occasional epistles of grace and peace...

new blog up and running

2008-08-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends,

I'm now blogging regularly on Wordpress. I've transferred all of my posts from Occasional Epistles to the new blog. Look for sermons, Bible class material, devotions and Stone-Campbell studies at http://www.mcgarveyice.wordpress.com/.

new blog

2008-06-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

I've been toying with a Wordpress blog for several months now. So tonight I'm making the jump.

Look for me at www.mcgarveyice.wordpress.com.

---------
In other news, more important news...Laura has been advised by her dr. not to do anything beyond what she must do. This is a step or two away from bed rest (which we barely escaped for over 3 months with Darby). Laura is fine, the baby is fine. But the baby can't come for at least 4-7 weeks. It siply can't happen, its not an option (the dr.'s words). So in order to keep that from happening the remainder of the household tasks have fallen to me. And I'm in the middle of moving my study downstairs, and we have the summer research season upon us at DCHS. We've got a lot going on and what I'm looking for is simplicity. Right now blogging is one more thing to do.

How about launching a new blog only to have it sit dormant for most of the summer? But it looks like it will be that way.

---------

Briefly: Darby and Ella are doing well and (bragging Dad alert) doing their part (most of the time) to make Laura's life easier during the day. We're holding our own in Nashville; as always friends, grace and peace to you.

quote without comment

2008-05-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

May God help each and every one of us to love each other, and help each other, and trust each other. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.”

---------

S. R. Cassius, The Letter and Spirit of Giving and The Race Problem. Tohee, Oklahoma, nd., p. 30.

These are Cassius’ closing words of the pamphlet. After his text he reproduces Cowper’s poem “The Negro’s Complaint.”

Henri on the way

2008-05-09T10:55:00.001-07:00

Several days ago I commented that Henri Nouwen’s The Wounded Healer merited another read. So Henri and I have shared some late night reading time, and I’m mulling it over before posting. Stay tuned for several reflective posts.

sermon chart video

2008-05-01T09:29:00.001-07:00

One of my colleagues passed this along. It is a sermon, complete with a large bed-sheet sermon chart. About two years ago I blogged about DCHS’ acquisition of Noble Tester’s collection of sermon charts (http://mcgarveyice.blogspot.com/2006/04/noble-tester-collection.html). The chart in the youtube sermon bears some resemblance, in content and in style, to a few in the Tester collection. Thought you would enjoy seeing a sermon-chart sermon in action.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3MSEQJz3mWQ

Bobby, John Mark and Henri

2008-04-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

I’ve been following John Mark’s and Bobby’s blogs concerning their divorces, and the web of emotions, of questions, of theology, and of ministry in which they find themselves.

I hurt for my wounded friends. You can look through about the last month’s worth of blogs for their respective stories (see http://www.stoned-campbelldisciple.blogspot.com/ and http://www.johnmarkhicks.wordpress.com/). They each refer to several books they have found helpful. I’ll venture another to the list: If you haven’t read Henri Nouwen’s The Wounded Healer, you should. It ought to be required reading for every Bible and religion major and every seminarian. I think I’ve read it, or in it, about a half-dozen times in the last ten years. I plan to reread it again tonight. Thankfully the day is over, or coming to an end, when ministers were almost universally larger than life pedestal dwellers. To acknowledge the reality that both brokenness and the movement of God’s grace are the warp and woof of ministry is not only healthy for the ‘minister’ but for the rest of us as well. If we do not minister as wounded healers, if we do not minister out of our brokenness and sustained by God’s healing, then pray tell, how else will we minister? And if we as a church will not acknowledge the movement of God’s grace among our broken ‘ministers’, then how will a broken world take seriously the gospel we proclaim? At this point, Henri Nouwen has something to say to us. And I know that out of their experiences John Mark and Bobby will have a good word for us.

Another book that is now at the top of my to-read stack is Rubel Shelly’s Divorce and Remarriage, A Redemptive Theology. I’ve had it for several months, but now I think is the time to take it up. Perhaps tomorrow I will blog a few lines in reflection.

-------

As for other matters: baby is fine, Laura is doing well, Darby is putting the finishing touches on Kindergarten, and Ella doesn’t know what to do with herself since she will be a big sister. Had a wonderful weekend with Laura's folks. We now own a mini-van. Suburbs…minivan…don’t let the trappings fool you, we’re trying hard to keep our souls. Maybe this week I can till up the fallow ground for this season’s garden. Sunday we’ll be asked to stand up “so everyone can know you” as new members at Smyrna Church of Christ (don’t hold it against them).

A Christian Minister's Library.

2008-04-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

To that portion of the Christian ministry who can read the Sacred Scriptures, in their original tongues, and who, from their education, must frequently stand on the walls of Zion, to defend the Ark of the Covenant from the assaults of Infidels and Heresiarchs, we recommend the following library, as a portion of their armor and munitions of war, offensive and defensive:
1. The Hebrew Bible--Simonis Biblia Hebraica
2. Analysis Critica Practica, Psalmorum. This valuable work gives a critical analysis of every word in the Psalms of David. 3. Gesenius' Hebrew and English Lexicon, or Baxter's Analytic Dictionary. 4. Leigh's Critica Sacra. 5. Septuagint, Leipsic edition. 6. The London Polyglott, containing eight languages--Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and common English version. This is a great luxury. It may be purchased for $70, neatly bound. 7. Campbell's Four Gospels. 8. McKnight's Epistles. 9. Stuart's Translation of the Romans, with critical notes. 10. Stuart's translation of the Hebrews, with critical notes. 11. Robinson's Harmony of the Four Gospels, in Greek. 12. The Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament. 13. Robertson's Greek Lexicon, Canterbury edition, 1676, if it can be found; if not, Scapula. 14. Bretschneider's lexicon. 15. The English Hexapla, London, 1841. This valuable work contains the Greek text, after Scholz, with the various readings of the received text, and the principal Constantinopolitan and Alexandrine manuscripts, and a complete collection of Scholz text, with Griesbach's edition of A.D. 1805. The six versions are Wickliffe's, Tyndal's, Cranmer's, Genevan, Anglo-Rhemish, Authorized, 1611. There is in it a valuable historical account of the English translations.
16. For everyday use, Greenfield's Greek New Testament, with a Greek and English Lexicon annexed. 17. Bloomfield's do. 18. The Critical Greek and English New Testament, with the Greek text of Scholz; readings textual and marginal, of Griesbach, with the variations of Stevens, Beza, and Elzivir, London edition. These last constitute the itinerating Christian preacher's vade mecum.
For the evangelists and elders of churches, who read only the English tongues, we commend the following. [Such of those in our first class who have not the following works, had better, if convenient, add them to their library.]
1. The Common English Version of the Polyglott Bible, London edition. 2. The Holy Bible, containing the authorized version, with some 20,000 emendations or alterations, plates and maps. It is, indeed, in itself, a condensed and valuable commentary on the Common Version. 3. Cruden's English Concordance. 4. Townsend's Bible. 5. Coit's Bible. 6. Horne's Introduction, 4 volumes. 7. Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, 2 vols., London. 8. Prideaux Connections. 9. Shuckford's Connections. 10. Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible. 11. Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Ed. by J. Newton Brown. 12. Giesler's Text Book of Ecc. History, 3 vols. 13. Jones' Church History. 14. Neander's Church History. 15. Waddington's Church History. 16. Neal's History of the Puritans. 17. Josephus. 18. Lord King's Primitive Church. 19. Cave's Primitive Christianity. 20. Campbell's Lectures on Ecclesiastical History. 21. Campbell's Pulpit Eloquence. 22. Taylor's Ancient (not Primitive) Christianity. 23. Paley's works, in 1 vol. 24. Sherlock on Providence. 25. Ernesti on Interpretation. 26. Greenleaf on Evidence. 27. Taylor's Manual of Ancient History. 28. Barrow on the Supremacy of the Pope. 29. Campbell and Purcell's Debate on Popery. 30. D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation. 31. Guizot's Modern Civilization. 32. Campbell and Owen's Debate on the Evidences of Christianity. 33. Campbell and Rice's Debate on Baptism. 34. Gaussen on Interpretation. 35. The Christian Baptist, Burnet's edition, stereotype. 36. Christian Baptism, with its Antecedents and Consequents, now in press. 37. Infidelity Refuted by Infidels. 38. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. 39. All the Bridgewater Treatises on the Being and Perfections of God in Nature. 40. Whewell's Elements of Morality. [His Bridgewater Treatise on the cosmical arrangements of the Universe, with Bell's on the Human Hand, are enough on these subjects.] 41. Comprehensive Commentary on the Bible. 42. As a work of literature, Clark's Commentary.
To these I might add, out of my library, many miscellaneous works and treatises, but these are the best works I have found in many hundred volumes. As Virgil said of farms, I say of libraries: Praise large libraries, but study, or cultivate, small ones. And as a regular hearer of the debate between Luther's party and their opponents, on seeing a reformer, who read no book but the Bible, always routing his opponents, said, so say I, Cave homini unius libri--Take care of the man of the one book. A.C.

Millennial Harbinger, May 1851, 259-260.

--------------------

I promised this little gem a couple weeks ago. A few observations: First of all, notice the assumption that the Christian ministry is educated in the classical languages. Campbell's primary recommednations are Hebrew and Greek texts with the best critical apparati then available. Supporting these, besides several lexica, are the best and most recent contintental, British and American translations then available. For those who do not have capacity with the languages (notice also how he assumes elders will be as well read as any minister) Campbell lists an array of helps to Bible study: heavy on critical translations, with strong doses of Christian history and evidences, as well as a plug for a few of his own works (which are themselves works on Christian history and evidences). An outright commentary set, Adam Clark[e]'s, is noted with what appears to be a vague (backhanded?) compliment. Does Campbell value Clarke's insight, couched as it is in rich literary form, or is commedning Clarke for his literary accomplishment and not his Biblical scholarship? Good question. Also somewhat vague is that last line: Take care of the man of the one book. Is that to say that you should beware of the man who, in the 'defense' of the faith shuns all learning or education (read: books); or is this Campbell's way of stating how all of these helps are helps to the study of the one book that in the end matters? Considering that Campbell had an exquisite library (have you been to Bethany? It is in the middle of nowhere) at a time when most folks didn't have glass in their windows, and given that he has just recommended some of the higher quality Biblical scholarship of his day to his readers, indicates to me that it is the former and not the latter. In other words, beware of these folks who disdain an educated ministry.

"Doctrinal preaching is again a great need.

2008-04-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

The one denomination that has been almost wholly swept into the current of the modern skeptical attitude toward the Scriptures is that denomination that for years has laid no stress on doctrinal preaching. it is not controversial, combative, debative preaching of the fighting order that is needed; nor yet a fragmentary message--"first principles" alone: there is a place for that; but 'doctrinal preaching' after Paul's kind; the verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter, book-by-book unfolding of the whole doctrine. Let us tie the churches fast to the Book!"

--Word and Work, September 1925, 277.

-------

I suspect that this little unsigned paragraph is from R.H. Boll (WW Editor) or maybe Stanford Chambers, H.L. Olmstead, or E.L. Jorgenson (Co-Editors). Regardless, I like the point: doctrinal preaching is preaching that emcompasses the full Biblical text and arises from the full Biblical text. Good doctrinal preaching does not assault the hearer with the text. It does not use the Bible as a club with which to beat you or a cannon with which to shoot you. Doctrinal preaching unfolds the text's teaching and mediates the text's message to the church. The church sends the preacher to the text and rightly expects the preacher to return with a word from God that will shape the church into God's intent. Woe to that preacher when the message brought back is something less, or more, than good doctrine. Woe to the preacher who brings back a fight, or another serving of milk. And woe to that church whose expectation is so low as to settle for something less than good doctrine.

Statement of Greetings

2008-04-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

Statement of Greetings

McGarvey Ice

Director of Public Services

“The great festival--God's great festival; the best of all the seven. What a delight is the Lord's day! Crowded with the grand deeds of Christ--his death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven--it awakens in the soul all the resplendent recollections of the kingdom of God. What themes does it afford for meditation and eloquence!”*

For 175 years this place has been a place of worship on the Lord’s Day. It has been a place safe for souls to seek the Kingdom of God. It has been a place sacred for meditation. It has been a place which has honored the eloquent declaration of the gospel.

It is my pleasure and privilege to bring greetings this afternoon on behalf of Disciples of Christ Historical Society. We remember the fine heritage of faith, of grace and truth in this place and we salute those who even now carry forward the gospel from this place for this community.

12 April 2008

*Excerpted from the diary of Walter Scott, Dec. 3, 1848 in William Baxter, Life of Elder Walter Scott. Cincinnati: Bosworth, Chase and Hall, 1874, page 405.

------------

I brought this brief greeting to the Carthage Christian Church upon the unveiling of an Ohio Historical Society marker commemorating the establishment and history of the congregation.

Krister Stendahl on Leadership and Dialogue

2008-04-17T07:57:00.001-07:00

Krister Stendahl, longtime ecumenist, prof. and dean at Harvard Divinity School, died this week. In the notice on the HDS website (http://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/article_archive/stendahl.html) this stands out to me:

In an interview published in the Winter 2007 issue of Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Stendahl reflected on what qualities had served him well over the course of such a variegated career. "I would," he said, "apply the same rules for good leadership that I often do for effective interfaith dialogue: let the other define herself ('Don't think you know the other without listening'); compare equal to equal (not my positive qualities to the negative ones of the other); and find beauty in the other so as to develop 'holy envy.' "

There is some excellent wisdom here. 1) listen, 2) be fair, and 3) find beauty. Would that we would be known for these qualities in our churches, in our leadership and in our dialogues. I don’t much of this in partisan politics. I don’t see much of this in our church journalism. I often hear war stories about how churches pursue the very opposite tack. We can do better, and Krister Stendahl has shared a way forward.

Serving the Academy and the Church

2008-04-16T13:00:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend I traveled to Cincinnati. I went for two reasons: one, I presented a paper on the Churches of Christ in Nashville at the Stone-Campbell Journal Conference at Cincinnati Christian University; and two, I brought greetings on behalf of DCHS at the dedication of an Ohio Historical Society Marker at Carthage Christian Church.

My paper traced the development of the Churches of Christ from 1866-1906, from reconstruction to the famed 1906 Census which reported separate listings for Disciples and Churches of Christ. A native of Nashville, this is an area of personal interest to me. At the same time, not very much has been written in this area, so I want to contribute to the existing scholarship. The atmosphere was congenial. I met lots of great folks.

The marker commemorates the ministry of Walter Scott, who established the congregation in Carthage in 1832. Through on-going ministries of preaching, teaching, compassion and service they have been present to the community in the same location for 176 years. Their historian told me that in 176 years they haven’t missed a communion service. On display was the original minutes book from 1832, a photograph of the original building, and other items which preserve and tell the congregation’ story. The atmosphere was celebratory. I met lots of great folks.

I share my weekend experiences because it underscores the ministry of the Society: we are dedicated to the ministry of preserving our history. Flowing naturally from this mission are our contributions to the on-going scholarship in the history and theology of the movement as well as our commitment to the on-going history and ministry of our congregations.

Books, Books

2008-04-09T06:04:00.000-07:00

“By some strange casuality, a small lot of books, bound volumes of the “Millennial Harbinger,” have been lost. They were in the possession of brother S. W. Leonard of Jeffersonville, and by him sent, by some one not known to me, by way of Salem, Indiana, but never came to hand! I am extremely anxious to obtain the books, and the object of this notice is, to enquire if any one knows where they are. Any one who can inform me where they are, will be entitled to my warmest thanks, and a liberal reward for his trouble. Ed.”

--“Books, Books,” Christian Record March 1854, p. 284.

---------------------------

I’m working from a bound volume and the covers of the individuals issues have been removed, so I don’t immediately know who the editor is. My money is on either Elijah Goodwin or James M. Mathes, but since I don’t have time to check, he will for now remain simply Ed.

Alexander Campbell in the MH for 1851 issued some recommendations for a minister’s library that will take a moment to transcribe. Perhaps by the weekend.

The Messenger's Policy

2008-04-08T12:08:00.001-07:00

It shall be our earnest endeavors to make this paper clean, cultured and Christian. We hope to keep from our columns all uncalled-for thrusts at other people, all slang phrases and every manner of production that is untrue to the spirit of Christ and to the standards of pure speech.

The MESSENGER shall essay to represent, not a partial, but the whole truth. It shall ride no hobbies. Its columns shall be free from personal attacks. The day for constant, nagging and personal pugilism in the religious paper, did it ever properly exist, has happily passed away. Papers that keep up this style of journalism are a stench in the land, a source of strife and bitterness and promoters of far more evil than of good.

The MESSENGER shall be a staunch and uncompromising advocate of our co-operative work, by which our forces are united to preach the gospel to the state, the nation and the whole earth. We have no time to quarrel with a few who oppose a rational and systematic concert of action among disciples of Christ. Ours is to do and leave results with Him who alone is judge and who holds us responsible for the evangelization of all the world. “To the work, to the work, we are servants of God.” W.

--“The Messenger’s Policy”, The Gospel Messenger, December 3, 1897, p. 5.

-------

It seems ‘W.’ is J. M. Watson, the new editor. Harmon and Spiegel are now Associate Editors. The paper is still published in Nashville though the editorial control has shifted.

Lipscombian anti-ism

2008-04-08T11:45:00.001-07:00

“Port Gibson church is now redeemed from the thralldom of Lipscombian anti-ism, and safely anchored again to the Rock of Ages.”

--Gospel Messenger July 16, 1987, p.2.

-------

Published in Nashville, the Gospel Messenger was affiliated with the Christian Standard orbit of preachers and evangelists and was edited by M. F. Harmon and O. P. Speigel. Its pages carried reports of meetings by T. B. Larimore, T. W. Caskey, B. F. Manire and T. W. Brents, and in the issue prior to this one, quite favorably reviewed D. Lipscomb’s Commentary on Acts.

I'll be blogging here

2008-04-02T09:50:00.001-07:00

(though it may not seem like it) as well as here http://blogsdiscipleshistory.org/

While you're at it, check out our newly redesigned website at www.discipleshistory.org

Who says

2008-03-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

kids aren’t interested in history?

http://www.disciplesworld.com/newsArticle.html?wsnID=13156

You should be listening

2008-03-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

to this: http://www.byzantinecatholic.com/music2/streamingmusic.htm

with emphasis on occasional

2008-03-01T22:27:00.000-08:00

So there went February, and it didn't even slow down to enjoy its extra day.

Here's the update:
--Research at DCHS keeps a perky pace, new requests of all sorts coming in all the time. Tremendous variety of inquiries; I'm learning a lot while trying to keep up with them all! Being away for a while didn't help!...
--Washington DC: I spent two weeks at the National Archives and Library of Congress for a crash course in all things archival (titled the Modern Archives Institute): from the general overview to appraisal to processing to arrangement and description to preservation and lots more in-between. I'm preparing a report for a staff meeting this next week; I'll post more when my report is polished, including the rare manuscripts and books we saw in the Archives II facility (in maryland) and at the Library of Congress.
--I resigned at Central Church last week. Laura and I feel that with a new baby on the way in the summer the time was coming. The new minister starts in March (I guess its March now, see how quickly February went!), so we went ahead and did it now rather than waiting a few more months. I deeply loved teaching, but a man can only do so much in a week. I honestly don't know how we managed two children, my two jobs, my coursework at Lipscomb, Laura's piano lessons every evening. I do know that we will never try to balance all of that, or as much as that, again.
--Yes, a new baby. Girl or boy remains a mystery, but we'll pass along the news when we find out. Speaking of, cheers to the Cotten's upon the birth of twin girls yesterday (a fine birthday if I do say so myself)!
--With the baby on the way, my study will relocate downstairs to what is now our dining room. The partitioned wall between the dining and living rooms will get a built in bookcase facing the living room while the dining room (sans table and chairs) will get floor to ceiling shelves. The dining room table will go in our bedroom sitting area as a desk for Laura and the chairs will be scattered to the four winds and who knows where in the house they will land.
--My study will lose about 1/3 of its books. Deep sigh and long, tearful pause... So when I say we are simplifying our lives, I'm putting some teeth in it by culling out some books.
--Still have all ten fingers in spite of the table saw, and we have (BIG thanks to my Dad for helping out a couple Saturdays) a new floor in the kitchen and sun room. Perhaps photos will be forthcoming.
--Next up are those shelves, daunting task, but I can do it.

and so to bed.

grace and peace.

this and that

2008-01-23T06:36:00.000-08:00

My days have been full preparing our 2008 program of public services. My colleague Sharman Hartson and I have been working hard to get some things on paper as a first step. We've got lots going on, and lots more planned.
-------
Our evenings have been full of homework and books and stories and evening meals and the rhythms of life lived by the school calendar. I'm enjoying experiencing kindergarten as a parent. Laura and I had lunch with Darby and her class last week. Great fun. Ella is gaining daily in personality (no shortage of that), verbal skills and vocabulary. It is at once hilarious and precious.
-------
I'm nearly finished with Romans (on Sunday mornings) and Galatians (on Sunday evenings). I've got more bulletins articles coming when I can cut-and-paste them into blogger. I've not done full manuscript sermons, only handwritten notes, so you won't be seeing the sermons. On the horizon: parables from Luke in the AM and miracle-stories in the PM.
-------
And I've rolled up my sleeves for a winter project consisting of new flooring in our sunroom, kitchen and living room-dining room, basically the entire downstairs. DIY laminate flooring. So far so good. Our sunroom is 98% finished and the rest will go more quickly since A) I know now what I'm doing, and B) there's no more heavy furniture to contend with. Maybe I can post some pictures. Power saw notwithstanding, my finger count stands at a robust and articulate 10. Let's hope it stays that way.
-------
I'm returning to some earlier research on Nashville Churches of Christ; I've got some more data to collect as I revise the paper for a conference in April.
-------
Stay tuned for Washington DC.

grace and peace.

worth reading

2008-01-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

Obviously hurt and disillusioned, and probably bitter, Roger Ray nonetheless says some things we need to hear.

If you can give him a sympathetic reading, I think you will find his piece a fairly typical representation of the feelings of many.

Folks in my corner of the woods will react strongly to his jettisoning traditional doctrinal formulations. At the same time, we have been (Churches of Christ) a strongly anti-creedal bunch from the very get-go, so his rejection of such formulations may be closer to our heritage than we would like to admit. That said, I think his response to doctrinaire and abusive preaching, though understandable, is an overreaction. The corrective to bad doctrine isn’t no doctrine, its better doctrine. I suspect he’s heard a lot of sermons which parse doctrine and touch not the hem of the garment of where we all lives our lives. It is ironic that he rejects the claims of deity for Jesus (which Jesus makes for himself, seems to me, and which would subsequently make Jesus and the writers of the New testament documents something less than a good prophet or faithful witnesses, it would make them all liars). Anyhow, though he would reject Jesus as divine, the program he envisions for the church of his dreams is certainly in line with the mission of God, which Jesus so clearly and repeatedly embodies. I don’t think it necessary to jettison faith in Jesus as God in order to embrace a ministry of compassion, peace, mercy or sacrifice. Seems to me that is exactly what claiming to be a Christian, a subject of the Risen Lord, is all about. It is unfortunate that he has reduced it to an either-or scenario when that is unnecessary at best, and at worst misleading concerning the New Testament witness about Jesus and his mission.

As for his Kierkegaard quote, well, that’s wonderful. What a fine commentary on the nonsense that’s unfortunately everywhere present in churches. May God have mercy when we turn church into something trite or crass or self-serving. His criticism of such is worth reading and ought be required reading for every Bible major in every ministry course in our schools.

Now, I understand that his article doesn't represent how everyone feels about church, and there is a lot of good done by a lot of churches (which Mr. Ray doesn’t acknowledge, for whatever reason). But this is how he feels, and I bet a cup of coffee that his column represents many. Probably most of my generation in my demographic (30's, college-educated, city-dwellers and suburbanites) would agree with a lot of what Ray says. So, read his provocative column, especially the final paragraph and ask yourself what reason for faith and ministry would your church offer to a Roger Ray?

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071229/LIFE07/712290332

God's Invitation to Kingdom Living

2008-01-01T06:54:00.000-08:00

“Out of his wonderful love, God invites us to live in his kingdom, to surrender willingly to his reign, to live in that place where his will is done. That surrender to God is no defeat for us, since God’s kingdom is the only place where we can live to the fullest. God created us to enjoy abundant life. This is not self-actualization or a “name it, claim it” gospel. It is not living successfully according to the fallen standards of our world. Instead, this is living a purposeful life in relationship with God and others. This is the good news that Jesus announced: we can live under the reign of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15). But if we do not understand the nature of God’s loving invitation into his kingdom, we will miss the abundant life found there. Learning to live life in its fullest expression in relationship with our Creator is the purpose of genuine spiritual formation.

“How does “church” relate to kingdom? The church is to be a colony of God’s kingdom in our world. But not everything done by churches or every group that calls itself a church truly participates or lives in the kingdom. The kingdom of God is anywhere God’s will is done (see Matthew 6:10). A church comprised of authentic believers who have submitted their lives to God is a true manifestation of the kingdom. Those in that church are living according to God’s will and enjoying his gracious guidance. Once again, God’s kingdom is where his will is being done, where God lives his love through us.

“Living under God’s direction answers the age-old question, “Why are we here?” God created us in his image and his likeness (Genesis 1:26). He made us to be like him, made us for relationship. In creation, God gave humans the most exalted role, to represent and even share in the character and person of God himself. Those who choose this life under God’s direction embody God’s kingdom. They serve as God’s ambassadors, calling others to the joys of relationship with God.”

--Gary Holloway and Earl Lavender, Living God’s Love, An Invitation to Christian Spirituality, 28-29.

Teachers and authors Gary Holloway and Earl Lavender have done us a service by writing this book on Christian spirituality. It is my top recommendation for anyone desiring a deeper spirituality. Too often we mischaracterize and misunderstand spirituality as something flaky (so we avoid it), elusive (we fear we can never achieve it), or worse, irrelevant (so we ignore it). But true spirituality is something beautiful and godly and transforming. They contend that true spirituality is living out the love of God. Over the course of the next several weeks in this space I will share some insights from their book. In my morning sermon Sunday I called upon us, from Romans 12, to authentic spirituality: that is, to integrate into our lives what we hold to be true in our heads. Romans is one of Paul’s attempts to shape a community of believers around the life-changing truth of the gospel. The gospel declares the love of God for sinners, and that good news has implications for how life ought to be lived. As we conclude Romans, I think it helpful to have additional instruction in integrating into our lives the grace of the gospel message. Gary and Earl will give us instruction by reflecting on Scripture. We will begin there next week.

---------------

This is the first installment in a series I’m running in our bulletin.

Merry Christmas from the Ice's

2007-12-19T21:52:00.000-08:00

Much More Brightly Than Before

2007-12-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

O Lord, our God, when we are afraid do not let us despair. When we are disappointed do not let us become bitter. When we fall do not let us remain prostrate. When we are at the end of our understanding and our powers, do not let us then perish. No, let us feel then Thy nearness and Thy love, which Thou hast promised especially to those whose hearts are humble and broken and who stand in fear before Thy word. To all men Thy Son has come as to those who are so beset. Indeed, because we are all so beset he was born in a stable and died on a cross. Lord, awaken us all and keep us all awake t this knowledge and to this confession.

And now we think of all the darkness and suffering of this our time; of the many errors and misunderstandings with which we men torment ourselves; of all the burdens that so many must bear uncomforted; of all the great dangers by which our world is threatened without our knwoing how we should meet them. We think of the sick and the sick in spirit, the poor, the displaced, the oppressed, those who suffer injustice, the children who have no parents or no proper parents. And we think of all who are called to help as far as men can help; the rulers of our land and of all other lands, the judges and officials, the teachers and leaders of youth, the men and women who are responsible for writing books and newspapers, the doctors and nurses in the hospitals, those who proclaim Thy word in the various churches and congregations near at hand and far away. We think of them all with the petition that the light of Christmas may shine brightly for them and for us, much more birghtly than before, that thereby they and we may be helped. We ask all this in the name of the Savior in whom Thou hast already heard us and wilt hear us again and again. Amen.

--Karl Barth, Selected Prayers, trans. Keith R. Crim. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1965, pp. 22-23.

Our Bodies a Sacrifice

2007-12-17T20:19:00.000-08:00

Our Bodies a Sacrifice
Central Church
Sunday Morning, December 16, 2007
McGarvey Ice

Text: Romans 12.1-21

One of the strategies for reading an occasional letter like Romans is mirror-reading. That is, since Romans is written out of an occasion in the life of its author and its recipients, then it naturally follows that the content of the letter addresses that particular situation. As a mirror reflects the image of what is before it, so the Biblical text reflects the situation of its author and recipients. For example, Romans chapters 9-11 are roughly 20% of the book and are all about Jew/Gentile issues in the larger plan of God. There must have been some sort of significant Jew/Gentile issue in those house churches in Rome for Paul to have spent the time and ink he did.
In Romans 12 we have a situation where there may be any number of people who would really appreciate church better if everyone else were a lot more like them. And we have a church struggling with how to embody the gospel in their daily lives. So, it seems a fair generalization to say that in Rome we have a church troubled within and a church troubled in the marketplace.
Illus. from Randy Harris[1] about the Thinkers. Servers. Worshippers. Justice/Mercy. Contemplatives. There is great diversity in personality, temperament, and tendency to various kinds and styles of ministry. Every church has these sorts of folks. Such is the great blessing for every church and a potential source of great conflict as well. We normalize for others what comes naturally for us. What is easy and natural and so very sensible to us can easily become much more than simply our disposition or preference. We are tempted to trace an outline of our personalities and preferences and manufacture a pattern out of our own image. We then mandate to others that to really live and serve as a faithful Christian, you must look like, think like and act like me.
Given what Paul says in 12.3-13, it appears that there is trouble in Rome. We’ve got church folks who live as church by the ways of the world. When we live life as church by the ways of the world we will have hypocrisy, preference, and selfishness, and jockeying for position, power plays and manipulation. We’ve got Christians in Rome who say my gift matters and yours doesn’t. My gift is special and yours isn’t, and if you were really spiritual you’d be a thinker/server/worshipper/activist/contemplative like me. And if that is the situation in church imagine how they live out in the marketplace. Imagine how powerful the pressure is to conform to the ways of the world, where life is lived by looking out for number one, by exploiting the other person’s weakness for your gain, by demanding your rights and paying back evil with evil.
That’s the situation in Rome, and all too often for us as well. But Paul writes to Rome, and we are reading it. It is scripture for them and it is scripture for us. Paul’s task in Romans is a pastoral task.[2] He writes to Christians in Rome to shape them more and more and more into the image of Christ. Paul’s task is a shepherd’s task: to lead and guide the church along the way of Christ. Paul’s task is a leader’s task: to cast a vision for the church and to lead the charge. Paul’s task is a teacher’s task: to show the better way of Christ and make it plain. By way of this letter, Paul is at once teacher, leader and pastor. He is shepherd, visionary and guide.
Often when preachers and teachers get to Romans 12 they see the gears shift in Paul’s rhetoric. Then they often say something like Romans 1-11 is ‘doctrinal’ and chs. 12-5/16 is ‘practical.’ And in a sense they are right. In 1-11 Paul gives emphasis to theology; in 12-16 he gives emphasis to practical teaching. Unfortunately the distinction between doctrine and practice is often overplayed. Paul doesn’t separate the two nearly as far as some preachers do. Paul doesn’t section off doctrine over here and practice over there. It is a false dichotomy, a false separation, to put doctrine over here as if it is all about thinking and reasoning and understanding and over there is daily life where we all live out the moments and events and ins and outs of our lives.
For Paul the two are integrated. Paul doesn’t write two letters to Rome: one a theological treatise and the other a how-to manual for Christian living. He writes one letter that integrates the teaching about what God has done and therefore what our lives should look like if we embrace the gospel. For Paul doctrine and practice are integrated and if they’re not integrated for us, they ought to be. If Paul doesn’t separate them like this, why should we? If we desire spirituality we will seek to integrate the two; and where they are not integrated, we need to be corrected and formed and shaped and taught.
Paul’s task as preacher, teacher, pastor, shepherd, leader, guide in Romans is to lead the Christian churches in Rome to bring their lives more and more in line with what they say they believe about the gospel. The good news of the gospel is that God has demonstrated his faithfulness to us in Christ. The implication for those who believe the gospel is to offer to him our life of faith.
If we believe the good news of Christ crucified then we will present ourselves to God a living sacrifice conformed not to the world but transformed by the renewing of our minds. Thus Paul can begin to explain how there is a better way to live as the Body of Christ.
First of all it is absurd to boast of a gift. Note the Greek of vs. 6: gift is from the same term as grace. In 12.3-13 Paul anchors life as church in the gracious gifts of God. We did not earn them, do not deserve them, and do not exercise them in our own power. Rather, each has a gift by God’s grace to exercise for the blessing of all, just as God’s grace is for all. God’s intent for the church is to be the people of a transformed mind whose life together reflects the rich variety and diversity of his grace. The church ought to be gracious because God is gracious. They embody his grace in their life together. So when life together as church looks more like the world and less like the grace of God, something is wrong. When we say that your gift is special, or prized, or more worthy, we reveal that what really matters are the values of the world. When we turn the gifts of God’s grace into instruments of pride and boasting we reveal that our lives are not nearly as attuned to the values of the gospel as we would think.
God intends for the life of the church to be a reflection of his grace not only to each other as Christians, but a declaration of his grace to the larger culture. So vss. 14-21 show how the grace of God ought to be made real in the ordinary moments of life.
Do we believe the gospel story: that love triumphs over hate, that grace triumphs over sin, and life overcomes death? If we do, then we will live what we say we believe. If we confess that true doctrine, then our lives must conform to that doctrine. If the gospel is the announcement of good news of the righteousness of God: that while we were still sinners Christ died for the ungodly, then we will seek sinners with a fervor and grace that mirrors God’s toward us. If we say that the gospel story is true, then we will seek peace and blessing for those who persecute us. If when we were enemies of God, Christ laid down his life for us, then we ought to embrace a life of grace and feed our hungry enemies and give drink to our thirsty enemies. If when we were hostile to God, the grace of Christ initiated reconciliation, then we ought to initiate reconciliation with our enemies by rejoicing with them when they rejoice and weeping with them when they weep. If the reign of God’s peace has been made real in our own hearts, then as followers in the way of Christ we must interrupt the escalation of violence by implementing a life of peace.
The way of the world is to kick your enemy in his teeth. It is to step on his neck in order to get ahead. It is to stab her in the back as you push your way to the front of the line. The way of the world is by all means and at any cost and in every way to look out for number one. But the way of Jesus is to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, not to be conformed to this world. The way of Jesus is not to think of yourself more highly than you ought, but to let love be without hypocrisy. The way of Jesus is to hate what is evil, to cling to what is good and to overcome evil with good.
The way of the world is to curse your enemies, but the way of Jesus is to rejoice with your enemy when he rejoices. It is to weep with her when she weeps. The way of Jesus is to seek out the lowly and associate with them.
The way of Jesus is not something in addition to true doctrine; it is the embodiment of true doctrine. In the life of faith, theology and doctrine are not over here somewhere while daily life is over there. The life of faith is the embodiment of what we say we believe, and the living out of the story we say is true. As Christians, we have pledged our allegiance to the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have confessed that that is the true story by which we will live our lives. We have embraced the grace of God in the death of Jesus at our baptism. And at our baptism we have pledged ourselves to God in faith to pursue new life through the resurrection of Jesus. In our baptism we have pledged to carry out the way of Jesus on the stage of our lives. If the story is true then we will honor God not merely by striving for pure doctrine in some abstract sense, but we will integrate true doctrine into our lives and offer to God our bodies a living and holy sacrifice. Amen.
----------
[1] Randall J. Harris, Instructor of Bible, Abilene Christian University, used this illustration on numerous occasions.
[2] See James W. Thompson, Pastoral Ministry According to Paul. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006, 85ff.

Big weekend

2007-12-13T21:11:00.000-08:00

This weekend looks to be a full one: Laura's big Christmas piano recital at McKendree United Methodist Church downtown, our one day of shopping per year (I haven't been in a mall since last Christmas), Laura's folks will also be in sometime later tonight. Top it all off with a full day of teaching and preaching on Sunday. And it might snow.

-------

Our girls are doing a fine job of getting us all in the Christmas mood. Last weekend was non-stop decorating and tree-trimming. I really like driving through the neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights and decorations with the girls. I try to take a different route home so we can see what folks have done. We did that when I was a kid and it is one my stand-out childhood Christmas memories.

-------

My favorite Christmas songs: O Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night, O Holy Night, Gloria..., probably in that order.

-------

Then there is Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, that awful hippopotomus song, and Jingle Bell Rock. I loathe those. Elvis' Blue Christmas and the Porky Pig version of the same are ok once...only once.

-------

I've got another prayer by Karl Barth to post; if you liked the one below, you'll really appreciate the next one. Get that little book of prayers if you can find it.

-------

Back to sermon prep.

grace and peace.

Hope for the Whole World

2007-12-12T21:51:00.001-08:00

Loving Heavenly Father! Because we are here together to rejoice that for us Thy dear Son has become man and our brother, we beseech Thee from our hearts to tell us Thyself what great grace, benefits, and help Thou hast prepared for us all in Him.

Open Thou our ears and our understanding that we may perceive that in Him there is forgiveness for all our sins, the germ and power of a new life, comfort and exhortation for life and for death, hope for the whole world. Create Thou within us the good spirit of freedom humbly and boldly to approach Thy Son, who now comes to us.

Grant that today in the whole of Christendom and the world many may be enabled to break through all the outward vanity of these holidays and to celebrate with us a good Christmas. Amen.

--Karl Barth, Selected Prayers, trans. Keith R. Crim. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1965, p. 17.

what gets me through

2007-12-07T21:53:00.001-08:00

--an intelligent and graceful wife who is talented and gifted and loved by all who know her

--two daughters who are more than we could have asked for or imagined and who are more than I deserve

--a church family who bless me by allowing me to think through Scripture with them

--gainful employment that means far more than a paycheck

--steadfast friends whose companionship and spiritual comradery transcends miles

--in-laws who are anything but out-laws, but who are as much family as blood-kin

--former students who make me proud to have been their teacher

Where are we?

2007-12-05T07:44:00.001-08:00

Two adventurers were soaring moving along in a hot air balloon, when the scenery became unfamiliar; the flyers realized they were lost. Looking below, they spied a man in a yard. One of the two suggested they descend a bit and ask the man for information about their location. One of the flyers yelled at the man 'Where are we?"

Came the reply, "You are in a hot-air balloon about 100 feet in the air." The second man observed, “That man is a preacher.” When asked how he could discern that, he replied, "Every thing he said is true, but it doesn't help us any."

-------------------

The above was in my inbox this morning. It was in a comment in a discussion on one of the email lists I lurk on. I snipped it from its context to make a point or two about preaching, since I’ve been doing more of it lately.

I’ve blogged before about what makes for good preaching and teaching (here and here), and now I’m having to follow my own advice. I’m finishing Romans by teaching through a pericope (about a chapter or so) in the morning class and then announcing its message in the morning sermon. Sunday evenings I am preaching through Galatians since it complements Romans. My task in the class is to do a class well (which for me means historical-critical exegesis). My task in the sermon, while assuming all of what has been explored in the class and not rehashing it, is to preach the message of the text in order to shape the church. I’ve come to really like the approach since I must clarify what the class should be over against what a sermon should be, and then implement the best strategies for the class and the sermon. Obviously, given my training and disposition, it is heavily text-centered (when I teach from Romans I stay in Romans and I don’t hop and skip hither and yon across the canon).

What makes my task easier is the dozen or so years Laura and I have invested at Central Church. Relational capital makes for easier preaching. Sharing life over time builds relationships. Since I envision preaching more as ‘thinking with the church’ rather than thinking for the church or preaching at the church, those relationships put me at ease when I stand up to hold forth. I characterize Central as an open-Bible church, quite eager to hear the word taught and preached, and always welcoming the best effort of her teachers and preachers. There is a temptation on my part, though, to reduce the historical, grammatical and biblical insights to truisms that do not truly shape the church. An eager disposition to Bible study on the congregation’s part can backfire when it remains content to learn content while resisting the change that the text continually calls us to.

In other words, I would hope that my preaching is not a declaration of truisms but a holding forth of the word for the sake of the church to shape the church and point the church to God. And I hope the expectations of the church are not low enough so as to be satisfied with truisms that do not further us along the path of righteousness, justice, peace and mercy. And I hope that a decade of warm relationships do not cloud my task, or stop up our ears as we, as church, think together through Scripture when we assemble.

Home again

2007-11-25T21:44:00.000-08:00

Blogging from home tonight. A big thanks to the Darby's of Westerville for fine hospitality and hearty eats. The big adventure Friday was the the Cosi Center in Columbus. Think massive kid-friendly science center with everything from aquatics to mechanics to physics to biology to anatomy to technology to history. I was impressed. The only downside were my allergies, which made breathing a torture and sleeping more off than on.

We made good time yesterday; I marveled at the change in and around King's Island north of Cincy. By far the highlight of the return trip was the Louisville gas stop: $2.66. My little Ford Escort is good to me as far as gas mileage goes, but not the least bit comfortable for long drives (and by long drives, I mean anything more than a trip to our neighborhood Aldi's). Some mornings I'm sore by the time I get to the castle (the girls refer to DCHS as 'the castle'). So for 8-hour multi-state holiday excursions with children...the ride can get long. But when you have wonderful children (who really were quite good if I do say so myself) and a groovy vintage CBS orchestra Christmas CD, the long road from Ohio to Tennessee can be made bearable.

Today had me back in the pulpit at Central Church in Romans 9-10. I need to make a few edits (I always add/delete/change/rearrange/rephrase at the last minute) to the sermon before I post it.

This week: golly what wonderful things are in store for me this week! Stay tuned boys and girls.

Seen in a church bulletin this last week: "You may have pains, but you don't have to be one." (Can't we do better than that? Just imagine the ruckus if someone were to suggest that we scrap the bulletin altogether! It's late, I better not get started).

And so to bed.

Brother Gatling Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

2007-11-22T21:23:00.000-08:00

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Gatling Gun of Warm Humanitarianism.

Get yours.

Be sure to refresh your browser. Often.

And don't neglect to read the article by Jon Carroll explaining the Unitarian Jihad.

-------

I found the link above while cleaning out my favorites list. I've added several new links and blogs to my 'bibliophilia' page. Thanks to the high-speed connection at Baymont Inn of lovely Westerville Ohio, I can clean things up on the blog.

A fine meal was had by all earlier in the day. Tomorrow promises to be a day chock full of adventure.

No snow here yet, but you never can tell.

-------

I've got a bit of reading to do for Romans 9-10 for Sunday morning. Then off to bed.

More about Charlotte Avenue

2007-11-21T07:12:00.000-08:00

Not long ago several of us attended the Friday Night Singing at Charlotte Avenue Church (the last to be held in that building, which is modeled after the Ryman Auditorium). This article details some things about the merger of CA and West Nashville Heights: http://www.westviewonline.com/

Grace and peace to both congregations as make this transition into one body. And may the day hasten when the unity of the body will be more and more fully realized and experienced.

blog IQ

2007-11-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

Get a Cash Advance

Dr. Michael Matheny

2007-11-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

Word comes of the passing of Dr. Michael Matheny, one of my favorite profs at Lipscomb. I think I took just about every course he offered at Lipscomb, from Family Ministry and Youth Ministry in 1995 through 2006 for a summer class in Small-Church Ministry, and probably a dozen courses and two practicums in between. He was a leader in campus ministry (publishing one of the first books on campus ministry in Churches of Christ) and taught for over 10 years at Lipscomb.

I will always remember his personal interest in us, both as students and as people. I will remember that he was concerned that we be well-prepared, well-rounded, competent ministers, and that we engage in ministry with all of our hearts and minds. As a professor he was well-read and always well-prepared. He stayed current, had a good recall of the literature, and had a deep well of personal experience in ministry from which he drew often. I also sensed that cared about us, that he knew that what he did mattered, and that ministry was a calling worthy of our very best. Its hard to put that intangible quality into words, but suffice it to say that it showed in his teaching and that is why he was one of my favorites.

He seemed to have found a niche at Lipscomb. I remember him once mentioning to us in class that he came to Lipscomb on a one-year trial run…ten years ago. We could tell he said it with pride and joy. He was also capable in textual courses and he had a good knowledge and appreciation for the best of our Restoration heritage.

I hear the news of his passing with sadness and joy. He and his family endured much in the last year, especially. I rejoice that he is free from that pain. But I also grieve the many years we could have had him to train and mentor students and ministers.

Hiatus

2007-11-12T05:52:00.000-08:00

Let’s do a little math:

Extra preaching at Central Church + Holiday travel + Gearing up for 2008 at DCHS + a new Nick Basbanes book = no blogging for a while.

See you in December.

Grace and peace.

"The office was seldom swept and almost never scrubbed.

2007-11-07T06:51:00.000-08:00

Some garden seeds that were lying on top of the bookcase had started to sprout and grow there, in the dust and dirt." (Dale Carnegie, Lincoln the Unknown, Forest Hills, N.Y.; Forest Hills Publishing Co., 1932, p.80)

---------

My office, on the other hand, is in fine order (there’s something about a Board of Director’s meeting that helps in getting the place under control).

The blurb above is about Abraham Lincoln. There’s more to it, plus some photos of the home office/study of James D. Bales, longtime prof. at Harding, here: http://www.jonbales.com/family/Office/Office.htm

When Laura comments about my study at home, I remind her of Bales’ book house. That’s right, an entire house: next door, backyard, I forget, but he had an entire house. Actually Laura is very gracious and understanding. She has a collecting bent of her own (holiday plates among other things). And our children do very well. I’ve got a few books with crayon scribbles in them, but they are not from my children. Having plenty of books of their own keeps them well-occupied. It also helps that one of our house rules is that Dad’s books are not toys. Another is no jumping in Dad’s study. Laura is afraid the books on top of the shelves will fall off, not a totally unfounded fear.

I’ll post a couple photos of my own when I can get around to it. I may even submit one to this site: http://yourhomelibrary.wordpress.com/

quote without comment

2007-10-30T21:05:00.001-07:00

"It were better to be of no church than to be bitter for any."

--William Penn, as quoted by Harry Emerson Fosdick, in The Living of These Days, An Autobiography, Harper and Brothers, 954, p.116.

Follow-up on the below

2007-10-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me after posting the below (hypothetical inquiry about what I would save from our home in case of a fire/evacuation/misc disaster) that we actually came very close to such an event. It was the spring of 2002, in April, in the middle of spring thunderstorm season in our beloved middle Tennessee.

Laura, 8 months along with Darby and at home under doctor-ordered bed-rest, had settled in for another morning of boring morning television when a unreal clap of thunder exploded outside our den. Lightning struck our neighbor's home (the electric meter box/pole apparatus) simultaneously sending high voltage to every outlet, light fixture and switch in the house. By the time Laura realized what was happening the house was already well on its way to being the total loss it turned out to be. She estimates that it took under five minutes for the house to be utterly unapproachable. For a while the firefighter trained their hoses on our home to prevent our roof from catching. We had to replace the siding on that side of the house, as the neighbors on the other side and the folks directly behind us. It was some big fire.

Our neighbors were not at home at the time. The husband, a policeman with firefighting training, was, ironically on patrol and was the first responder at the scene (of his own home burning to the ground). By the time he arrived there was nothing to do but stand (in the street due to the heat) and watch his home and its contents burn. They were able to salvage a few photos, some items belonging to the children, and a family quilt. All else was lost. Had they been asleep, there was a possibility of getting out, but not a certainty. Certainly no time to think about what to gather, what to keep, or the like.

That afternoon I purchased a fire safe for photo negatives and some documents we have here (that are not in the lock-box). That evening we watched Laura on the news (it made the news for two days straight, partly due to the fact that our neighbor was a key officer in the Captain-D's murder investigation, locals will know what I mean by that), made the rounds through the neighborhood with an empty coffee can taking up money for our neighbors, but slept little. Now we have no problem remembering to replace the batteries in our smoke alarms. But we do have difficulty sleeping during thunderstorms.

Your Study is on Fire

2007-10-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

and you only have time to grab a box or two of books and papers (or worse, maybe one or two books). Which ones would you choose and why?

With good reason the Malibu fires have been front and center the last few days. On the drive in (made painfully slow this morning by the first rain we've had in months) I thought about what it must be like to have to decide what to pack in a car trunk or backseat as you abandon your home and its contents.

Assuming that Laura and the girls are safe, I wonder what I would, if I could, do about all our blasted stuff.

Truth be told, I have no deep sentimental attachment to our house. I feel the same way about most everything in it, with very few exceptions. Of all the furniture we own, we only purchased one piece (an antique couch for our living room, and that a fabulous deal). There are about 5 pieces of furniture that hold sentimental value to either or both Laura and I. We have a few things that are important to us, but they are important because of who gave it to us or what it means in intangible terms to us and our girls; but the rest is filler I could easily live without.

My books, though, are a different story. Having inherited about 500 items (books, periodicals, and tracts) of Restoration material, I admit to no mean anxiety over being compelled to choose from among them.

At or near the top of the list would be a copy of Alexander Campbell's Lectures on the Pentateuch inscribed by my great-great grandfather in 1867. I have a few volumes with my great-grandfather's and grandfather's notes inscribed within. I have some portraits and photographs I would grieve over if lost. There are some textbooks with my own notes inside (which are not at all valuable aside from the memories they hold and courses and colleagues they represent). I have a few hundred handwritten sermons from KC Ice and MC Ice.

The rest of my library took a long time to acquire, were a joy to acquire, and remains a privilege to own and read and study. But I could manage without them (I would hope so). There are any number of books I'd love to keep, but the ones I'd grieve over are special not because they are rare or valuable or in super condition (though I have some that are all the above), but they are special for other, deeper, reasons.

The images of Malibu puts in perspective our worst materialistic tendencies. At the same time, already we are hearing stories of heroism, sacrifice and service. If we are patient we will see emerge before us and within us reminders of those things which fire cannot destroy. And if we are discerning, those things which distract us will become more and more perspectivized and we will see them as they are: of little true worth. And finally, if we are wise, we will cling all the more tenaciously to the former even as we shed ourselves of the latter.

And so to bed.

Lindsley Avenue Photographs

2007-10-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

Add these to the stack

2007-10-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

The two newest additions to my library are both by Bart Erhman: Misquoting Jesus and The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot. I picked them up at Smyrna Public Library for a buck apiece. Gotta love the book sale table!

I'm reading Harry Emerson Fosdick's autobiography, The Living of These Days, now. When finished I may work up a little review of it. I'm eager to read Erhman (especially Misquoting Jesus). Note this blurb from the jacket: "In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today. He frames his account with personal reflections on how his study of the Greek manuscripts made him abandon his once ultraconservative views of the Bible." If that blurb won't sell a book, nothing will. I'm expecting a lively and engaging read.

--------------------
In other news, I heard something about the World Series. What's a World Series? I haven't followed baseball since the strike. Humpph... Now, back to my coffee, which I'll be drinking from a blue enameled cup (that one's for you, Mark Manry). :)

We do not lose heart

2007-10-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

We Do Not Lose Heart…
Homecoming Sermon for Lindsley Avenue Church
October 14, 2007
McGarvey Ice

Text: 2 Corinthians 4.1 :…since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart…. [NASB]

Trouble in the Biblical Text
SIGH Look at what we are up against! Division, personal enemies and opponents of our ministry who would discredit our ministry and distort our teaching. Deep-seated racism and class-hatred in the church, false and misleading teaching on a host of issues, envy and sectarianism, blatant immorality, a crisis of leadership. Why, our worship assemblies sometimes look more like chaotic gatherings to the gods of wine and love than moments of divine grace before the Lord of Life. Our city is on the one hand famous for its cosmopolitan character and on the other hand notorious for its lack of moral character. SIGH, look at what we are up against!
I wonder what it must have been like to be one of Paul’s associates during the years he labored and corresponded with the Christians at Corinth. Sosthenes, Timothy and Titus, along with others, shared ministry with Paul and had a part in the writing and delivering of letters (not to mention personal visits) to and from Corinth. Paul’s ministry in Corinth, and the time he spent in contact with the church there spanned a number of years and a number of letters. What we know is that the church was situated in one of the more important trade centers of the Mediterranean theater. It was truly cosmopolitan and offered the best of Greek and Roman culture. At the same time it offered the worst of idolatry, immorality and competing stories by which life could be lived. Into this circumstance Paul and others declare the good news of God: that Jesus Christ was crucified and buried and is now raised from the dead. Into this situation Paul and others declare that the way of Jesus is the story by which we live. And yet, the church at Corinth is a congregation divided. Personalities, false doctrine, class, ethnic and racial identities, sin, would woo the church from the foundation laid for them in Christ. No wonder we could easily imagine Paul letting out a deep and painful sigh as he receives the latest news or correspondence from his beloved Corinth.

Trouble in the Present Day
One-hundred fifty years ago Cherry Street Christian Church in downtown Nashville was hailed by many as the finest church in the city. It certainly had the finest building, and her minister, Jesse Babcock Ferguson, was praised as the best preacher in the South. But the church was troubled. A few years into his ministry, Ferguson has clearly and openly espoused Universalism and Spiritualism and the peace of the congregation was deeply upset. In fact, when Alexander Campbell himself paid a visit to the Nashville church to assist them, Ferguson left the city, claiming that the ghost of William Ellery Channing had warned him not to meet Campbell. At one time the church was strong, with many capable workers teaching and ministering. But in the late 1850’s the church was broken. In the midst of what we now call the “Ferguson Affair” David Lipscomb began preaching in the suburbs of the growing city. He preached in East Nashville, North Nashville, and here, in South Nashville. After the civil war, as the city was reconstructing itself, this area of town was the intellectual center of Nashville. The universities were here, a good deal of wealth was here. But between this hill and downtown was a slum known as Black Bottom. In the years before the Cumberland River was controlled by dams, that low area would flood and the rich black silt from the river gave the area its name. It was, by all accounts, one of the worst places in Nashville, and its was just down the hill from where we sit this morning. This area of town offered the best and the worst of one of the key cities in the South during Reconstruction. And this area of town would be the place where David Lipscomb would devote the remainder of his life as Elder of the South College Street Christian Church. His first audience in the 1850’s was three ladies and little boy. By 1877, 130 years ago, the little band was able to purchase a corner lot a block from here. A decade later in 1887 they were able to build a building and the congregation grew. As they grew they faced grievous obstacles and grand opportunities. Life in the church in Nashville was in some ways similar to that in Corinth. There was division; there were competing stories that vied for a place in the hearts of Christians. Racism, class-hatred and sectarianism were constant issues. I suspect that David Lipscomb, T. B. Larimore, James A. Harding, J. C. Martin, W. H. Timmons and others could echo Paul’s deep sigh for the church.

Grace in the Biblical Text
Deep as that sigh might have been, Paul was convinced that division, personal enemies, doctrinal upheaval, and immorality would not have the final say as to the hope of the church. For Paul had declared to the Corinthians that the one who establishes them both in Christ and who anointed and who sealed them, and who gave to them the Holy Spirit as a pledge is none other than God himself. Furthermore, Paul declares, as many as are the promises of God, they are YES in Christ Jesus. Paul’s ministry in Corinth is not based upon nor is it rooted in his own personality, his own ethnicity, his own social status, or his own teaching. Paul’s ministry is rooted in the gracious act of God in Christ. His ministry from first to last is Christ, indeed, to sum it up, as God’s promise to us in Christ is YES, so our response and our ministry is AMEN (2 Cor. 1.19-22).
Into troubled Corinth, with all of its promise and all of its peril, Paul declares that God’s gracious promise to us in Christ is YES. Paul will go on to say that his adequacy comes not from himself, but from God (2 Cor. 3.5). For Paul there is something that stands beyond the troubles of the moment that roots and grounds ministry: the grace of God and the mercy of God and the ministry of God. How else could he be hopeful for Corinth? How else could he be so confident as to declare the gospel in that city? How else could he deal so boldly yet patiently and lovingly and tenderly with the church in Corinth? How could he except for the prior work of God? How could he but for the mercy of God and the ministry with which God had blessed him?

Grace in the Present Day
2 Cor. 4.1: “Since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart…” David Lipscomb comments concerning this verse that “as God had committed to him so great a trust, he would not be discouraged or disheartened by the great persecution he endured.” J. W. Shepherd adds that “there was nothing so deep down in his sould, nothing so constantly in his thoughts, as this great experience. No flood of emotion, no pressure of trial, no necessity of conflict, ever drove him from his moorings here. The mercy of God underlay his whole being.”
How else could David Lipscomb, T. B. Larimore, James A. Harding and others declare the gospel in Nashville in the 1850’s, or in 1887, or how can we declare it today given the circumstances we face? How can David Lipscomb dare to plant a congregation when the best and brightest his church had to offer turned out to be a shame to the brotherhood across the South? How can he be so confident as to plant a congregation between his city’s intellectual center and her most squalid slum? How could he but for the mercy of God and the ministry with which God charged him?
How can we venture forth with the good news? When we look around our city we would could very well sigh and shake our heads and say look at what we are up against. Look at how we are afflicted! Look at how we are perplexed! Look at how we are persecuted! Look at how we are struck down! Look at what we are up against!
Henri J. M. Nouwen says this, “Our lives are full of brokenness. Broken dreams, broken relationships, broken promises. How can we live with that brokenness except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives?”
Paul says, “We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that they surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
How can we lay down our lives in such brokenness? We can, since we have this ministry. We can, because we have received mercy. We can because of what God in Christ has done for us and is doing through us for our city. Because of God’s faithful presence in our lives, we do not lose heart. Amen.

---------------------
Postscript: This sermon attempts two things: first I attempt to speak a good word to a congregation on a special anniversary. To that end the sermon recounts some measure of that congregation's history, but places that history in a sermonic context and not a Sunday School class or history lecture context. I am not trying to lecture on the history of the congregation, I am using the history of the congregation as a resource for a sermon to the congregation. Secondly, I attempt to speak a good word to a congregation that deeply desires to minister to a nieghborhood of Nashville that is notorious for drug and gang activity. Though in part revitalized, the area has a way to go. A combination of the southern interstate loop around the central city and the urban development initiative of the 1960's produced a depressed ghetto. Yet the congregation did not leave, or fold, or relocate. Instead, they stayed. And Sunday was a special day when several former members returned. I wanted therefore to speak a word that would contribute to the present work of the congregation, and more than that, to ground ministry in the good news of God in Christ. So the sermon is an attempt to do specific historical theology for the good of a local congregation. As to form, I took a cue from Paul Scott Wilson's "four pages of the sermon" and structured my sermon accordingly: trouble in the biblical text, troble in our world, grace in the biblical text, grace in our world (cf. Thomas Long, The Witness of Preaching 2nd ed., 128-129). One other thing, I did not footnote my quotations.

Lindsley Avenue Homecoming

2007-10-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

It was my pleasure to speak yesterday at Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ in Nashville for their Homecoming Sunday. Lindsley Avenue is the oldest Church of Christ in Nashville, having grown from the preaching of David Lipscomb in South Nashville (as early as 1855). By 1877 they purchased a lot at the corner of Third Avenue South (then known as College Street) and Ash Street. A decade later they completed a brick building (which is no longer standing) and under the preaching of T. B. Larimore the congregation was set in order. That was November 1887, so this years' homecoming marks their 120th Anniversary. From what I can gather they can legitimately claim to go back to the 1850's although they existed for years as a "mission" church. It seems that they did not have elders and deacons and may not have met every week to observe the Lord's Supper and carry out a program of ministry until Larimore's meeting gave them a real boost in 1887. Although not set in order, they did have an active Sunday School (which was quite large) even though they conducted in rented quarters until the building was completed.

It was this congregation that David Lipscomb served as elder from 1887 until his death thirty years later, in November 1917. This church piques my interest becuase it is one thing to read what Uncle Dave writes each week in the Advocate; this church's story shows what life is like in a congregation, week in and week out, under Lipscomb's pastoral care. I'm not suggesting there is a disconnect between what he writes and what he practices; I suggesting that this church provides a wider frame of reference for understanding Lipscomb that simply the pages of the Advocate. At any rate, having outgrown their building, they purchased the Presbyterian meetinghouse at Second and Lindsley Avenues in 1920. At that time the Carroll Street Christian Church (which had swarmed from South College Street) returned and the two congregations took the name Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ. The building is an eclectic Romanesque example of 1890's church architecture, originally constructed for the Grace Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1894. The older photo to your right is from 1896, when the Grace Church and her pastor were featured in the Centennial Album of Nashville (the same Centennial which gave us, among other things, Centennial Park and the Parthenon).

I'll have more to say about this congregation, the building, and the area of town (not to mention the ministry Uncle Dave pastored) in future posts. Needless to say, I have a new research interest. Tomorrow I'll try to post additional photos of the interior of the building I took yesterday. I'll also post my sermon.

the life of the mind for the good of the church

2007-10-10T20:40:00.001-07:00

That was my advice to a senior Lipscomb Bible major a few weeks ago. She will make a fine minister, but for now she has to take a difficult senior-level course (and pass it to graduate, of course). I commiserated with her bit, since I took the same course, from the same prof.

Then I offered unsolicited advice: to see the course not as a required course, but as discipline of the mind for the sake of ministry. I urged her to pursue the life of the mind for the good of the church. I reminded her that the church needs competent ministers, leaders and teachers. I urged her to persevere for the sake of the rest of us. For the love of pete and all that's holy, the course is not just a course for a degree, it is one part of a process of preparation for ministry to and on behalf of the church. Instead of short-circuiting that process, immerse yourself in it fully and richly! Do it for yourself and do it for the rest of us.

I was fortunate to have good people in my life who proffered the same advice, and I was blessed with good teachers who understood it themselves and who continue to serve the academy and the church. I was blessed by collegial academic and ministerial stimulation from a circle of friends who have prospered (and still do!) in both the academy and in the church. I was also witness to colleagues in school who took the path of least resistance. Of those few I can think of none that are in ministry at all today. But I'm hopeful for my younger colleague: that she will bless the church by loving God with all her mind. And I'm hopeful for the church, for the rest of us, who will be blessed by the gifts of the rising generation of ministers.

Ahhhh

2007-10-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

It’s about time we left the 80’s. Fall and Winter are my favorite seasons. I’m hoping for a winter as cold and snowy as the summer was hot and humid.

10.5

2007-10-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Grandad would have been 98 today. I have blogged about him before. I have cooking several more posts about him that I would like to post in the future: an essay I did for a college English course, a few memories, some biography, photographs.

In a few weeks we’ll head north to Columbus for a Thanksgiving weekend with Laura’s brother and family. On previous trips north Laura has not only indulged me but insisted that we drive by the house where my father and his siblings were born and grew up. The last trip Darby was old enough to understand somewhat of the significance of the visit. The farm of my father’s childhood was then 9 miles outside the city limits, near Reynoldsburg, in a hamlet called Brice. Now the city surrounds it as suburbs replaced farmland. No longer in the family, it now sits empty and awaits either a buyer or a backhoe. I’ve not been to Grandad’s grave; I think this year I will go.

The Ohio air will be crisp in late November. The trees will be bare, save for a few remaining leaves which refuse to fall. The black dirt will be spongy and wet, perhaps even blanketed in snow. The sky will be grey. In short, a perfect day for corduroy pants, a tweed jacket, a hot cup of coffee. On that crisp November day I will miss Grandad, but I will relive many happy memories. I will remember seemingly endless drives north to Columbus when I was a boy (many of them for Thanksgiving). I will remember walking up the bricked path to the house and the squeak of the screen door. I will remember the moment of first entrance into that century-old farmhouse, sans central heating and plumbing, to be greeted by its symphonic atmosphere of smell, sight and sound. I will remember seeing Grandad in his rocking chair. Chances were good he’d be reading one of three things: this week’s Christian Standard, this month’s Word and Work or a Louis L’Amour western. About his head and hovering across the room would have been the hazy and sweetly aromatic cloud of Granger, Prince Albert, or Half and Half.

Such good memories.

Are your church records safe?

2007-10-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/COUNTY10/710030449/1006/NEWS

I don't know about the records of the Commerce Church of Christ near Watertown (east of Nashville near Lebanon), but I suspect that if a fire (or flood, or tornado, or...) were to destroy most any church building, the records of membership, baptisms, and ministry would not survive.

If you have, or know of anyone who has, valuable congregational records, please contact me at Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Upon donation, your irreplaceable congregational records will be properly sorted, processed, filed and boxed. They will then be housed in a climate-controlled and access-controlled secure environment in perpetuity. Here they will be available to researchers, genealogists, church historians and students such as contact me for research assistance on a daily basis.

McGarvey Ice
Public Services Archivist
Disciples of Christ Historical Society
1101 19th Avenue, South
Nashville, TN 37212-2196
615.327.1444
http://www.discipleshistory.org/
ice@discipleshistory.org
The Future of History

Commodores, Buckeyes, and Bow-ties

2007-10-03T08:43:00.000-07:00

Gordon Gee, bow-tied former Chancellor at Vanderbilt, is the new President at The Ohio State University:

http://www.osu.edu/features/2007/welcomegee/

out of the frying pan, into the fire

2007-10-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

Fall has arrived (albeit still on the warm side) in my beloved Middle Tennessee and that means lunch outside. Today I walked over to Vanderbilt Divinity School, polishing off a bag of chips and 7-Up, to inquire about Mark Noll’s upcoming Cole Lecture. He will be speaking Thursday 10.11 and Friday 10.12 on The Bible in American Public Life. On the way back, promotional flyer in hand, I stopped by the Divinity Library. Then it struck me, what am I doing leaving one library to go to another on my lunch hour?

We’ll see if my schedule allows for a jaunt across 21^st on October 12. As for the forays into the Divinity Library, well, what can I say?

"War is not pro-life"

2007-09-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

So read a bumper sticker I saw yesterday afternoon.

-------

Happy 27th to one and all!

"Until you can find a better place to go,

2007-09-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

come to church.”

Thus reads a blurb on the back of a church directory I ran across today.

Hmmmm….

Christian Unity Hymn

2007-09-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

HYMN 165.

1. Come, my Christian friends and brethren, Bound for Canaan’s happy land,
Come, unite and walk together, Christ our leader gives command.
Lay aside your party spirit, Wound your Christian friends no more,
All the name of Christ inherit, Zion’s peace again restore.

2 We’ll not bind our brother’s conscience, This to God alone is free,
Nor contend with one another, But in Christ united be:
Here’s the Word, the grand criterion, This shall all our doctrine prove,
Christ the centre of our union, And the bond is Christian love.

3 Here my hand, my heart, my spirit, Now in fellowship I give,
Now we’ll love and peace inherit, Show the world how Christians live;
We are one in Christ our Saviour, Here is neither bond nor free,
Christ is all in all for ever, In his name we all agree.

4 Now we’ll preach and pray together, Praise, give thanks, and shout and sing;
Now we’ll strengthen one another, And adore our heavenly King;
Now we’ll join in sweet communion, Round the table of our Lord;
Lord, confirm our Christian union, By thy Spirit and thy word.

5 Now the world will be constrained To believe in Christ our King;
Thousands, millions be converted, Round the earth his praises ring;
Blessed day! O joyful hour! Praise the Lord his name we bless;
Send thy kingdom, Lord, with pow’r, Fill the world with righteousness.

From the “Love and Union” section of

The Christian Hymn-Book, compiled and published at the request of the Miami Christian Conference. By B. W. Stone and Tho: Adams. First Edition. Georgetown, Ky: N. L. Finnell, 1829.

--------------------------------

This was called to my attention not long ago on the Stone-Campbell email discussion list. When published by Stone-Adams in 1829 it did not have accompanying musical notation. “Words-only” hymnals were the standard of that day. There are a few tunes which will work with these words, but having looked at many of them, I think “Nettleton” is the best. I think it fits best rhythmically and the language of the hymn is quite comparable in places to the words most often identified with the tune “Nettleton”, namely “O Thou Fount of Every Blessing…”

We’ll be singing this one tomorrow at Woodmont Christian Church, here in Nashville, where I will be speaking to a luncheon gathering about Barton Stone and three events of his life and ministry: Cane Ridge, the Last Will, and ‘1832.’

Thanks, But No Thanks

2007-09-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

Not exactly the sort of family history we at DCHS are interested in preserving:

http://www.wmur.com/news/14157668/detail.html

(we do have a lock of Alexander Campbell’s hair, though)

This and that

2007-09-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

The fall research season is in full swing. Just today I had three researchers going full-steam. All are graduate students, from Vandy, Lipscomb and U. of Chicago. I'm always energized by sharing scholarship and by facilitating scholarship. Today was a good day for research; and if anyone tells you that people are not interested in our history, then they would be wrong.

--------

On that note, my presentation to the Tennessee Conference of Historians Saturday at Union University in Jackson, TN went well. Being my first such presentation, I have nothing to which to compare it (at least as far as the presentation is concerned). However, I was comfortable with the paper and the conference as a whole was well-done. The people at Union went out of their way to make it a good experience. The coordinator of the session in which I presented made several thoughtful and genuinely helpful suggestions on the paper. I wasn't expecting that and was very impressed. My paper was entitled: Nashville Churches of Christ, 1866-1906: Patterns of Evangelism for a Growing Fellowship. I've got some more work to do on it, both in the areas of research and interpretation.

--------

I'm commuting in via Murfreesboro Road now instead of I-24. It's comparable, and sometimes quicker, plus I have yet to brace myself for what I'm sure is an impending rear-end from either 1) an 18 wheeler, 2) a redneck in a large pick-up, 3) women who are putting on make-up. If that sounds snobby or sexist, then you haven't driven I-24 in the mornings; you drive it for 6 years and then get back to me. For the drive home, however, the interstate is still quicker. Most days it flows rather well; today I made it home in about 35 minutes. Lately, I've listened to Bob Randolph and James Walters sermons from Brookline Church in Boston. I burn CD's and can get one, maybe two sermons in one one-way trip (unless Bob gets long-winded).

--------

Speaking of James Walters, I've found his work on Rome and Romans not only fresh and well-reasoned, but tremendously insightful for a reading and application of Romans. Ethnic Issues in Paul's Letter to the Romans; a book you should own. So, having an opportunity to hear him preach (even if on CD) is a real bonus. (Chad, I'm envious...take good notes!) I met James at Chad Smith's (beautiful) wedding last fall. A fine exegete and a nice guy (both of them).

--------

Speaking of Romans, we at Central Church will be in chapter 4 Sunday morning. Steve and I are attempting a program of teaching in which I teach the AM class, exegete the text for the day and he preaches the AM sermon on the same text, drawing out from it teaching for the assembly. The trick here is to do a class well (and not preach a sermon under the guise of a Sunday School lesson) and do a sermon well (and not preach as if it is a Sunday School class). I think the approach has real merit. This is the first time we've attempted such and it seems to be going well.

--------

How about that for a stream-of-consciousness post?

I've also added some new blogs, deleted others, and fixed some broken links. I've got more to add as time permits.

What makes poor teaching poor?

2007-09-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

In no particular order: questionable exegesis (the homework hasn't been done), condescension, cheese, insulting the intelligence of the audience, dramatics, one-sidedness, oversimplification, overcomplication

I have often wished that I had kept a record...

2007-09-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

…of my work, but I did not, and it is too late in the day to begin now. I am sure that there is a true record of my life being kept, but by Him who notes the fall of the tiny little sparrow, whose eyes run to and fro through the earth, and from whose vision nothing can escape. Yes, God is keeping my record, and of that I am conscious all the time. But as I say, I wish I had a record of the number that I have baptized, the number of people I have married, the funerals I have preached, and the different places at which I have preached; but I have not, and I feel that I would be wasting my time if I should try to keep such a record. This I do know: if I have ever failed to tell the sweet story at any place I have ever been, I am not conscious of it, and for that I have no apology to offer to any man on earth.”

--J. G. Allen, “Our Work in South Carolina,” Gospel Advocate January 30, 1930, 100.

What makes good teaching good?

2007-09-04T06:21:00.000-07:00

in no particular order: clarity, passion, rigorous exegesis, eye-contact, willingness to say "I do not know" when you do not know, theological acumen, humility

sitz im leben blogeschichte

2007-09-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

Having caught your attention with the title for this post, I want to raise a question and then return to a fine Saturday with the family.

Blogging is a curious thing, isn't it. Reading what some people put on their blogs, (or what I put on my own for that matter) I often wonder what is going through their heads. Why write this or that? Why not write something else or another thing? Why this quote or that blurb, or this clip from Youtube or that illustration or picture? Why include these links to websites or blogs? What is the sitz im leben (the situation in life) which gives rise to blogging?

And furthermore, why put such on the internet so everyone, their sister and the dog can read it? And even beyond that, why do we read this stuff that everyone, their sister and the dog blog about?

What is that prompts people to blog what they blog, and what is it about blogging that makes us read them, or worse, subscribe to them?

No answers this cool(er) afternoon in Middle Tennessee, just questions. Don't waste your time trying to deconstruct the title of this post; or, even better, have fun trying to deconstruct the title of this post.

A Few Plain Rules for Preachers

2007-08-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

The following which we clipped several years ago, and put in our Scrap-book, is as applicable now as then, and may be useful to a good many preachers, and will do none of them any harm to observe.

Be very sure to understand the text yourself, before you attempt to make others understand it.
Be animated—be emphatic. Convince your hearers that you are in earnest; but do not insult their judgments by extravagant appeals to the passions without enlightening their minds.
Remember you are placed in the pulpit to teach. Study, therefore, your subject thoroughly, and do not follow—right or wrong—stale commentators. Think for yourself, and when you have new thoughts, communicate them, even if they do tread a little upon the toes of other expositors. At the same time a preacher should not aim to be original, merely for the sake of it.
Approach your subject at one, and be short.
Study to be eloquent—if you have powers of oratory, improve them. But let theatrical affectation be banished from the place.

J. R. H.*

[*John R. Howard, editor of the Christian Pioneer, the periodical in which these rules are published (vol. 1 no. 2, July 1861), MIce]

Church Bulletins

2007-08-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Just a brief note today: a plug about local congregational material. Please add me to your church’s bulletin mailing list, or pass along my address to the person who handles the mailing. Many churches are now moving to an online bulletin (usually PDF); but I would rather still receive the printed version by snail mail. We don’t have room at work to house bulletins in bulk or to go online each week in order to cull important items. But we will keep single copies when noteworthy events occur: new ministers, new facilities, other transitions. While you’re at it, send me your old church directories as well.

1101 19^th Avenue South

Nashville, TN

37212

Research Projects Underway

2007-08-25T19:46:00.001-07:00

I spend my days researching for other people. I answer their questions and sniff out leads on their behalf. Genealogy, congregational history, biography, orphaned parents, scholarly articles and books, institutional research, seminarians and professors: it varies from day to day and no two days are the same. I really like the variety because it forces me to interact with the full range of our materials at work and really has broadened by understanding (while at the same time reminding me how much I do not yet know or understand).

I also nurture some research projects of my own. The last three weeks, for example, I've been up at the crack of dawn tracing out the story of Nashville Churches of Christ from 1866-1906 in preparation for a paper I'm presenting at Union University in Jackson, TN in September. I've had long-standing research interests in Central Church and J. W. Shepherd and constantly keep my eyes open for anything that can contribute to an understanding of them. My most recent project included the Churches of Christ in North Edgefield, a suburb of Nashville just across the river from downtown. This project, slated for publication in September, led to my paper on the Nashville churches.

This afternoon, I enjoyed a few hours at church with former residents of the Central Girls' and Boys' Homes. Right at 100 folks, primarily from the Nashville area, gathered for lunch, to share memories and to keep in touch. I listened to stories and met some fine folks.

Last night Laura and I, Sharman, Sara and Marice (colleagues from DCHS) attended the Friday Night Singing at Charlotte Avenue Church of Christ. The congregation is merging with West Nashville Heights and will sell the building later this fall; this was the last singing in the old building (circa 1921-1923 or so, patterned after the Ryman Auditorium). I'd never before been to church at Charlotte Avenue, so I thought I'd better strike while the iron is hot. At one time it was about the largest Church of Christ in Nashville with something like 1200-1300 members. A historic congregation to be sure.

So, this weekend was a real treat. Let me plug my research projects: If you have, or know of anyone who has any historic material (paper items, photographs, ephemera, congregational records, books, periodicals, bulletins, letters, etc. no matter how insignificant you think it might be) along these lines, drop me a line, I'd love to meet you, listen to your story and talk with you.

It is up to us to keep and preserve our stories!

Hello again

2007-08-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

Having taken a late-spring and all-summer hiatus, I am nearly ready to resume my (acutely) occasional blogging.

I've got some news to recap, a few thoughts percolating, and more installments on the way for my on-going Stone-Campbell and family history series. There might be an occasional comment from my new study of Romans I began at Central Church last week. Then there's some family news as well. But for now, since I've got two research projects underway, let me finish those and we'll see what blogs forth.

So, my faithful readers, both of you, check back in a week or so and I'll have something for you then.

grace and peace

Churches Have Self-Esteem, Too

2007-03-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

Churches Have Self-Esteem, Too

In a bigger-is-better world, it is understandable how quickly we in a small church can feel down on ourselves. If we play the comparison game, we will always come out behind since small churches often lack the resources (finances, facilities, personnel) and prestige that are so highly valued by some. Comparing ourselves to larger churches, we feel inadequate, insignificant or irrelevant.

Inadequate. Insignificant. Irrelevant. If small churches judge themselves by the standards of resources and prestige, then no wonder they come away from the comparison game with hurt feelings and wounded pride. If judged by those standards, then they are inadequate, insignificant and irrelevant. Its quite easy to be cynical or resentful toward large churches.

This is why we must know and understand the story of Scripture. For the Story of Scripture places value upon people because they are created in the image of God and they are loved by Christ to the extent that he died for all. The Story of Scripture places value upon the church, in whatever manifestation, regardless of size, because the church is the beloved people of God, bride of Christ and the temple of God’s Holy Spirit.

Indeed, the Story reorients the church to her creator and redeemer, and therefore to her identity. From the historic work of God, the redeeming work of Christ, and the ongoing work of the Spirit ought to come our feeling of self-worth, value, degree of usefulness and mission. Rather than compare ourselves to large churches with attitudes of disdain for them or woe for us, let us celebrate the work of God in large churches and reconsider how we, as a small congregation, can be a more faithful church.

Judged by the standards of the world, the small church is quaint if not silly. Judged by the grand Story of God, the small church is beloved, indwelt and powerful in mission. The task of church growth for the small church is a reorientation to who we really are and who God intends for us to be.

Another Angle on Church Growth

2007-03-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

Another Angle on Church Growth

As we bring our brief study on the theology of the church to a close, and as we move into a discussion of tools and strategies for growth in the smaller church, I think it appropriate to call to our attention a cluster of passages.

In Acts read carefully 6:7, 9:31 and 16:5. In the epistles read 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, Ephesians 2:19-22 and 4:7-16, Colossians 1:9-14 and 2:16-19, 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4, 1 Peter 2:1-3 and 2 Peter 3:14-18.

What you will see is that there is clearly more to "church growth" than "more people." When we hear the phrase church growth we automatically think of plans, programs and strategies to reach more people and integrate them into the family of God. A measure of this is true, and right, and good.

Yet if you carefully read each of the passages above, you will see that God intends for his church to grow in ways beyond larger numbers. God desires for his church to grow broader and deeper. God intends for his church to grow in faith and love, in holiness and devotion to Christ, in good deeds and steadfast hope.

My suspicion is that if we were to devote ourselves to growing deep, God will provide clear vision for how we may grow wide. The deeper we sink our roots into the nourishing grace of God, the more we will be at his disposal. The first task of church growth is for the church to relinquish willful self-reliance and, in faith, devote herself to God. After all, it is God who gives growth.

A People of the Story

2007-03-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

A People of the Story

The Biblical story reveals a loving and relational God who has initiated the redemption of his beloved creation. Not that we first loved him, but he first loved us. Scripture utilizes several metaphors to describe God’s loving activity in time and history and to describe his beloved people. His move to initiate covenant with Abraham is a redemptive move with an eye towards forming a people. This family-turned-nation, according to the Biblical witness, is to be a people of God’s own choosing who live in the midst of the nations as a light to the nations. When Paul speaks of Christ’s church with this language, he likely has this image in mind.

In relational terms, the church is spoken of as the body of Christ. With diverse members and gifts, the church’s task is to come together, because we are one body, and function in unity for the glory of God. The church is also the family, or household, of God. God’s work of reconciliation is acutely, and wonderfully, seen in this household of faith. The church is the one place where race, class, and gender-based hostilities and divisions are set aside. In Christ, God has created one new humanity. Our task is to live out that oneness. God is active and present in his church, it is referred to as the temple of the Spirit. The imagery draws from the well of the Old Testament Tabernacle and Temple; the Holy Spirit dwells in the church, giving life to church. Therefore we are to guard this gift and not quench the Spirit.

God is at work: in tremendous love he is reconciling the world to himself. And to his church he has entrusted the ministry of reconciliation. He has commissioned us with our task. He has gifted and equipped us for our task. He is present among us as we follow him and join him in his grand work. Finally, one day he will bring to completion what he has begun in us. By faith, and in great hope and confidence, we live by the grand story of God’s love and mercy. Returning again and again to the Biblical story of God clarifies for us our identity, our nature, and our mission as God’s church. Returning again and again to it is crucial if we are to live by it.

We conclude our brief study of the nature of the church – what is the church and what is the church to be and do – this Sunday. We will read together several more Scriptures so that our thinking about the church will be clearer and our vision sharper. From there, Lord willing, we will spend two weeks discussing tools and strategies for church growth that take seriously both the nature of the church as well as the dynamics of the small church. Join us!

----------------------------
Another installment.

The Church: God’s People, Christ’s Body, the Spirit’s Community

2007-03-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

The Church: God’s People, Christ’s Body, the Spirit’s Community

The whole of Scripture unfolds the dramatic and redemptive work of God. Having created humanity in his image, God pursues relationship with us. Having sinned, and refusing his overtures of love, we flee from. Yet he pursues us.

The Biblical witness tells the story this way: Creator God enters into a covenant with one man, Abram, in order to prosper and grow him into a family, then a nation. Abram is a special man, a beloved man, a blessed man. He is blessed and through him all will be blessed. This nation, Israel, is a blessed and cherished nation, and a light to all nations. They are his people, indwelt by God’s divine presence, and intended to embody God’s holiness and righteousness. Yet Israel is rebellious and hard-hearted. But God pursues them. In Jesus of Nazareth, God becomes human and in a completely new way lives and dwells among us. Jesus of Nazareth: the embodiment of God in holiness, love, grace and truth! Crucified by sinful men, and three days buried, Jesus rises from the tomb bringing forgiveness and resurrection life to hopeless humanity. The body of Christ is alive, and he gives life to his Body, the church.

God’s Holy Spirit indwells his people, the disciples of the Christ, as they seek to follow in the way of Jesus. The church, the presence of God and the body of Christ, is blessed and beloved and gifted for service and ministry. God is indeed active in pursuing hostile humanity. He loves us and his work of redemption and reconciliation yet continues; the church partners with God in his redemptive work. The redemptive story God initiated in the past continues in our present and, by God’s grace, we are hopeful for the future. The Grand Story is by no means finished, the work continues!

Sunday morning, February 4, we continue our study of the nature of God’s church. Our task is to equip ourselves with sound teaching about the church, so that we can be the most faithful and effective church we can be. Join us for the study; join us on the journey.

---------

This was the first in a short series of bulletin articles I wrote for Central Church, inconjunction with a study I am leading on church growth for smaller churches.

I am working in large part from the excellent material by David Ray, especially his Indispensable Guide for Smaller Churches.

http://www.amazon.com/Indispensable-Guide-Smaller-Churches/dp/0829815074/sr=8-1/qid=1171639477/ref=sr_1_1/105-4724312-4300417?ie=UTF8&s=books

The folks you preach to...

2007-03-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a gem I ran across this morning:

On a church bulletin, for Palm Sunday 1943, written in bold strokes are these words: "I was so disappointed, for I wanted to hear a good Palm Sunday sermon. He is too inclined to be "cute" and funny."

And again next to the title of the sermon (which was" God at Your Door") this person writes, "terrible sermon."

And now we have it in our archives where it will testify throughout the ages that this particular sermon, at least to one auditor, was a real flop.

Ha ha. Its a humorous find alright, but it also is quite telling. This person, man or woman I cannot fully tell from the handwriting, came to church wanting a good sermon yet was served up a helping of "cute and funny."

I know that you can't please all the people all the time...yada, yada, yada. Still, its a shame when folks come to church asking for bread and get a stone in return.

I'll have my laughs at this little bulletin (the author of which I'm sure never intended his/her comments to be preserved), but I'll also take it seriously when I prepare to preach. For no criticism of preaching (or class, or small group meeting) is so stinging as "it was a waste of my time."

Grace and peace.

We are about to enter the hermeneutical circle...

2007-02-22T06:44:00.000-08:00

In fact, it is a spiral which begins in wide curves and--if success befalls our reading--winding about, narrows its circles and takes us to the core. But how to make a start? Not a single method warrants our access to the work in advance; every text requires its own hermeneutics and the annoying thing is that the outlines cannot be drawn until after the event. Yet perhaps one guideline of general validity can be given: go into the text carefully, in an attitude of confidence, thus hoping to find an entrance to the work, those keys to its understanding, which the stylistic means of the text offer to us. On this basis a provisional structure can be designed, which in turn integrates and interprets the stylistic means.

--J. P. Fokkelman in the introduction to his Narrative Art in Genesis, Specimens of Stylistic and Structural Analysis.

----------------

Thought I'd lay that on the table. Having done so, I'm going back to work on the paper (an exegesis of Genesis 11.1-9).

Converting the World

2007-01-22T06:35:00.000-08:00

Converting The World
David Lipscomb
Gospel Advocate, Vol. 52, No. 3 (January 20, 1910): 77

The world can never be converted to Christ in the meetinghouses or by the regular or professional preachers. There are not enough preachers to reach the masses of the common people. Nor can they be carried to the meetinghouses to be converted. The Bible with its teachings must be carried to them at their homes and amid their family associations. It must be carried there by people who can make themselves familiar with them and in their surroundings. The preachers who depend on the congregations for a support cannot do this work. Men doing this work should be helped by the congregation in many ways. Personal help and assistance, where it can rendered, is better both for the helper and helped. It is better for a Christian to visit and to help a sick person than for him to send others to help him and stay away himself. All his service cannot be so rendered; but personal attention, a visit to a sick man, helps both parties, the visitor and the visited. A few persons in a community starting in an earnest way to worship God and to interest all they can is the surest way to build up a church I know. There are more Christians and churches in Nashville than in any city of its population in the world. They were made through the private members studying themselves and teaching the word of God in various neighborhoods. Very frequently these private members become earnest and effective preachers. South College Street, Green Street, Carroll Street, and Flat Rock were built up in this way; and in West Nashville, North Nashville, and East Nashville the same was true. Brethren that go to work when first converted, to learn and teach, grow by teaching and continue to spread and multiply.

--------------------------

Another paragraph worth hearing from Uncle Dave's pen. Terry Gardner called this to the attention of the Stone-Campbell email discussion list. I thought it worthy of passing along.

He had no sword

2006-12-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

Another reason why I love what I do: Here is a little blurb about B. U. Watkins' submissions, or lack thereof, to the pages of the North Western Christian Magazine, in the early months of 1857.

"In answer to several interrogatories relative to his contributions, we would say that we are sorry to learn that he has turned his pen into a ploughshare. Being a peace man, he had no sword to convert to that use."

--John Boggs, editor, "Editor's Table", North Western Christian Magazine, July 1857.

Another semester in the books

2006-12-14T07:23:00.000-08:00

For the first time in about 5 years I tackled two courses in one semester at DLU: Preaching-Teaching Biblical Genres (Prof. John York) and Old Testament World (Prof. Ted Carruth).

Both were fine courses. I understand much better now the inner logic of narrative preaching (ala Craddock, Long, Lowery, Graves and others) and have sharper tools with which to construct sermons and preach them. I find this quite new and helpful since I managed to earn a BA in Preaching without ever having to preach in class. That's another story.

OT World contained so much in so many ways: so many civilizations, so much time, so much data. But I have a better grasp of the main issues on the table and a better working knowledge of the basic information. Though I am much more comfortable in the world of the New Testament, I count this course as great progress. I'd never done formal course work in OT World before, so the thrill of having the issues and data 'click' and fall into place is a real help.

With six hours down, I've got two semesters, and fifteen hours, left. Up to bat for the spring semester are three courses (an independent study in Missions, a short course in Genesis, and a third yet-to-be-determined); on deck for the summer are two more (one in Historical Theology with John Mark Hicks and one yet-to-be-determined).

Mark Manry: I wish you could join me for the Hicks course as I go out in style for my degree. Great memories, friend!

Speaking of degrees, I found this gem a while back and have been saving it for an apropos post:

"When a man reaches the point that he has sufficient reputation that it is uneccesary to print any degree after his name, he has "arrived." Degrees printed after names are crutches for little men to lean upon. Of what possible use can a B.D. [precursor to today's M.Div., M.Ice] degree be to a gospel preacher except some more infidelity to unlearn. When a man reaches the point that he prefers to be called "Doctor Blank" instead of "Brother Blank" he has indeed become a conceited donkey. Recently when I had an article about this matter in The Christian Leader a brother wrote to inquire what degrees I had. Now, brethren, that's just the point: not is it the truth? or Does the Bible teach it? but What degrees do you have? Yes, brethren, a new disease has broken out among us preachers -- it is "Degreeitis." Let us hope it will soon run its course."

--George W. DeHoff, "This and That" The Christian Magazine vol. 2 no. 3 January-March 1948, p. 29.

27 boxes of books!!!

2006-12-13T20:02:00.000-08:00

Great big wishes of grace and peace to the Valentine family as they move from Wisconsin to Arizona. Bobby has blogged about the move, and his adventures in book divesting, at Stoned-Campbell Disciple.

The bad news about his move is that he is divesting part of his library. The good news is that he still has 27 boxes of books left. As much as I hate to say it, I could live the rest of my days and not add another tome to the pile if I had only 27 boxes of books. Ok, I take that back, there's one book I'd love to have. Bobby, in case you have a copy of RH Boll's Lessons on Hebrews, McQuiddy Printing 1910 first edition you care to part with, do let me know. (Like there's a chance that he'd ever part with it, or anyone else on the face of the planet...I can't find a first edition anywhere, but I digress).

Kidding aside, I need to take a page from his playbook and divest a bit myself. I am a simple person; but I have a hard time divesting books.

Indeed, grace and peace to the Valentines: may God bless you and keep you in the new ministry, the new move, and in the hope of God.

Come by for a tour

2006-12-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

of the TW Phillips Memorial, home of Disciples of Christ Historical Society. Our facility has just been officially named to the National Register of Historic Places.

I'd love to show you around!

Stony the road we trod...

2006-11-29T20:54:00.000-08:00

A big salute to Lipscomb University's Institute for Conflict Management for hosting an interfaith dialogue on campus. Thank you for being forthright, proactive, intentional and honest. A big salute for taking a risk.

Given the significance of such an event 1) at all, 2) in Nashville, and 3) at Lipscomb, you'd think the Tennessean could have done a better job of covering it. Sure, they gave the event front-page coverage today, but gracious, what sorry reporting it is. It's sensational, uselessly provocative, and rather dismissive of the true import of what Lee Camp said.

So, another big salute to Randy Lowry for issuing this statement. Kudos to Lipscomb for being forthright, proactive, intentional and honest by issuing the statement. Way to go friends, I'm impressed.

If the talk-radio blather from early this morning right on through the afternoon is any indication, I'm sure there will be letters to the editor (look at some of the comments already online) and lots more ranting. In their righteous indignation (based on a poor example of newspaper work) I hope folks will take the time to hear Dr. Camp out and try to understand the larger context of his argument (see Mere Discipleship and this blog (http://discipleshipdiscussion.blogspot.com/).

I hope they grapple with how truly radical his call is. It's radical all right, but not in the ways they think. In fact, its much more provocative and much more significant than we would like to admit.

And so it goes in Nashville tonight. Hope things are well with you, wherever you are.

And so to bed.

Dr. Ice

2006-11-24T19:23:00.000-08:00

Dr. K. C. Ice and the little frame building which housed one of his earliest practices. He looks proud doesn't he?

The fourth of six boys, he was born into poverty, yes, in a log cabin, in the hills of central West Virginia. His father and grandfather were veterans; they fought with the Union troops in the "Late Unpleasantness" as it is known in the state of my birth (or, if you prefer, the War of Northern Agression). His father was a boy of fourteen when that War began, and was still a boy when it was over. When K.C. was six, his father dead of appendicitis, he and his siblings lived for a time with his grandparents Ice and Roberts. Mary Ann Roberts Ice had six sons to raise, ages 12 to just a few months. So a natural gas well discovered on the Ice property was no doubt a God-send. It provided the funds to send KC and at least one of his brothers to Salem for school (what we would call High School). The well also sent him to Hiram in 1897. By 1900 it either stopped producing or the residue went to the younger boys.

The same family stories which have young KC with his heart set on foreign missions also have him pressing his clothes between his mattress and and springs in order to save money while in medical school. No doubt he kept in touch with brothers and both the Ice and Roberts families while in St. Louis from 1900-1903. Not only did he keep in touch, he went back. Though born in the woods, he was educated in the cities and had a world-wide vision sparked within him. Yet he returned to the hills. To Rockport, West Virginia, circa 1904, where he set up practice and took up the ministry of the healing of bodies.

Having his own practice, a place to hang a shingle and engage in a honorable profession, really meant something. I'd be proud, too.

-----------

Comments are back up.

Reflections on my Stone-Campbell Heritage, Part Second

2006-11-24T09:08:00.000-08:00

Installment #2

Choosing a college was not a agonizing decision for me. That I would attend one of "our" schools was not really up for grabs (though my parents certainly didn't force it). Late in high school I had determined to be a youth minister (how the path of my life has meandered through a variety of ministries is a different post for another time), and so attending Lipscomb University (DLU then) was a no-brainer. I had entertained going to ACU (and almost did) but a greater academic scholarship and being closer to home won the day.

Both Mom and Dad went to Lipscomb (DLC then): Dad after two years at Ohio Valley (OVC then, still a 2 year school, and he attended in the very early days of OVC); Mom all four years. My mother was the first from her immediate family to go to college. The Ice's have had a much stronger history of higher education.

Grandad Ice attended and/or graduated from more schools than anyone I've ever known. For a few weeks he and my great-grandfather, in a Model T Ford and a canvas tent, toured the South (they were living in southeast Ohio at the time, the early 1920's) to decide on a college for young McGarvey and hit, in geographical order, Harding College, David Lipscomb College, Milligan College, Johnson Bible College, Christian Normal Institute (later Kentucky Christian College, now KCU). As far as I can tell they didn't even stop at Freed-Hardeman or the College of the Bible in Lexington (both of these schools then representing the farther ends of the spectrum of the Disciples). In the end Grandad wound up at CNI, though he did study a semester at Harding in 1930. He finished his BA at Cedarville College (a Baptist school) in Ohio. Then came graduate schools in a couple of different disciplines. I could post on and on about Grandad.

Grandad's father, K. C. Ice, from central WVa, took his BA at Hiram College in northeast Ohio, in 1899. He evidently was awakened to missions at Hiram. Who or what the driving force was I do not know. Family stories have him with eyes set on medical missions in either China or India. He immediately went to St. Louis and took his MD in 1904. From there he headed back east to (cue Handel's Hallelujah chorus...) Bethany College for his Master's in Philosophy. He was the village physician in Bethany while taking his degree and no doubt cared for many notables, perhaps even Campbell family members in their old age. Having finished in 1907 he spent a year in doctorin' and doctrine (ha ha, I amuse myself) throughout West Virginia. Long story short...he married, soon had a son and whatever plans for missions to India and/or China he had were abandoned in favor of missions to the poor of eastern Kentucky, southeast Ohio and southwest West Virginia. Though a medical doctor, he was never wealthy. Often just getting by and thankful to accept payment in kind, whether books, chickens, rocking chairs or garden vegetables.

That's the gist of it. What I haven't been able to do yet is to chase down the influential professors at Hiram and Bethany. The earliest that I can trace my family's (either maternal or paternal side) in the Campbell-Stone Reformation is the early 1860's. More later.

Time for a change

2006-11-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

I switched to the new format/template/whatever-it-is that Blogger has come up with.

It is more user-friendly and there are more options for just about every aspect of the blog. So a fresh look is in order. I've also added a new blog just for the friends and family: theicefamily.blogspot.com. Sign up and log in!

Since most of my readers are friends and family anyhow, it might seem redundant to create another blog. Granted, but I want to post pictures and not have the world see them, and I would rather keep the more personal stuff personal. The rest of this theologically vapid blather will stay here. The really neat goings-on, as well as photos of the beautiful children, are now and will be at theicefamily.blogspot.com. Again, you are all welcome to join. If you are not a friend or a family member, sorry, but you are not welcome to join.

So, what do you think about the new look? (not that you can reply, since I've disabled the comments for at least the time being).

Grace and peace, friends.

"The library is not...

2006-11-14T07:21:00.000-08:00

...a shrine for the worship of books. It is not a temple where literary incense must be burned or where one's devotion to the bound book is expressed in ritual. A Library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas - a place where history comes to life."

So goes the blurb on the front of the flyer advertising the mix-and-mingle celebrating of the completed renovation of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. I didn't make the social gig, but I have spent some time recently in their delivery room being that I am now a card-carrying, borrowing-privileged local clergyperson.

I particularly appreciate the breadth and depth of the periodical holdings and the friendly staff, not to mention that the lunch-hour walk to VDS from my office takes all of 27 seconds. Its a real swanky joint now that the renovation is finished. Swanky enough, in fact, to burn some literary incense.

a quote without comment

2006-11-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

from this weeks' Christian Standard:

"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

--Attributed to Anne Lamott, or a friend named Tom

(for CS readers, this quote is the last one on the back page)

A Homily for Congregational Historians

2006-10-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

2006 Stalcup Seminar for Local Church Historians

A Homily for Congregational Historians
McGarvey Ice
Public Services Archivist

Psalm 105.1-6 : O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones. (NRSV)

The task of keeping up with the history of a local congregation is a fulfilling experience. We enjoy old newspaper clippings, faded photographs, obscure-yet-sought after references in books. We revel in oral history interviews and in finding scraps of information that will afford us better information, more accurate description, and thus a more faithful accounting of our past. We enjoy collecting material, retelling the stories, and keeping alive the memories of our congregations.
Allow me this morning to take you beyond that job description. I want to give you lenses through which to see your task as congregational historian. In fact, I would rather not use the language of “task” or “job”; instead we should use the language of “ministry” and “service.”
Drawing from the reading of Psalm 105, I urge you to see your history-gathering and your history-keeping as a theological task. Congregation history is names and dates and places and activities and chronology and photographs and records and lists. But it is so much more: to keep and tell congregational history is to keep and tell the “wonderful works God has done.” It is a theological task, it is a ministry. Congregations are more than mere assemblies of people; they are the assembled people of God, in whom and through whom and for whom God is actively at work. When we do congregational history we are telling of the work of God. Our task then is holy, it is sacred, for it concerns the ongoing story of God and his church. Bernard of Clairvaux has a statement that I have long cherished: "There are many who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: that is curiosity. There are some who desire to know in order that they themselves are known: that is vanity. Others seek knowledge in order to sell it: that is dishonorable. But there are those who seek knowledge in order to serve and edify others: that is love." Drawing from Bernard, I urge you to see your history-gathering and your history-keeping as a pastoral task. The practice of acquiring, processing, interpreting and preserving congregational history is to be done for the larger purpose of serving and edifying others. The practice of congregational history is a labor of love for the good of the church. It is a pastoral task; it is a sacred ministry.

Maintaining the Institution or Furthering the Mission?, A Sermon

2006-10-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

Maintaining the Institution or Furthering the Mission?
A Sermon for GB 5613-01, Preaching Biblical Genres
Hazelip School of Theology
Dr. John O. York , Professor
October 16, 2006
Mac Ice

Text: Luke 6.1-11 - One Sabbath while Jesus was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?" Jesus answered, "Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?" Then he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath." On another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come and stand here." He got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?" After looking around at all of them, he said to him, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus’ [NRSV]

Focus: Jesus’ faith and piety are informed by the content and mission of the good news of the kingdom of God rather than by the lesser agenda of institutionalized religious observance.

Function: To reflect upon how easily and often we substitute our own agendas for the gospel and to awaken ourselves to how Jesus’ clear priorities challenge our backward notions of faithfulness.

I was born on a Sunday. Now, though I was not born on a pew, I was seated upon one shortly thereafter. I was raised in the church: faithful attendee at VBS, active in the youth program, taught to be a good person, a faithful Christian, a responsible citizen. While I can laugh at the joke about Wednesday nights not counting, I also cringe inwardly because I was raised to love God with care and precision. I was brought up in a Bible-believing atmosphere, with a sense of duty, an expectation of holiness, a strong work ethic, and a keen attention to detail.

Taking the Bible seriously, being faithful, and maintaining distinctive identity are strongly-held values for the Pharisees. They retained amid a sea of moral corruption and religious pluralism a distinct historical consciousness: they remembered what happened when past generations sold out to the surrounding culture. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day are born into situation wherein they are pressed on all sides, yet they remain determined that the exile would never be repeated. God gave them a new lease as a nation and they are committed to keep faith with God. Against the Graeco-Roman programs of cultural and religious assimilation they will cling to their culture, their religion and its distinctive marks: circumcision, Sabbath observance, food laws and personal holiness. After all, these are our sacred institutions and we must maintain them at all costs.

Evangelical author Joseph Bayly wrote a slim little book in 1960’s entitled The Gospel Blimp. It is about a group of believers attempting to be the presence of Christ in their world. As it opens the main characters, George and Ethel, are concerned about the salvation of their beer-drinking, unsaved, neighbors, but don't know how to reach them with the gospel. During an evening get-together of George and Ethel's Christian friends, everyone is captivated by the sight of a blimp flying overhead. As they swatted mosquitoes George’s friend Herm gets a bright idea: why not use a blimp to proclaim the Christian message to the unchurched citizens of Middletown?

So the group incorporates (International Gospel Blimps, Incorporated) and after a couple of years of committee meetings, the blimp finally gets off the ground and commences to evangelize their hometown. They tow Bible-verse banners, 'firebomb' the town below with gospel tracts, and broadcast Christian music and programs over loudspeakers. But a series of misadventures puts the blimp ministry in jeopardy. Its captain becomes famous and goes off on the talk show circuit. The blimp comes to be seen as a noisy distraction in the otherwise quiet community. George becomes increasingly uneasy about the methods and business practices of IGBI and its "Commander", Herm. The couple that hosted the picnic grows disillusioned with "Gospel Blimp, Inc." and resigns from its board.[1]

Like George and Herm in Bayly’s story, the Pharisees spent a good deal of time discussing the ins and outs of what constitutes proper observance and maintenance of the markers of true Jewish identity. Just as the International Gospel Blimps, Incorporated took on a life of its own, so too did the Pharisees’ traditions. IGBI institutionalized a very good impulse. Indeed, to evangelize is a gospel imperative. But the gospel imperative was lost amid the institutional maintenance. Israel is the covenant people of God and are to keep Torah; such is an imperative; yet the Pharisees’ traditions took on a life of their own. The exercise of faith and piety has become set within an institutionalized framework.

But notice carefully from the text in Luke 6 how Jesus engages the Pharisees here. Mark this: Jesus is not merely quibbling in good Rabbinic fashion over tradition, he goes to back to Scripture.

Before we explore what Jesus makes of the David story, observe what he does not do with it. First of all, he does not overturn the law of the Sabbath. He does not criticize the law; he does say that the law is bad, or deficient. He does not replace the old law with a new one. What he does is he steps outside of the Pharisees’ interpretive box. In order to appreciate Jesus’ point about David, we must remember the context for David’s eating of the bread. David’s relationship to the law is informed first by his mission as God’s anointed king. Seen from this vantage point, to withhold the bread from David is tantamount to hindering the mission of God. David is not condemned because Torah serves the mission of God. Lifting the law about the bread outside of the missional context and putting it in its own institutional context is like putting the cart before the horse. To do so would have hindered God’s mission. The instruction about bread does not stand alone as an independent institutionalized legislation, does it?

Hear also Luke’s second story. It is another Sabbath story. Jesus is under surveillance. He is also on the offensive. Here Jesus initiates discussion. His question brings out, in bold relief, the issue at stake in both of these stories. His question: What is truly lawful? Why are we in this synagogue? What are we doing here? What are we about when we observe Sabbath? What is Sabbath for? Why do we keep it? What constitutes truly “lawful” Sabbath observance? If we take the Bible seriously, then what are we to do and to be? I ask you, what is the lawful thing to do: to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it? Are we about the maintenance of an institution or the furtherance of a mission?

And that is precisely what Jesus has been asking and doing all along isn’t it? This pair of stories does not drop in on us from the blue. Has not the missional and redemptive love of God been the controlling motif for Jesus (and Luke) all along? What text does he read in the Nazareth synagogue? What task does he claim for himself as his covenantal and relational status as God’s anointed? What does he do at Capernaum for the demoniac? What does he do for Peter’s mother-in-law? What does he do for the infirm, the diseased, the troubled, the distressed? What does he do for the crowds, and the masses and the cities and the villages? What does he say to Peter in the fishing boat? What does he say over the din of the snapping nets and the flopping fish-tails? What does he do for the lepers, the prostitutes, the tax-collectors and the sinners? And what does he say about old ways of thinking about the presence of God and the reality of his kingly rule?

Really, if we are to be faithful to the mission of God, if we are to take our history and our upbringing seriously, if we are to be the distinctive people of God, then what does it mean to be faithful to scripture? What is the lawful thing? What is the lawful thing to do in the midst of this Sabbath gathering? Is it lawful to do good? Is it lawful to withhold good? Is it lawful to prolong suffering?

Are we to be about the maintenance of an institution or the furtherance of a mission?

I was born on a Sunday. Now, while I was not born on a pew, I was seated upon one shortly thereafter. I was raised in the church: faithful attendee at VBS, active in the youth program, raised to be a good person, a faithful Christian, a responsible citizen. I am a lover of God. I have heard the stories of the Bible and I have heard the story of Jesus. I have been taught and instructed.

And now I have this document from Luke. A document carefully investigated and researched. Attentively crafted and ordered. Luke lays bare the way of Jesus that I may know the truth. He narrates how Jesus brings the tangible gospel message to a variety of people in a variety of circumstances. He shows Jesus calling disciples and reveals how he draws the ire of his enemies. He shows how Jesus reads and interprets Scripture.

And in so doing he beckons me, one who has been taught, be beckons me and probes me and questions me and scrutinizes me.

In the crucible of his orderly account he presses on me and works on me. Using the mortar and pestle of conflict and invitations to discipleship he questions my heart and my motivation. Am I in this for my own preservation? To preserve an institution? To make myself look good, feel better, to avoid facing up to the realities that it is much easier to maintain and defend an institution than it is to surrender my heart to the truth of gospel: the awful truth of the gospel that I really am no better than the sinner I despise; the awful truth that I would rather inflate a blimp than cross the fence in my own backyard to build a redemptive relationship with my godless neighbor?

He sounds the clarion call of mission of the kingdom: good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight for the blind, freedom for the oppressed, declaration of the favor of God!

Going back to this mission of God in scripture, he exposes my small-minded institutional thinking and much like my Pharisaic counterparts now I must choose what I will do with this Jesus. Will we with fury oppose him, or will we embrace his priorities and his values, take up our crosses and embark on his wonderful mission?
[1] Plot summary adapted from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312733/plotsummary, accessed 15 Oct 2006.

Maintaining the Institution or Furthering the Mission?

2006-10-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

Check back soon for the sermon I preached in John York's class Monday evening. Based upon the theory of Tom Long, Fred Craddock, Michael Graves and Eugene Lowry, it is a narrative sermon from Luke 6.1-11.

Campbellite Dead Sea Scrolls

2006-10-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

In the world of Biblical scholarship and Near Eastern archaeology, few finds rank as high as or higher in terms of across-the-board significance than the discovery of a cache of Biblical scrolls and manuscripts in a series of caves near the Dead Sea. In the world of the Stone-Campbell tradition, few collections of manuscript material compare to the collection recently acquired by Disciples of Christ Historical Society of from First Christian Church in Frankfort, Kentucky.

This collection of letters is simply superb. The breadth and scope of the Fall Collection is tremendous. Their value to scholars over the next few decades will prove to be inestimable. Verily, verily, we may not see another cache like this one for a very long time. (Please, someone out there prove me wrong!) I really don't think comparing them to the Dead Sea Scrolls is too overblown. I'll cite one example: We have one Walter Scott letter at DCHS. In the Fall Papers there are five new ones. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Disciples World contributor Ted Parks has the scoop here

Reflections on My Stone-Campbell Heritage, Part First

2006-10-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

The photo to your right is of John William McGarvey, renowned Biblical exegete and scholar of a past generation. His ministry of writing (esecially his Commentary on Acts, 1863 and later reissued in 2 volumes in 1892 and hundreds of articles in papers and journals) and teaching (in the College of the Bible at Transylvania College, University of Kentucky) established him as the preeminent scholar-preacher of the Disciples in the latter half of the 19th century.

A student of Alexander Campbell and graduate of Bethany College, he trained most of the ministers and preachers and missionaries of the Christian Churches from the 1870's-1900's. He was widely read and engaged the larger world of Biblical scholarship. In many ways he typified the Restoration ideal of the latter 19th century: steeped in the English Bible, competent with the original languages, rationalistic, devoted and zealous, and committed to the Restoration principle.

Being an admirer of him, my great-gradfather named his firstborn, a son, after "Brother McGarvey." McGarvey Charles Ice (d. January 28, 1999), my grandfather, was born October 5, 1909, on the campus of Bethany College. My great-grandfather was the town doctor in Bethany for a few years, living just a stones throw from, and in the shadow (both literally and figuratively) of, Bethany's Old Main. I'm really rather surpised that Grandad was named McGarvey Charles instead of McGarvey Campbell!

My dad named me after my grandfather, so I can claim to be a namesake of old Brother McGarvey only indirectly. But I have inherited, and with grateful hope continue, a heritage of scholarship (great-grandad held degrees from Hiram College, Bethany College and an MD), Grandad (PhD) and churchmanship.

I have my heritage. It is mine to do with what I will. I embrace my past. I can neither choose my history nor can I change it. But I sincerely believe there is a nobility to the best of my heritage. So I embrace it, I choose to appreciate the previous generations (yes, I know they were flawed, but I will love them and appreciate them nonetheless), and I choose to participate in the ongoing story. My past has a future and I want to be a part of it.

End part first. More to come.

Grace and peace.

theologically vapid ditties

2006-10-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Yes I'm still alive, though you wouldn't know it from reading this blog. Chalk it up to a new job, finishing out a summer semester, starting a fall semester with two courses (haven't done that in a long long time, like before the children were born), and my ambivalence about blogging in general. I'm still not completely sold on this blogging stuff; I've read too many blogs that tell way too much (descriptions of bodily functions), say very little of substance (I have enough daily minutiae in my own life, why would I want to read about yours?), or are just down-right narcissistic (after all, my blog is all about me, isn't it, well isn't it?). Maybe I just need to read different blogs. Maybe I need to drop the cynicism.

Anyhow, so long July, August and September, it was nice while it lasted. I'm not rehashing what happened to us. Suffice it to say that we are all well in the Ice household, and for that I am daily grateful.

So what brings me back? The title says it all; I just had to call your attention to Chris Cotten's latest post. Well put! http://ccotten.wordpress.com/. Chris is a new colleague at Lipscomb.

I notice that Blogger is going to a new format. I'm going to switch over primarily because it supports a private-blog feature. I'd like to use that for friends and family and post pictures there. Looking over my shoulder while I type is fine, but I don't want the world peeking through our family pictures. So, friends and family, look for an announcement about how you can subscribe to it. The rest of you will have to be content with this theologically vapid blog.

I've also got new links to add, and I want to return to some of those posting projects I announced on this blog about 27 years ago. But if past performance is any indicator, then you'll believe it when you see it, right?

Grace and peace.

A Visit to Portland Avenue

2006-06-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings friends,

Here are some reflections on my visit to Portland Avenue Church of Christ in Louisville last evening.

I spent the day at Kirkpatrick Lectures held in conjunction with the North American Christian Convention. I decided late in the afternoon to forego the evening session at NA to find the Portland Avenue building and visit for Wednesday services. My time was limited and I had to be back in Nashville that night. Not knowing when I would have time to visit PA for services, I set out. I knew the general area of town in which to look, and after several turns and stopping once for directions I was pulling in just as services were starting.

The area of town, to the west of downtown Lousiville, along the river, is a working class neighborhood of row houses, city lots, brick and stone factories, schools and small businesses. I suspect an exodus to the suburbs is partly responsible for its decline. The area has seen better days.

After some helpful directions I soon found a simple, white clapboard church, the Portland Avenue Church of Christ. Immediately my eye was drawn to the vintage black-and-gold-lettered sign on the front of the building: "All are welcome here, especially the stranger and ther poor." The white building is surrounded by a lush green lawn. Adjoining the back of the building is the facility for the Portland Christian School. This school is among the oldest primary and secondary schools still in operation by members of Churches of Christ. If memory serves me correctly it is the second-oldest, behind what is now called David Lipscomb Campus School in Nashville.

A nice young man took me down a hallway lined with colorful art projects and posters, past classrooms with children to the prayer-meeting, assembled in the Boll Memorial Library.

I found four elderly members, three ladies and one gentleman, discussing the needs of those on their sick-list. They warmly welcomed me and we exchanged introductions. That I was in town and stopped by to visit pleased them (you do have to want to find Portland Avenue, it is out of the way a bit); that I knew of Brother Boll and Brother Olmstead (whose portraits hung on the wall above the high bookcases containg Boll's library) especially surprised them. I am from Hendersonville, not very far at all from Gallatin, where Olmstead preached. I knew a few people from the Gallatin church, although we haven't had contact in several years.

We prayed for the sick, mentinoning their families, loved ones, caregivers and doctors in earnest hope for healing and peace. Following the Amen they discussed the needs of their missionaries, in detail and each by name. I recognized most of the names from my reading the Word and Work. Yet the people I knew only by name they knew as people, as family, and as ones sent and supported by the church. Many times someone would say "They really need our prayers, we must not forget them." We prayed for the missionaries, in detail and by name. We then discussed the affairs of the world, especially Israel and the Palestinians and the war in Iraq. We prayed for the leaders and decision-makers in our land and in other lands in earnest hope for peace. Discussion afterward turned to their beloved minister, Alex Wilson, and how much they appreciated him. We then prayed a final time, for Alex and the congregation. Again, in earnest and with hope that God would work through them for good in their community.

One of the ladies attended Central in the early 30's when she was completing a Master's degree at Peabody. One of the ladies and her husband (Mr. and Mrs. Robert Heid) were entertained for an evening meal in the home of J. W. Shepherd. She vividly recalled the hospitality and graciousness of both J. W. and Julia. Robert would later edit and publish the Word and Work; he also would later preach for a time at Portland Avenue. It has been 20 years since he passed from this life to eternity; she, and Heid printing, still print the paper and mail it out each month from a little wooden-frame building adjacent to the Portland Avenue property.

They showed me the auditorium where for over 40 years R.H. Boll preached. New flooring and air-conditioning notwithstanding, it is essentially the same as it was back then. These ladies grew up in the community, attended Portland Christian School, and regaled me with stories about how the building was often packed to overflowing. They told me about how Boll was a studious, meek, and humble man. They told me how he urged them to study the scriptures for themselves, and not believe anything because he or anyone else said to, but because it is what the scriptures teach. Somewhere online is a sermon or two by Boll. I forget the site; but I must listen to them again.

They took me to the Word and Work Bookstore where I bought a few tracts and booklets by Don Carlos Janes, J. R. Clark, Stanford Chambers and Boll. My great-grandfather admired Boll, and subscribed to WW. His son, Dr. McGarvey C. Ice, did as well. He read it faithfully each month. My own personal memories of seeing and reading the WW, and hearing my grandfather speak highly of Boll and his attitude toward scripture and prophecy made the visit to this little shop all the more meaningful.

The prayer-meeting, with just the five of us, will stand out in my memory, I hope, for a long time to come. Seeing the Boll library, and knowing that the study of these books played a deeply significant role in the life of the Portland Avenue church and in the readership of the WW, was particularly meaningful. One book story: I pulled from the shelf Boll's Lessons on Hebrews, (McQuiddy 1910). Penned inside is a notation, to the effect of: "First Copy, to my dear wife, love Robert, 1910." In a moment, as I stood in the library holding that book, Boll's scholarship, ministerial and pastoral presence in the PA congregation, and his humanity came together in a profound way.

More could be said, but this is enough to convey the essence of a wonderful visit to the Portland Avenue church. Someday I hope to return for worship and research.

Who else has been to Portland Avenue? Please share your memory.

Grace and peace,
Mac

A Christian word for someone who is grieving

2006-06-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

I have two suggestions to help people think through suffering and grief. Look at the online presence of Mike Cope and John Mark Hicks. Both have lost children to disease and illness. Both are trained and competent theologians and ministers. Both reject pat answers and shallow theology. Both offer instead a word which is at once biblically grounded and theologically substantive, something at once useful and hopeful. Specifically, look on Mike's blog under the category for "Megan." John Mark has two sites: a blog and an online publication page. Scroll through the blog; on the Faithsite page look especially under books and articles. I've given away several copies of "Yet Will I Trust Him" and "Anchors for the Soul." Quite honestly, it is the best material on suffering to come from Churches of Christ. I pray it has wide reception and that it helps sufferers.

Grace and peace.

This and That

2006-06-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

Look for a series of reflections on my story in the American Restoration Movement. I have worked up drafts of three posts and am editing them in fits and starts. Also, look for some publishing on the DCHS website in a few months. I've got some things simmering. For that matter, be looking in our site period, as we want to maintain a useful web presence for all persons interested in the Stone-Campbell Movement.

I have created a post post (chronologically it is the earliest post in the archives) and moved all links to it. I have also salvaged most of the Biblical studies links from my page on the Ezell-Harding site and pasted it in the same post. It needs some cleaning up, but its a start. My goal is to clean out my bookmarks and put everything of that sort on the blog. I want a cleaner and simpler look. (If you want to know my links you can find them easily enough without a mile-long list.)

One blog of note: if you have not yet seen Bobby Valentine's blog, you need to bookmark it, link to it, whatever, and read it often. Bobby and I have corresponded over several years in several forums and shared research with each other. I commend him to you as a thoughtful and capable scholar-minister.

This summer semester has me crossing the 60-hour mark at DLU with a course in Ministry, Seminar in Ministry: Small Church Ministry. There seems to be a faint light at the end of the tunnel. It may be that I could finish by August or December 2007. If the offered courses and schedules make, that is. I've had this graduate degree longer than the ages of both my children put together. (What gets me everytime is that I am in class with guys who started and finished their BA's since I've been working on these masters degrees).

Who will be at the North American Christian Convention? Be sure to attend the Kirkpatrick Lectures Wednesday and Thursday. I'll be the one with the bow-tie.

Who will be at the Lipscomb Lectures? I will try to make as much of the evening programs as I can. The line-up this year is better and wider and richer than it has been in a long time. Kudos to whomever is responsible for a great line-up.

Stone-Campbell Dialogue

2006-06-09T20:21:00.000-07:00

This from my friend Clint Holloway:

Area Worship Service for Churches of Stone-Campbell Traditions

At 5 pm on June 11 there will be an area worship service for congregations of the Stone-Campbell/Restoration Movement and as part of the 2006 Stone-Campbell Dialogue hosted by Lipscomb University. Participants in the worship service will include Churches of Christ - Christian Churches - Disciples of Christ. The highlight of the service will be a celebration of the Lord's Supper, which Thomas Campbell called "that great sacrament of Unity and Love." The Lord's Supper will be led by Jeff Weston Australian-born director of the World Convention. The service will also include worship in song, responsive readings, Scripture and prayer (no preaching). The service is being hosted by several local congregations, World Convention, the Disciples of Christ Historical Society and others. It will be held in the Great Hall of the Family of God at Woodmont Hills (Church of Christ), 3710 Franklin Road, Nashville, TN 37204.

All churches and their members are invited to be a part of this unique and historic worship celebration among the three historic bodies of believers that trace their roots to the 19th century Reformation movement led by Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone.

The Stone-Campbell Dialogue is an annual gathering of Scholars and Ministers from throughout the United States and across the three historic streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement who meet to share and discuss the unity we have as brothers and sisters in Christ and to heal decades of sinful division. It is not, however, a movement to seek merger of the three distinct bodies but a recognition of our heritage.

For more information on the worship service please contact Clinton J. Holloway at milligan95@yahoo.com
For more information on the Dialogue please contact Robert Welsh at rwelsh@ccu.disciples.org

Clinton J. Holloway
Minister of Involvement, First Christian Church, Nashville, TN
Stone-Campbell Movement Historian
"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

Laura, the girls, and I hope to see you there. Look for me at or around the DCHS table.

Long time no blog

2006-06-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

May came and went without comment from the Ice's. I don't think I could tell you much about it either. Most all of May is a blur in my memory.

Here's the rough sketch: I tied up loose ends at Ezell and put another semester in the books. I finished well if I do say so myself. I finished the semester on time, ahead of schedule actually, and covered the material sufficiently. I graded papers and had grades turned in. I cleaned out my office and classroom (that was surreal). I have a decaying bookshelf, three filing cabiniets and their contents left to bring home. I managed to get most everything else home a bit at a time over the course of the last sx-weeks. The big delay on the remaining files is that our garage is full: waist deep full with stuff already.

The Monday after graduation we headed south for two days in Disney World. We loved it: left Nashville on a 7am flight and we were in the park for lunch with Cinderella (in the castle I might add). We got a package deal that inlcuded everything, and for a reasonable price. Since I am losing summers (still trying to get used to that) we thought getting away for a few days at Disney World would be time well spent. And it was. Darby loved every minute and was a dream child. I will shamelessly brag on her: no crying fits, no tantrums, no difficulties. Laura and I thought that she would love it, but we were surprised at how well she did. (No I don't have a "My child is an honor student..." bumper sticker; but I am a proud dad and this is my blog, so I can brag if I want to).

After that we spent a few days in St. Louis visiting Laura's parents and then home again for about 2 days getting our breath in time for me to start at DCHS June 1. Things have started smoothly, and I am already busy researching and corresponding, touring and studying. I'm slowly learning how the collection is arranged and how to make sense of it all. I jumped right in and I'll learn as I go. I've met some genuinely interesting and fine people in the last week. Verily verily, you never know who will walk in, or what the day's mail will bring. Just today I spoke with a man who has one of Alexander Campbell's Bibles (not the Living Oracles that Campbell printed and translated, but a copy of the Bible with AC's signature in it). Put that in your pipe and smoke it! The commute has been a pleasant surprise: only about 30 minutes in and 45 minutes home. Some days it took longer getting to and from Ezell-Harding.

Ella now has three teeth, waves hello and goodbye, and claps her hands and holds her ear (?) when we say "peek-a-boo." Darby positively loves her swimming lessons. Laura's summer piano lessons started back up again this week.

Grace and peace, friends. Let us hear from you.

See You in May

2006-04-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

The six-weeks is winding to a conclusion, and with it are several projects, tasks, and lesson plans to complete. I have two more teaching weeks, then a video/exam prep week. After that, exams, and we can call it a semester. Needless to say, I'll be busy tying up loose ends, including the LU practicum project; so i'll see you in May.

I've got some posts simmering: mainly reflections on my heritage (personally, professionally, and spiritually) in the Reformation of the 19th Century. I'm cooking them up to post nearer to June 1 as I settle into the Garfield Room. So, there will be more substantial posts to Occasional Epistles, but not for a few weeks.

We in the Ice household wish you the best: we wish you grace and peace. See you in May (all 3 of you):)

The Noble Tester Collection

2006-04-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon was a real treat. I attended a reception at the Society celebrating the acquisition of the Noble Tester Collection of Illustrated Sermon Charts.

The children of Noble Tester donated to the Disciples Historical Society several large and well-illustrated sermon charts. The charts, from the later 1940's, are fabulously preserved and splendidly executed on bed sheets. Noble used them in preaching revivals, gospel meetings throughout eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, Indiana, Georgia and points between and beyond. Noble minstered for many years among Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (instrumental).

His charts are a fine example of preaching and practice in the life of the church in the 1940's-1950's. Clint Holloway did a masterful job contextualizing Tester's life and ministry. The charts are now on display throughout the Society building. Many more photos will be online, along with Clint's essay, soon.

This is but one example of the sort of thing I look forward to being involved in. Acquisitioning a superb collection of material, making it accessible, interpreting its value and significance for the history of the church and the life of the church, and sharing the experience with many fine people.

Grace and peace.

What a storm, and an update

2006-04-08T07:34:00.000-07:00

Tornado season has begun, with force, in my beloved Middle Tennessee. Especially hard hit last night was my hometown of Hendersonville, along with neighboring Goodlettsville and Gallatin.
Some 300 homes in these areas alone were damaged or destroyed. As of this morning 11 are confirmed dead, many more injured and thousands directly and acutely affected. My immediate and extended families are all fine; I suspect that as details become known that we will hear stories longtime friends and friends-of-friends. Bren Hughes, let us hear from you. I am glad that the good people at the Hartsville Pike Church of Christ and Hendersonville Church of Christ are serving with the Red Cross to relieve suffering and meet the immediate needs. Shelters are operational at both locations. No doubt Churches of Christ Disaster Relief will have a presence as well. I know these good people and I know that they will come through with grace and generosity in this time of need.

--------

In other news, we are getting along well in the Ice household.

Ella is crawling and sitting up very well. Darby is looking forward to being 4 and swim lessons in the summer. Laura is busy preparing her piano students for the big spring recital. I am completing a Practicum project for DLU and moving into the final phase of Luke's gospel at Ezell-Harding. I have a lot of pictures to post, but finding the time to sit down, and a slow dial-up means that will be a loong time to sit down, makes it hard.

My time is winding down at Ezell-Harding. It will be time to start the reality of good-bye, and that will be difficult. Moving into "good-bye de facto" will be difficult. I will miss most the fine people I teach with every day: super colleagues and friends, and the energy and excitement of the students. I will not miss grading research papers; I will miss guiding them through the research and discovery process as they learn to investigate, seriously and academically, something Biblical, historical or theological in which they are truly interested. Well, if I get started, I won't be able to stop. This looks like another post for another time.

June 1 will have me at my desk in the Garfield Room at the Society. From what I hear, I've got a lot of work waiting for me, and the summer stream of visitors and researchers to meet.

Grace and peace.

Shocked and saddened

2006-03-29T11:40:00.000-08:00

That's us in the Ice household, and we have been for a week. Laura's brother Jeff called early Thursday morning last week and told us of Matthew Winkler's death. I've kept up with every detail since then, well, as much as I can with no cable and dial-up. We hurt more and more as the reality of this sinks in.

It is doubly difficult because this is a family affair: there is no shortage of media attention on the Churches of Christ, Freed-Hardeman, Lipscomb, and various individual churches. This is happening within a church family that we know well and love deeply. But more so than that, we know the Winklers. Laura's brother, now in Columbus, worked with Dan and Jacob on staff at Crieve Hall. Laura's uncle, Eddie Thompson, seen often on news reports as of late, and who preached Matthew's funeral with Dan, also ministered at Crieve Hall. I've had Dan and Jacob to Ezell to speak in high school chapel. Dan in particular was been a great encourager to Laura in her Romania mission trips back in the day; he has always been encouraging to me in my teaching and ministry at Central. The Winklers have been a major part of church life in Nashville, Ezell-Harding, and this has hit close to home for many people we know and love. I think I may have met and spoken with Matthew once or twice; Laura may have met Mary. They are not close friends, or even close acquaintances, but we know the family, have connections to the family, and love the family. Everyone we know has nothing but the highest regard and respect for the Winklers. We hurt for the family. This is a family affair in more than one way.

There has been no shortage of speculation about Mary's motive, no shortage of commentary about Churches of Christ, no shortage of commentary about "conservative religion" and no shortage of rumors and baseless speculation. This hurts as well. Any time people you know and love are in the spotlight, in this kind of light, it is difficult. Any time your church is scrutinized, fairly or unfairly, it is difficult.

I don't know Mary's motive, but this isn't the time or the forum for me to add to the speculative discussion. Neither am I interested in getting into theological, sociological, or psychological discussions. This isn't the time for that. This is a time to hurt with the hurting, grieve with the grieving and pray.

Time will reveal the details of the crime, the motive behind it, and time will assist in the theological discussions that are (poorly or otherwise) going on about Churches of Christ. By the way, mischaracterizations, and those with truth behind them, seem shallow and crass to me when I know so many people who are at this moment being Christ to the hurting Winkler family. This isn't the time to criticize and speculate, it is a time to love. If ever there were a circumstance that is not the way things are to be, it is this one, for this family, at this time, so now is a time for grace and peace.

Announcement: Public Services Archivist

2006-03-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

Come June 1st I will assume my new duties at the Disciples of Christ Historical Society as Public Services Archivist. The Society is an exciting place to be these days. Significant publications and interpretations of the Stone-Campbell history and theology are coming out all the time, unprecedented collaboration of scholars and historians is happening in many places, and meaningful interaction across the streams of the wider movement have been and are currently underway. This is a new position, so charting a course in it thrills and humbles me. The opportunity to join the Society in a mission to preserve and carry forward our heritage is one I relish. It is a ministry I anticipate.

On the other hand, leaving my friends and colleagues at Ezell-Harding is proving to be a difficult mix of emotions. I teach and partner with high-quality, well-grounded and competent people. My students are bright high-achievers. Ezell parents are supportive and committed to the education of their children. Over the last (almost) ten years Laura and I have had many wonderful experiences at 574 Bell Road. We have worked with fine colleagues, taught fine students, and poured our hearts into a ministry of daily teaching. (I have had a few knuckleheads in class, but this isn't the time or the forum).

Facing my final few weeks is difficult; being a part of the Disciples Historical Society is thrilling. Leaving friends will be hard; meeting and collaborating with new people will be a joy, I know.

But I'm not through yet: We have much work left to do in Luke. I've been around long enough to see faculty announce their intentions for the upcoming year and then pretty much quit for the last 6 weeks. I can't do that, and I won't do that. We've got too much great material to cover, to many things to explore and too much to learn to quit now (and most of all: my students deserve better).

While there is joy in new beginnings, there is also joy in finishing well.

Here's to great memories and new horizons!

Grace and peace.

How to Study

2006-03-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

How to Study

R. H. Boll

There is a crying need of Bible study, and faithful study will bring its own sweet reward. There is such a joy of discovery (Ps. 119:162), such a quickening of zeal, enlargement of the spiritual horizon, strengthening of faith and courage, and renewing of the mind, as could never come by mere listening to sermons or reading of religious books and articles. These latter were, indeed, not meant for substitutes, but rather as aids and encouragement to Bible study. When they become substitutes, they are a bane, not a blessing.

A good commentary used aright is a help, but it often becomes the occasion of cheating its possessor out of the most beneficial and healthful of spiritual exercises-the using of his own mind, his own power of perception and reflection. Do not be deprived of the great advantage of learning for yourself at first hand. Do not let even the few comments that will appear in these lessons take the place of your own searching.

The most important suggestion I have to make is this: Study for spiritual benefit. You can gather into your mind a collection of facts, figures, and statements, and get no more good from it than if you had memorized the catalogue of a museum or the inventory of a storage room. You can study in a spirit of controversy and gain little or nothing by hunting down of “points.” Lawyers, politicians, and even infidels, often show considerable acquaintance with the Bible text, but no evidence of the spiritual benefit they might have obtained from it. Something depends on the attitude of the student.

Let it, then, not be sufficient to learn a list of biblical facts and truths. Let us look for principles. Let us study the meaning and import of each fact and its direct or indirect bearing on our own life. Above all, let us study to get nearer to God, to please him better, to know his will that we may do it, and that, being filled with his thought and his mind, we may be more like him. Never leave out of view the fact that you are studying the word of God, that is pertains to the healing and welfare of your soul, and that God’s eye is upon you. Study in sincerity and love and open your inmost heart to the truth.

R. H. Boll, Lessons on Hebrews. Nashville: McQuiddy Printing Company, 1910.

How cool

2006-03-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Brennan and Jason for this neat site.

Telling isn't it?

-------

In other news:

Room 152: this six-weeks is now half-over!?! The school year will be a memory very soon. The study in Luke is starting to pick up and rock-and-roll. Papers will start coming in in just over a week.

Your My Best Friend: so sings Don Williams. Laura gave me his definitive collection CD for the big 3-0. Next Saturday he will be giving his first concert in Nashville in 20 years and we will be there. In fact, we were the first to get tickets. Don is giving the concert, likely his last Nashville concert ever, to benefit the Cheap Hill Church of Christ (where he is a member). Publicity flyers were sent to all the area churches, and I saw ours in the mail at church, we called, and, well, we were the first to get tickets. Laura and I both have great childhood memories of Don's music. She remembers her Dad playing the albums over and over; I remember 650 AM. We both remember the early Saturday morning one spring (when we were dating) when I called in to 650 and requested "You're My Best Friend" for Laura. If more country music were like his, I'd listen to more of it.

Green peas and sweet potatoes: currently Ella's favorites. Apple sauce is running close behind.

Herbie: that loveable VW, currently Darby's favorite movie.

Speaking of, tonight is pizza and movie night, and why am I still at school???

Grace and peace.

A Prayer Before Reading Scripture

2006-03-03T11:14:00.000-08:00

A Prayer Before Reading Scripture

Isaac Errett

O Lord, I am about to read thy holy word. I pray for a teachable spirit. May I come to thee hungering after righteousness. May my soul pant for thee as the hart panteth for the water-brook, and drink of the water of life and be satisfied. Open thou mine eyes to behold wondrous things out of thy law. Enable me to receive the word of the kingdom into a good and honest heart, that I may bring forth fruit unto eternal life. May thy word be a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path; and may I give heed to it as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in my heart. May I love thy law, and rejoice in its teaching as one that findeth great spoil. May it be more desirable to me than gold, yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, or the droppings of the honeycomb. Be pleased, O Lord, to enlighten the eyes of my understanding, that when I read I may understand thy will. And may thy doctrine drop upon my waiting spirit as the rain, and thy speech distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass. Let thy word be unto me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart. Save me from every blinding influence of passion and prejudice, and from all perverseness of spirit, lest I should handle thy word deceitfully. And let thy truth search my inward parts and discern the thoughts and intents of my heart. Let me receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save my soul. And do thou search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and show me if there is any wicked way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting. These petitions I humbly offer to thee in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Isaac Errett, Letters to a Young Christian. Cincinnati: Standard Publishing Company, 1877, pages 162-164.

30, or A Frazier-Inspired Birthday Reflection

2006-02-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

Turning 30 today, I'm aware of my own mortality. Maybe its due to the fact that I've been giving Laura a hard time about being 30 (she is 1 year and 5 days older than me) for a solid year now. But now that I'm half-way to 60, which is half-way to 120, it takes on an all-too-close-to-home dimension.

I'm reminded of a great pair of lines from Frazier. Lillith is in town in Seattle for a weekend and she and Frazier wind up wondering what life would have been like had they not divorced and Frazier moved to Seattle. Lillith's poignant line is (essentially): with one hand the past pushes us forward and with another it pulls us back. In another episode, after his near-death experience Niles lives with such caution that he fails to really live. He is too afraid that he could go at any moment. Martin's comment to him is (essentially) that you never know when your time is up, so you live each moment to its fullest.

How true. I don't want to waste my life agonizing over what I could have done or said differently, or what I will do with what vaporious days I might have left. Frazier's wise response (essentially) to Lillith is that their experiences, both good, bad, wise, foolish, whatever, have "made us who we are and brought us to where we are."

With one hand the past could paralyze us, but we must not let it. With another hand the future could beckon us to an ever-elusive possibility, but we must not let it. Instead, let us be chastened and taught by our past, have joy in the moment, and be hopeful for the future.

Grace and peace.

Give Blood

2006-02-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

Congrats to the Ezell-Harding Anatomy and Physiology students, and Professor Lisa Smith, biologian extraordinaire, for coordinating a successful blood drive today. 100 pints, including one of my own, were donated throughout the day. I have a childhood memory of once accompanying my grandfather when he donated (now deceased, he gave gallons and gallons). He told me that with so many people in need, how could he not give? I suspect that his experiences in World War 2 Japan also had a great deal to do with his regular lifetime of blood donation. A good memory indeed.

Are eligible to donate? Why not do it? You may be the one who needs blood. I'm glad to donate for you. What if I need it? Will you donate for me? For those you love? For those you do not, nor will ever, know or love? If you are eligible, make a difference and donate.

-------
In other news, Fred Peatross is taking a break from blogging. I've appreciated his critiques and look forward to his return to the blogosphere. I have removed the link to his blog; I'll put it back when he returns and things are current.

My sometime colleague in various Hicksian Theological Courses at Lipscomb, Bren Hughes, is now on the link bar to your right. He is a thoughtful and capable theologian, a great dialogue partner in class (who will graduate waaaayyyy before me) and a great guy. Read his blog.

Grace and peace.

occasional epistles of grace and peace...

new blog up and running

new blog

quote without comment

Henri on the way

sermon chart video

Bobby, John Mark and Henri

A Christian Minister's Library.

"Doctrinal preaching is again a great need.

recommended reading

Statement of Greetings

Krister Stendahl on Leadership and Dialogue

Serving the Academy and the Church

Books, Books

The Messenger's Policy

Lipscombian anti-ism

I'll be blogging here

Who says

You should be listening

with emphasis on occasional

this and that

worth reading

God's Invitation to Kingdom Living

Merry Christmas from the Ice's

Much More Brightly Than Before

Our Bodies a Sacrifice

Big weekend

Hope for the Whole World

what gets me through

Where are we?

Home again

Brother Gatling Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

More about Charlotte Avenue

blog IQ

Dr. Michael Matheny

Hiatus

"The office was seldom swept and almost never scrubbed.

quote without comment

Follow-up on the below

Your Study is on Fire

Lindsley Avenue Photographs

Add these to the stack

We do not lose heart

Lindsley Avenue Homecoming

the life of the mind for the good of the church

Ahhhh

10.5

Are your church records safe?

Commodores, Buckeyes, and Bow-ties

out of the frying pan, into the fire

"War is not pro-life"

"Until you can find a better place to go,

Christian Unity Hymn

Thanks, But No Thanks

This and that

What makes poor teaching poor?

I have often wished that I had kept a record...

What makes good teaching good?

sitz im leben blogeschichte

A Few Plain Rules for Preachers

Church Bulletins

Research Projects Underway

Hello again

Churches Have Self-Esteem, Too

Another Angle on Church Growth

A People of the Story

The Church: God’s People, Christ’s Body, the Spirit’s Community

The folks you preach to...

We are about to enter the hermeneutical circle...

Converting the World

He had no sword

Another semester in the books

27 boxes of books!!!

Come by for a tour

Stony the road we trod...

Dr. Ice

Reflections on my Stone-Campbell Heritage, Part Second

Time for a change

"The library is not...

a quote without comment