “good luck” or our entitlement.
You have positioned us uniquely to
extend Your blessing to those in our lives
-to our family, friends and acquaintances.
We hoard the grace you intend to be shared, while
those closest to us choke within themselves
their cries to sense Your Holy presence.
God, Forgive us for our cold distancing.
Savior, please forgive us for all our sins.
Fill us anew with your Holy Spirit.
Refresh our hearts to bless those around us,
So that we, and all people whom we touch
may rejoice in Your extravagant love.
Rick Lindholtz 2005
A singular grace touching all our lives.
Yet so easily we live in darkness,
and we neglect the brilliance of Your love.
You pour one blessing after another
While we view the good filling up our lives
As our “good luck” or our entitlement.
You have positioned us uniquely to
extend Your blessing to those in our lives
-to our family, friends and acquaintances.
We hoard the grace you intend to be shared, while
those closest to us choke within themselves
their cries to sense Your Holy presence.
God, Forgive us for our cold distancing.
Savior, please forgive us for all our sins.
Fill us anew with your Holy Spirit.
Refresh our hearts to bless those around us,
So that we, and all people whom we touch
may rejoice in Your extravagant love.
Rick Lindholtz 2005
Tuesday
To a Divorcing friend
That’s a good start. You opened the envelope. I’ll take that as a compliment. I have no particular reason to believe that my name on the return address would prompt you to do so. And from what I gather, your decisions of late have not shown a lot of good judgment, so I figure there’s a good chance that • you won’t open the envelope; or that • you’ll stop reading before the end of the letter; or that • you’ll get to the end of it and write it and me off, concluding “he doesn’t know what he’s talking about…because he doesn’t know me in the first place. Not the real me. I was hiding, faking it the whole time I knew him.”
So why write? Beats me. It’s 2 AM, I woke up thinking about you and I can’t get back to sleep is a pretty good reason. Maybe if I write this all down I can salvage a couple more hours of sleep.
I don’t buy the part about not knowing you, if you were thinking that. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen enough to know that the enemy of our souls is a deceiver. He starts by lying to the man (or woman) in question. Then he gets us to lie to ourselves. Finally he gets us to start lying to our spouse and to our children and to our friends and to the people who have held significance for us over the past. That last step is the easiest.
Some of the lies I have heard other people say are “I never loved you” (which cuts no ice because it presumes I’m too stupid or inexperienced to be able to spot a faker). or “I still love you” spoken to a spouse, which is only true if love means some vaguely sentimental feeling or some claptrap like that. (I saw her on Sunday. Love doesn’t do what I see happening to her). To paraphrase Harry Truman, that kind of love isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit. Give me the muscular, sinewy love of acting selflessly for the good of another to whom a lifetime of promises have been made. Easy? No. Worthwhile? Yes.
Yeah, the lies of Satan are pretty unoriginal. I have been known to quip that there must be a book of lines people use when they walk out on their partners, because they always say the same things.
A truer statement would be “I decided my kids need to have 2 divorces in their future”. Two, because they’ll go through this one, and then, as statistics suggest, they’ll go through their own. Just as children of suicides are more likely to attempt suicide, children of divorce are more likely to divorce or be divorced in the future. No matter their age when they watched it.
Still reading? Thank you very much. Seriously. Because the odds are as I sit here that this is our final communication. Really, when you think about it. I mean, you appear to have chosen a path, and we truly are not so close that I expect this letter to influence your next steps. So having seen it play out before, my guess is that you may or may not keep this letter even a day, but whatever you do, you’ll write me off as one of those who just don’t understand. (But I do care. I wouldn’t be up at this hour if I didn’t.)
And maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t understand some things. But some things I do understand. For example, I do not know whether you are currently experiencing joy (not happiness, joy). You might be feeling exhilaration like someone on a roller coaster. I will tell you this – it will not last. It’s not a roller coaster, it’s just the first two hills. Then the tracks end in ruin.
But I don’t know, like I said. Exhilaration might not be your experience right now. It’s at least as likely that you’re deeply depressed and riding a guilt coaster. Figuring that you are beyond forgiveness and grace. And so as James Taylor said in the song “Secret o’ life”: “Since we’re on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride”.
The bottom line is, I believe your life still has value and the capacity for salvage. Spiritually, that will always be true. But you have placed yourself and your marriage on a path that will move you to places cut off from the chance to restore. And there may come a day – in all likelihood there will, based on my observations – when you will wish you had taken another try. Wish someone had added one more voice to those seeking to pull you back from the destruction that lies ahead.
I care. I think you have worth, hope and a future. I don’t write you off, though you perhaps have or may be writing me off.
So when the crash does happen (as it will, if you continue) I will feel pain, because you matter to me. I believe even now the crash can be avoided.
Now or later – you can contact me. If we lose track you can always find me on Google (or whatever may have replaced it down the road). There aren’t many of us with my last name, and right now if you Google me, you’ll find me. So I close with this: May you find joy. It’s out there and it is not far from you right now. But it is not on the current track.
So why write? Beats me. It’s 2 AM, I woke up thinking about you and I can’t get back to sleep is a pretty good reason. Maybe if I write this all down I can salvage a couple more hours of sleep.
I don’t buy the part about not knowing you, if you were thinking that. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen enough to know that the enemy of our souls is a deceiver. He starts by lying to the man (or woman) in question. Then he gets us to lie to ourselves. Finally he gets us to start lying to our spouse and to our children and to our friends and to the people who have held significance for us over the past. That last step is the easiest.
Some of the lies I have heard other people say are “I never loved you” (which cuts no ice because it presumes I’m too stupid or inexperienced to be able to spot a faker). or “I still love you” spoken to a spouse, which is only true if love means some vaguely sentimental feeling or some claptrap like that. (I saw her on Sunday. Love doesn’t do what I see happening to her). To paraphrase Harry Truman, that kind of love isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit. Give me the muscular, sinewy love of acting selflessly for the good of another to whom a lifetime of promises have been made. Easy? No. Worthwhile? Yes.
Yeah, the lies of Satan are pretty unoriginal. I have been known to quip that there must be a book of lines people use when they walk out on their partners, because they always say the same things.
A truer statement would be “I decided my kids need to have 2 divorces in their future”. Two, because they’ll go through this one, and then, as statistics suggest, they’ll go through their own. Just as children of suicides are more likely to attempt suicide, children of divorce are more likely to divorce or be divorced in the future. No matter their age when they watched it.
Still reading? Thank you very much. Seriously. Because the odds are as I sit here that this is our final communication. Really, when you think about it. I mean, you appear to have chosen a path, and we truly are not so close that I expect this letter to influence your next steps. So having seen it play out before, my guess is that you may or may not keep this letter even a day, but whatever you do, you’ll write me off as one of those who just don’t understand. (But I do care. I wouldn’t be up at this hour if I didn’t.)
And maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t understand some things. But some things I do understand. For example, I do not know whether you are currently experiencing joy (not happiness, joy). You might be feeling exhilaration like someone on a roller coaster. I will tell you this – it will not last. It’s not a roller coaster, it’s just the first two hills. Then the tracks end in ruin.
But I don’t know, like I said. Exhilaration might not be your experience right now. It’s at least as likely that you’re deeply depressed and riding a guilt coaster. Figuring that you are beyond forgiveness and grace. And so as James Taylor said in the song “Secret o’ life”: “Since we’re on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride”.
The bottom line is, I believe your life still has value and the capacity for salvage. Spiritually, that will always be true. But you have placed yourself and your marriage on a path that will move you to places cut off from the chance to restore. And there may come a day – in all likelihood there will, based on my observations – when you will wish you had taken another try. Wish someone had added one more voice to those seeking to pull you back from the destruction that lies ahead.
I care. I think you have worth, hope and a future. I don’t write you off, though you perhaps have or may be writing me off.
So when the crash does happen (as it will, if you continue) I will feel pain, because you matter to me. I believe even now the crash can be avoided.
Now or later – you can contact me. If we lose track you can always find me on Google (or whatever may have replaced it down the road). There aren’t many of us with my last name, and right now if you Google me, you’ll find me. So I close with this: May you find joy. It’s out there and it is not far from you right now. But it is not on the current track.
Thursday
The Drama for Christmas Eve
I am having more fun with Brian, our Vicar (Student Pastor from Seminary). Like myself, he was a Fine Arts major in college and is a fine actor. Al asked us to come up with a drama that would lead into the message for three of our four Christmas Eve Services (What we came up with will not work for our Family friendly 4:00 pm service designed with small kids in mind).
We wanted to do a drama involving the shepherds, but we didn't want to give away the farm. So we workshopped the idea for about 2 hours on Tuesday morning. There was no script and still isn't, otherwise I would post it. But the basic vision involves two guys walking into a Coffee bar and talking. They've just witnessed something bizarre. There's LOTS of silence between them - the idea can be descibed in 90 seconds but it will play for 9 minutes. They are filled with questions: Does this kind of thing happen at work all the time? (No).That part about not being afraid; I was afraid (oh, you were not...really?) But the funny thing is I am not afraid any more. What does it all mean? And those words... Savior - saved? From what? From this crummy job? From Danger? And that other word - Christ? You don't really believe that that little baby is - you know - who they said he was? (I don't know). (At that point they are lost in silence again until they begin to laugh and just start laughing so hard at the very idea of it all.) One of them says "I'll tell you this much - I gotta tell someone about this". Then they recall the music they heard - how beautiful it was - how peaceful. Finally: "But seriously - do you think he could be - you know - who they said?" "Yeah."
I know that sounds hard to imagine as a 9 minute drama, but that's where we're going.
I'm hoping to videotape it and maybe even have it in a form that can be posted. I'll keep you informed.
We wanted to do a drama involving the shepherds, but we didn't want to give away the farm. So we workshopped the idea for about 2 hours on Tuesday morning. There was no script and still isn't, otherwise I would post it. But the basic vision involves two guys walking into a Coffee bar and talking. They've just witnessed something bizarre. There's LOTS of silence between them - the idea can be descibed in 90 seconds but it will play for 9 minutes. They are filled with questions: Does this kind of thing happen at work all the time? (No).That part about not being afraid; I was afraid (oh, you were not...really?) But the funny thing is I am not afraid any more. What does it all mean? And those words... Savior - saved? From what? From this crummy job? From Danger? And that other word - Christ? You don't really believe that that little baby is - you know - who they said he was? (I don't know). (At that point they are lost in silence again until they begin to laugh and just start laughing so hard at the very idea of it all.) One of them says "I'll tell you this much - I gotta tell someone about this". Then they recall the music they heard - how beautiful it was - how peaceful. Finally: "But seriously - do you think he could be - you know - who they said?" "Yeah."
I know that sounds hard to imagine as a 9 minute drama, but that's where we're going.
I'm hoping to videotape it and maybe even have it in a form that can be posted. I'll keep you informed.
Saturday
Narnia Radio Theatre
For several years I've known that a radio dramatization of all seven chronicles of Narnia was available. I've thought many times that I'd like to hear a portion and perhaps buy it.
While we were in southern California for my niece's wedding I noticed my sister had the set, and since we were driving to San Diego for Thanksgiving, I asked if we could borrow the set for the drive. We decided on the final book, The last Battle.
I was breathless. This is a must have.
Click here to see this great item on Amazon. (Linked via Brad's website, so that if you buy, some of the money goes back into ministry. One of these days Brad I'll work up sponsorship links as well.)
Friday
Baptism in The Covenant 3: Why does this discussion matter?
1. It matters to the Ministerium.
As pastors and churches communicate to their members who we are, their accuracy and clarity is important so that their members have a clear picture. This is a Ministerium issue because, in all likelihood, at some point in the future Covenant ministers will be exploring new avenues of ministry. If a local church body has not clearly understood the breadth that exists in The Covenant, its pulpit vacancy may effectively become a closed door for pastors who reflect the best qualities of Covenant freedom and openness – simply because the local church in question is not looking for a Covenant pastor, but for a pastor who holds baptism convictions in a more specific and limited way than The Covenant as a whole does. Ministerium members may find The Covenant, their own denomination, a less welcoming environment to its own pastors.
2. It matters to the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism.
Church planting is a specialized form of ministry, and I fully support the way The Department actively recruits and trains Church Planters (Incidentally, the pastor of the church whose website I have quoted is not a pastor brought in from outside The Covenant). I hope that such recruited pastors are clearly understanding and following the commitments they make in signing the policy. The danger is that churches don’t ever catch the ethos of freedom in The Covenant.
3. It matters to North Park Theological Seminary
It is still true, to the best of my knowledge, that most new pastors in The Covenant are North Park trained. And that’s a good thing, because North Park does such a good job of preparing pastors for ministry within that ethos of freedom. But if churches lose contact with that, and seek pastors with a less-open mindset they may have been taught (intentionally or not) by their previous pastors, a NPTS education may begin to have less credibility to churches seeking staff. Already there is evidence of a preference for clergy from outside The Covenant. And while I have nothing but good to say about almost all of the pastors I know who have entered Covenant ministry from outside – my own home church’s pastor and one of my most intimate friends and mentors among them – it may begin to bother NPTS graduates when they find themselves being passed over in favor of pastors from outside The Covenant.
As pastors and churches communicate to their members who we are, their accuracy and clarity is important so that their members have a clear picture. This is a Ministerium issue because, in all likelihood, at some point in the future Covenant ministers will be exploring new avenues of ministry. If a local church body has not clearly understood the breadth that exists in The Covenant, its pulpit vacancy may effectively become a closed door for pastors who reflect the best qualities of Covenant freedom and openness – simply because the local church in question is not looking for a Covenant pastor, but for a pastor who holds baptism convictions in a more specific and limited way than The Covenant as a whole does. Ministerium members may find The Covenant, their own denomination, a less welcoming environment to its own pastors.
2. It matters to the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism.
Church planting is a specialized form of ministry, and I fully support the way The Department actively recruits and trains Church Planters (Incidentally, the pastor of the church whose website I have quoted is not a pastor brought in from outside The Covenant). I hope that such recruited pastors are clearly understanding and following the commitments they make in signing the policy. The danger is that churches don’t ever catch the ethos of freedom in The Covenant.
3. It matters to North Park Theological Seminary
It is still true, to the best of my knowledge, that most new pastors in The Covenant are North Park trained. And that’s a good thing, because North Park does such a good job of preparing pastors for ministry within that ethos of freedom. But if churches lose contact with that, and seek pastors with a less-open mindset they may have been taught (intentionally or not) by their previous pastors, a NPTS education may begin to have less credibility to churches seeking staff. Already there is evidence of a preference for clergy from outside The Covenant. And while I have nothing but good to say about almost all of the pastors I know who have entered Covenant ministry from outside – my own home church’s pastor and one of my most intimate friends and mentors among them – it may begin to bother NPTS graduates when they find themselves being passed over in favor of pastors from outside The Covenant.
Baptism in The Covenant 2: A case study in how we Communicate
These comments arose from reading the website of a Covenant Church. I know the pastor, though not well, from the period when we served in the same conference. I am not seeking to criticize him, his church or his ministry, but just to explore the way in which we tell people who we are and how we practice our faith.
The website homepage links to its baptism web page with a link inviting the reader to “Get dunked! Click here to register for baptism.” My interest was caught by what sounded, to me, like “professing believer baptism only” language. I wondered: Does this church practice baptism the way its home page suggests? So I followed the link to the baptism page.
Website: “Once a person admits that he or she is a sinner and turns to Christ for salvation, the Bible says the watching world needs to know.”
1. This statement is written exclusively from a professing believer baptism perspective. And if this web page represents the pastor’s perspective, that’s OK, since “Covenant pastors may, and must hold their own convictions concerning baptism”. If it represents this local church’s perspective, and if the church’s Constitution follows the model constitution in affirming that “While the denomination has traditionally practiced the baptism of infants, in conformity with its principle of freedom it has also recognized the practice of believer baptism”, it raises the question of whether the web page reflects the Covenant character of the church.
2. Covenant Pastors commit themselves to administer both infant and professing believer baptism. Would anyone know of this pastor’s commitment from reading this Covenant Church’s web page on baptism? If not, it is a matter of concern. It’s partly a matter of honesty and full disclosure. It would be unwise in the extreme to represent a Covenant Church as though it were a church making room for professing believer baptism only, when any Covenant pastor who serves that church now or in the future must make the commitment referenced above.
Website: “Baptism has always stood as a kind of public test for people who have moved from being a unconvinced into being a believer.”
This statement just caught my attention because, first of all I am not convinced it is accurate, and certainly doesn’t seem to come out of the scriptural text at the top of the page (Acts 8:34-38). The baptism of the Ethiopian was neither public nor a test. I guess my response to the sentence comes in the form of the classic question, “Where is it written?” I took the time to go to Bible Gateway and do a keyword search on “bapt*” in the New Testament. I certainly didn’t see any public test language.
Website: Believers are those who have realized that their sin has separated them from God. They have given up all efforts to reach God through good works or religious activity. They have concluded that Jesus Christ's death on the cross for their sins is the only thing that can bridge the gap between them and God. A believer is someone who has decided to trust Christ alone for his or her salvation.
While I’ve included this whole paragraph, it was really the last sentence that caught my attention. I thought that a believer is someone who trusts Christ alone for his or her salvation. By grace we are saved through faith, Ephesians tells us – not through any decision or choice we make. Maybe it’s splitting hairs, and I’ll allow that charge to be made. But I think it is a distinction with a difference. How many people allow a decision to function as a good work or religious activity in their spiritual life? “Of course I’m saved – I went forward (or I decided, or I chose, or I prayed the prayer)?” Speaking personally, I have done all those things, and as a personal evangelism trainer and associate for The Covenant since 1991 I have taught on this topic many times. We are not secure in Christ because of what we have done. We are secure because of the grace He has given us to trust in what He has done. Isn’t that right? And if it is, shouldn’t we be careful to make sure our communication carries that message?
In the section of the page headed “Biblical Passages”, the author further articulates a perspective on baptism following faith – i.e., professing believer baptism. I’m not going to challenge the content there from a theological perspective, since The Covenant does make room for both baptismal positions.
I love the fact that, as the policy states, “The Covenant chooses to respect the biblical positions of both infant and believer baptism equally”. I deeply respect the Statement’s observation that “The new birth created a strong bond among believers that would not be broken by differences over baptism. The result was that the doctrine of the church took priority over the theology of the sacraments.” Recognizing that “infant and believer baptism are in fact mutually exclusive at critical points of theology and practice”, I am grateful to every Covenant pastor who submits to The Covenant’s policy “for the unity of the church…acting out of respect for the convictions of the people they serve”. I believe that is a perspective unique among church bodies (though certainly not exclusive to The Covenant) and that rather than letting it be hidden by its absence in a church’s public communication, it should be highlighted and honored. It’s one of the features that makes The Covenant such a wonderful body in which to do ministry.
The website homepage links to its baptism web page with a link inviting the reader to “Get dunked! Click here to register for baptism.” My interest was caught by what sounded, to me, like “professing believer baptism only” language. I wondered: Does this church practice baptism the way its home page suggests? So I followed the link to the baptism page.
Website: “Once a person admits that he or she is a sinner and turns to Christ for salvation, the Bible says the watching world needs to know.”
1. This statement is written exclusively from a professing believer baptism perspective. And if this web page represents the pastor’s perspective, that’s OK, since “Covenant pastors may, and must hold their own convictions concerning baptism”. If it represents this local church’s perspective, and if the church’s Constitution follows the model constitution in affirming that “While the denomination has traditionally practiced the baptism of infants, in conformity with its principle of freedom it has also recognized the practice of believer baptism”, it raises the question of whether the web page reflects the Covenant character of the church.
2. Covenant Pastors commit themselves to administer both infant and professing believer baptism. Would anyone know of this pastor’s commitment from reading this Covenant Church’s web page on baptism? If not, it is a matter of concern. It’s partly a matter of honesty and full disclosure. It would be unwise in the extreme to represent a Covenant Church as though it were a church making room for professing believer baptism only, when any Covenant pastor who serves that church now or in the future must make the commitment referenced above.
Website: “Baptism has always stood as a kind of public test for people who have moved from being a unconvinced into being a believer.”
This statement just caught my attention because, first of all I am not convinced it is accurate, and certainly doesn’t seem to come out of the scriptural text at the top of the page (Acts 8:34-38). The baptism of the Ethiopian was neither public nor a test. I guess my response to the sentence comes in the form of the classic question, “Where is it written?” I took the time to go to Bible Gateway and do a keyword search on “bapt*” in the New Testament. I certainly didn’t see any public test language.
Website: Believers are those who have realized that their sin has separated them from God. They have given up all efforts to reach God through good works or religious activity. They have concluded that Jesus Christ's death on the cross for their sins is the only thing that can bridge the gap between them and God. A believer is someone who has decided to trust Christ alone for his or her salvation.
While I’ve included this whole paragraph, it was really the last sentence that caught my attention. I thought that a believer is someone who trusts Christ alone for his or her salvation. By grace we are saved through faith, Ephesians tells us – not through any decision or choice we make. Maybe it’s splitting hairs, and I’ll allow that charge to be made. But I think it is a distinction with a difference. How many people allow a decision to function as a good work or religious activity in their spiritual life? “Of course I’m saved – I went forward (or I decided, or I chose, or I prayed the prayer)?” Speaking personally, I have done all those things, and as a personal evangelism trainer and associate for The Covenant since 1991 I have taught on this topic many times. We are not secure in Christ because of what we have done. We are secure because of the grace He has given us to trust in what He has done. Isn’t that right? And if it is, shouldn’t we be careful to make sure our communication carries that message?
In the section of the page headed “Biblical Passages”, the author further articulates a perspective on baptism following faith – i.e., professing believer baptism. I’m not going to challenge the content there from a theological perspective, since The Covenant does make room for both baptismal positions.
I love the fact that, as the policy states, “The Covenant chooses to respect the biblical positions of both infant and believer baptism equally”. I deeply respect the Statement’s observation that “The new birth created a strong bond among believers that would not be broken by differences over baptism. The result was that the doctrine of the church took priority over the theology of the sacraments.” Recognizing that “infant and believer baptism are in fact mutually exclusive at critical points of theology and practice”, I am grateful to every Covenant pastor who submits to The Covenant’s policy “for the unity of the church…acting out of respect for the convictions of the people they serve”. I believe that is a perspective unique among church bodies (though certainly not exclusive to The Covenant) and that rather than letting it be hidden by its absence in a church’s public communication, it should be highlighted and honored. It’s one of the features that makes The Covenant such a wonderful body in which to do ministry.
Baptism in The Covenant 1: Introduction
These are not fighting words. Let me make that much clear. I realize that peoples’ and pastors’ theologies are dearly held convictions, and to challenge their beliefs and practices is stepping where angels fear to tread. But I am not throwing rocks. Rather, I am looking at what is communicated by Covenant people, churches and pastors regarding who we are and how we live out our faith: Covenant identity and practice. And the issue that raises this series of posts is how we live out our identity in the area of baptism.
We need to start from common ground. Firstly, I am writing from a perspective of love for The Evangelical Covenant Church, and deep respect for my colleagues in ministry.
Secondly, If you are unfamiliar with the Covenant’s baptismal perspective, you’ll need to read these two documents, or else what follows will not make much sense:
Here is The Covenant’s Policy on Baptism, which every Covenant Pastor is required to sign in order to be ordained.
And here is a Statement on Baptism in The Covenant (pdf format), which explains a lot of the theology and sociology behind our policy.
MY PERSPECTIVE
I am writing from a perspective that is fairly unique in The Covenant. I am currently serve on the ministry staff of Christ the King, a Lutheran church of about 1000 people in Kingwood, Texas (suburban Houston). I am Director of Communications at CTK, a thriving and healthy contemporary church – very contemporary in the context of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod – and in fact my guess is that most Covenant people could attend CTK and feel right at home. In fact one Covenant friend visited us in Kingwood, and after worship, commented that she felt as though she had been in a Covenant Church.
I am deeply thankful for the blessing of serving this wonderful church alongside so many gifted and godly believers, both lay and ordained, on and off of the staff. But my perspective is also colored by my history. While God’s sovereign hand has led me to this place, the journey occurred through the experience of serving two Covenant Churches that were characterized by a lot of dysfunction. As a result I found myself twice pressured out of Covenant ministry. Neither church continues in ministry: The dysfunction that was present before my arrival continued after my departure and eventually closed the churches. And you need to trust me: When an ordained pastor in The Evangelical Covenant Church longs to be in pastoral ministry in The Covenant and has been led by God out of that ministry context for a season, one watches with great interest The Covenant’s doings, hopeful that some day in God’s sovereignty an opportunity might be provided to return to that context for ministry. One carries a concern about how readily re-entry to Covenant ministry can be accomplished (Indeed, there is not a little anxiety in me as I write these words and reflect on how their appearance on a public forum like my blog might impact my ability to return to Covenant ministry when God’s season for me at CTK is concluded.)
There are those Covenant pastors, of course, who do not wish to return to ministry at all, or to ministry in The Covenant. I do not write from the perspective of these friends in Christ.
While the policy states that “Covenant pastors may, and must hold their own convictions concerning baptism”, I am, as I put it in my Pastoral Profile, “sincerely, genuinely non-partisan on the issue of baptism. I am pro-baptism”. I don’t really “have a dog” in this discussion. I write in the interest of accurate and compelling communication.
As Director of Communications at CTK (Here’s what that means), among many other tasks I am responsible for website development (and am in the midst of a major re-working this week, in fact). I surf a lot of church websites. And because of my heart for The Covenant, I surf a lot of Covenant websites. And I see what appears to me to be (at least) confusing communication about who we are and how we live out our faith and commitments - specifically in the theology and practice of baptism.
In my next installment I will address the specifics of my observations.
We need to start from common ground. Firstly, I am writing from a perspective of love for The Evangelical Covenant Church, and deep respect for my colleagues in ministry.
Secondly, If you are unfamiliar with the Covenant’s baptismal perspective, you’ll need to read these two documents, or else what follows will not make much sense:
Here is The Covenant’s Policy on Baptism, which every Covenant Pastor is required to sign in order to be ordained.
And here is a Statement on Baptism in The Covenant (pdf format), which explains a lot of the theology and sociology behind our policy.
MY PERSPECTIVE
I am writing from a perspective that is fairly unique in The Covenant. I am currently serve on the ministry staff of Christ the King, a Lutheran church of about 1000 people in Kingwood, Texas (suburban Houston). I am Director of Communications at CTK, a thriving and healthy contemporary church – very contemporary in the context of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod – and in fact my guess is that most Covenant people could attend CTK and feel right at home. In fact one Covenant friend visited us in Kingwood, and after worship, commented that she felt as though she had been in a Covenant Church.
I am deeply thankful for the blessing of serving this wonderful church alongside so many gifted and godly believers, both lay and ordained, on and off of the staff. But my perspective is also colored by my history. While God’s sovereign hand has led me to this place, the journey occurred through the experience of serving two Covenant Churches that were characterized by a lot of dysfunction. As a result I found myself twice pressured out of Covenant ministry. Neither church continues in ministry: The dysfunction that was present before my arrival continued after my departure and eventually closed the churches. And you need to trust me: When an ordained pastor in The Evangelical Covenant Church longs to be in pastoral ministry in The Covenant and has been led by God out of that ministry context for a season, one watches with great interest The Covenant’s doings, hopeful that some day in God’s sovereignty an opportunity might be provided to return to that context for ministry. One carries a concern about how readily re-entry to Covenant ministry can be accomplished (Indeed, there is not a little anxiety in me as I write these words and reflect on how their appearance on a public forum like my blog might impact my ability to return to Covenant ministry when God’s season for me at CTK is concluded.)
There are those Covenant pastors, of course, who do not wish to return to ministry at all, or to ministry in The Covenant. I do not write from the perspective of these friends in Christ.
While the policy states that “Covenant pastors may, and must hold their own convictions concerning baptism”, I am, as I put it in my Pastoral Profile, “sincerely, genuinely non-partisan on the issue of baptism. I am pro-baptism”. I don’t really “have a dog” in this discussion. I write in the interest of accurate and compelling communication.
As Director of Communications at CTK (Here’s what that means), among many other tasks I am responsible for website development (and am in the midst of a major re-working this week, in fact). I surf a lot of church websites. And because of my heart for The Covenant, I surf a lot of Covenant websites. And I see what appears to me to be (at least) confusing communication about who we are and how we live out our faith and commitments - specifically in the theology and practice of baptism.
In my next installment I will address the specifics of my observations.
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