Juxtaposition

The Lord orchestrated a wonderful juxtaposition.

On Thursday and Friday I rubbed shoulders with important people. I joined my class on a policy-briefing trip to Ottawa. We met the Speaker of the House, one of the main architects of the Accountability Act and a Deputy Minister. We had private meetings with a famous journalist, Senior Vice-President of the Canadian International Development Agency and the head of a think tank.

We wore nice clothes; stayed in beautiful hotel rooms (complete with a washer and dryer). We were treated very well; free admission to the War Museum, free breakfasts, priority seating at a downtown restaurant and special entry into Parliament Hill to avoid the lines at the main entrance.

It was pleasant.

Then today. It was interesting to witness the gap that separates political, media, policy and academic leaders from the ordinary masses – and to be treated with respect one day and contempt the next.

I was back at the grocery store accosted by a customer for positioning a case of pop in a manner unfavourable to him (he wanted the handle to face up). A woman, offended by a stuffed turkey sitting on a small pumpkin implied I was immoral for displaying the ‘impaled’ toy sitting at my register. I didn’t explain that I have no control over store decorations.

Yet despite the absurdity of both incidents the shift was good. People were served, smiles were exchanged and God was glorified.

And I praise Him for that.

In the Shadow

As my dad and I were driving through Hamilton earlier this week I saw a billboard advertising an airline company. ‘Avoid 416’ers – We fly out of Hamilton’ was the tagline, referring to the 416-area phone number in Toronto. Later that day my grandfather, a lifetime Hamiltonian and frequent detractor of Toronto, suggested that Hamilton’s close proximity to Toronto had dampened Hamilton’s economic well-being over the decades. (I don’t agree; I think Hamilton has benefited from being near Canada’s economic powerhouse).

The next day I awoke to a cover story in the Hamilton Spectator called ‘Why we love to hate Toronto.” The article referenced the billboard I saw the day before, and discussed the deep animosity many Hamiltonians have toward Toronto. Some of it, of course, has to do with envy. After all, Hamilton developed in Toronto’s shadow.

Morning Smile

I past a man and his puppy in a park as I was walking to class yesterday. The man was attempting to get the puppy to follow him. He was successful, until he lit a cigarette, at which point the puppy ran in the opposite direction. The man had to chase the puppy. Perhaps the little dog disliked the smell of cigarette smoke as much as I do.

Quote of the Week

“I don’t generalize,” said my professor who then proceeded to generalize and make barbs about, among others, elderly people, Ontario, Latter-day Saints, film studies and English students, The University College of the Caribou, Warren Jeffs, Beaver College and Texas A&M University.

Bonus: Unaware of most of the students names, he called the student next to me, ‘the student beside Trevor’ and ‘Ms. X.’

The image of God

“God created man in His own image” (Genesis 1:27). Yet it is very common for people to remake God’s image into something that suits their tastes or ideas.

Take for instance, the Unitarian-Universalist Association, a unique denomination. So unique that I’ll let them describe themselves.

This comes from the St. Catharines, Ontario congregation website.

“Today the Unitarian Church is a post-Christian congregation. This means that we welcome as members individuals of different religious beliefs, ranging from explicit atheism through ranges of agnosticism to a committed belief in a transcendent power, be it envisioned as a traditional God, or goddess or a mystery beyond a literal language or imagination.”[i]

For me, the most striking statement follows.

“In America Unitarians have merged with the Universalists, another originally Protestant denomination, whose main differentiation from other Protestants was their rejection of eternal damnation and hellfire, which, though Biblical in its origins, is inconsistent with a loving and merciful God.”[ii]

I am unable to fathom how one can readily recognize that hell is in the Bible, but then treat it as though it was mistakenly included.

Other people believe God is angry at the world and takes pleasure in harming people. An interesting survey recently released by Baylor University (world’s largest Baptist university) reveals the polarizing perspectives people have of God. According to the study four views emerged: an Authoritarian God, Benevolent God, Distant God and Critical God.

But I believe all four perspectives are, by themselves, an inaccurate assessment of God.

As Al Mohler wrote on his blog, “Biblical Christianity cannot choose between a God of wrath and a God of love. The one true God is both loving and holy, and God's wrath is a function of his holiness.”[iii]

John MacArthur provides reasoned and Bible-based explanation that balances the two views of God as a loving and merciful God who could not bring Himself to punish people and God as an angry tyrant.

He writes in ‘God Who Loves’ that God’s admonition to repent reveals His loving nature. Dr. MacArthur writes, “If God really did not love the reprobate, nothing would compel Him to warn them. He would be perfectly just to punish them for their sin and unbelief with no admonition whatsoever.”[iv]

[i] Unitarian Congregation of Niagara, Accessed 10 Sept. 2006. Available:
http://unitarian-stcatharines.org/profile/index.htm
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Al Mohler, Dr. Mohler’s Blog, 12 Sept. 2006, Accessed 14 Sept. 2006. Available:
http://www.albertmohler.com/blog.php
[iv] John MacArthur, The God Who Loves, Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2001, p 122.

Reflection

Five years.

Lord have mercy.

It is Well

I was to teach Sunday school this morning but none of the children came to church. I was disappointed. At evening worship the classic hymn “It is well with my soul” sung acappella encouraged me. It was beautiful.

The lyrics are below.

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
It is well, with my soul,It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in lifeThou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;Oh trump of the angel!
Oh voice of the Lord!Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Quote of the Week

I mentioned to an elderly customer that I recently helped to move my brother back to university. She replied, “Maybe someday you’ll get to that stage.” I didn’t tell her I’m starting my sixth year of post-secondary education this month.

The Love that Binds

I am going to a church meeting tonight. I returned to Trenton Baptist each summer but for the first time since 2000, will be a regular attendee in the fall (and perhaps winter). Returning to my hometown church has not been easy. I loved my churches I attended when I was away at school.

I was asked for an opinion on Jonathan Edward’s classic book ‘Freedom of the Will’ the time I was at Bath Road Baptist Church in Kingston. I immediately knew I was among like-minded believers.

The quirkiness of the Trenton Baptist is amusing but perplexing. We sing ‘contemporary songs’ with a 1982 copyright. An elder who checks off names on a chart attached to a clipboard takes attendance. In a Sunday school class an older gentleman insisted Russia is set to invade the West.

The members at Bath Road were well educated and sophisticated. There were aspiring scientists, physicians, university professors and schoolteachers in the congregation. Trenton Baptist, reflective of the town, is less well educated.

Despite the obvious differences both congregations are full of God’s people who love the Lord and rejoice in God’s provision of Jesus to atone for the guilt of their sins.

Even so, it has been difficult to readjust to a church whose photocopy machine hardly works, let alone one that has no website.

That’s why I enjoyed Dr. Russell Moore’s sermon entitled ‘The Kingdom of God in the Wal-Mark Breakroom: Poverty, Partiality, and the Peril of a Gentrified Ministry’ preached at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary last month.

His text was James 2:1-9 and he reminded seminary students, faculty and administration that knowledge of theology can lead to arrogance and snobbish attitudes toward the less educated.

He said,

“You can have all the theological conversation that you want to, and you can miss the fact that the Kingdom of God is dawning in a Wal-Mart breakroom of people sitting around a Bible leading someone to Christ who don’t know who John Owen is, who don’t know how to diagram a Greek sentence, who like Bill Gauthier more than they like Bach, who understand the Gospel in what may be a very, very narrow way but they’re people who are rulers in waiting of the Cosmos. He (James) says you need to understand that, because your own soul is at stake.”[i]

Amen to that!

Lord may I “show no partiality as (I) hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” (James 2:1) and not look down upon others as I join with them in eager anticipation of God’s Kingdom.

[i] Russell Moore, “The Kingdom of God in the Wal-Mart Breakroom: Poverty, Partiality, and the Peril of a Gentrified Ministry” August 2006, Accessed 6 September 2006, Available:
http://www.sbts.edu/resources/audio/Fall2006.php

What's in a Name?

I served a little boy and his mom yesterday at the store. When the little boy saw my name tag, his eyes lit up. His name is Trevor too. To celebrate, Trevor and his mom sang me the ‘Trevor’ song. Later in the day a man insisted I used to wear a tag with the name ‘Tom’, I explained that I have always worn a ‘Trevor’ tag.

Of course, he can call me Tom if he wants. It’s just a name, which has little significance in itself. Trevor comes from a surname which itself was derived from a place meaning 'big village' from the Welsh words tref (village) and mawr (large).

This isn’t always the case. Names in the Bible are rift with significance. For example, Abraham sounds like a Hebrew expression meaning ‘father of a multitude of nations’

Names in Bible times identified class and religion. Scholars, for example, know that the intended subjects of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome included Jews (Andronicus and Junia), slaves (Ampliatus, Urbanus, Stachys) and a former slave (Herodion).

In the midst of the post-Reformation turmoil some Reformed churches restricted parents from choosing certain names for their children. At Geneva, the Company of Pastors drew up a list of banned names in 1546. By the 1560s about two thirds of boys names were given from the New Testament and one third were from the Old Testament.[i]

Parents in the Netherlands were also encouraged only to give their children names which were found in the Bible. Previously rarely heard Old Testament names became more common among Dutch Calvinists.[ii]

A small minority of English Calvinists used naming their children as an opportunity to express an intense spiritual commitment. Old Testament names became more popular in England from the 1560s. Other parents called their children The-Lord-is-neare, Reformation, Discipline, Joy Againe and Sufficient[iii]

The Hugenot (French Protestant) community in 1562 and 1579 banned any names associated with God or angels and pagan names. Parents were limited to names from the Bible. Therefore, “children’s names became a means of easily identifying local Calvinists from their Catholic neighbours.” [iv]

This practice decreased not only because of Calvinism’s decline by the 1570s and 1580s, but also because Huguenot parents were concerned their children could be quickly identified as Calvinists in the wake of violence.[v]

This still happens today. A recent Time article noted that people in Iraq who are targets of violence are identified partly by their name.

The reporter wrote, “Almost every Sunni family I meet seems to have a horror story that starts with a policeman at a checkpoint asking for identification. It's profiling, Iraqi style. The most vulnerable are those who have obviously Sunni names, such as Omar. As a precaution, many Sunnis are buying fake ID cards with safe Shi'ite names.”[vi]

While a rose is a rose by any other name, for many people their name is an important identifier.

[i] Graeme Murdock, Beyond Calvin : The Intellectual, Political and Cultural World of Europe’s Reformed Churches. Houndmills: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004, p 103.
[ii] Ibid, pp. 103-104.
[iii] Ibid, p. 104.
[iv] Ibid.
[v] Ibid, p. 103.
[vi] Aparism Ghosh, “Life in Hell: A Baghdad Diary,” Time, 14 August 2006, pp. 10-20 (18)