Bobby, John Mark and Henri

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.

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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).

Dr. Michael Matheny

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.

A Christian word for someone who is grieving

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.