The Little Friar

Edward Welch's Small Book for the Anxious Heart is the ideal spiritual guide for those who with fear, worry or anxiety.  Welch (a licensed Christian psychologist who has written extensively on depression, fear and addictions) has given us 50 devotionals to help meditate and apply God's Word as spiritual tools in your battle towards peace.  The devotionals are insightful and are both practical and biblical in nature. Perhaps the most useful part of the book are the "Response" questions, that come at the end of the devotionals.  They help you to process the information you glean from each day so that you can apply it to your life.  If you really want to apply the material, treat yourself to a journal and work through the devotional in this way! This book is small enough to take with you wherever you go so that you can read and refer to it anytime that you need it! ______________________ I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange...

Häftling *:  I have learnt that I am Häftling .  My number is 174517; we have been baptized, we will carry the tattoo on our left arm until we die. The operation was slightly painful and extraordinarily rapid:  they placed us all in a row, and one by one, according to the alphabetical order of our names, we filed past a skilful official, armed with a sort of pointed tool with a very short needle It seems that this is the real, true initiation: only by 'showing one's number' can one get bread and soup.  Several days passed, and not a few cuffs and punches, before we became used to showing our number promptly enough not to disorder the daily operation of food distribution ... -- Primo Levi, If This is a Man (Abacus edition, 1987), pp. 33-34. ______________________ * German for "prisoner".

In conversations with various folks over recent days, I've been put in the position (really yet again) of defending abortion as a medical procedure against those who whole-heartedly dismiss the procedure as an evil that must be rooted out of the world by faithful Christians. Gone is any talk of the mercy of God, of the brokenness of the world and of the moral choices we must sometimes make in that brokenness.  One of the things I learned rather quickly as a pastor:  That sometimes grieving humans have to make grievous decisions in which no faithful choice exists.  Sometimes you simply have to decide and throw yourself into the mercy of God.  When Christian moral reasoning doesn't account for that, it's lost its Christ-likeness in favor of demonic certainty.  After all, the most demonic thing we can know is the difference between good and evil.  I see the postmodern "religious right" as all too athetistic in its attempts to articulate a public certainty wi...

"We need an incarnate God, a God put to death, so that we might live, and we were put to death with him" (Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 45 .28).  Today is the feast day of St Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian.  I first encountered Gregory at seminary as one of the three great Cappadocian fathers.  But it was in graduate school, with Fred Norris ( who'd spent a lifetime reading Gregory ) that I began to see why pastors would do well to read and listen to Gregory more often than we do. Way before Jurgen Moltmann, there was St Gregory the Theologian.  Of the early Church Fathers none spoke more directly of the death of the eternal Son.  The gospel is nothing less than the proclamation of "God crucified" (Oration 45.29). Unlike some of the early Fathers -- even the great St Athanasius -- Gregory never shrank from declaring the heart of the Christian faith:  The suffering and death of the Creator in the powerless act of Love. Here are some selections...

Five years ago (!) I wrote an article on the sacrament of preaching, drawing on Bonhoeffer's Worldly Preaching lectures .  I've come to believe that the sermon on Sunday morning may be one of the Church's most important evangelistic tools.  For a person off the street, who normally isn't a church-goer but has happened to wander in to our pews, the worship may be a challenge.  We sing music that is very different from what you hear on the radio.  We participate in a liturgy that is ancient and strange with a ritual meal that probably seems confusing and awkward.  We read from texts that were written thousands of years ago. In the midst of all that strangeness, I think the sermon is probably our one chance to really connect with this visitor.  It is our one opportunity to bridge the gap between ancients texts and life today and to demonstrate that the Church does have something meaningful (even helpful) to say.  It is our moment to bring Go...

My experience of Christians (particularly lately) is that many of them -- including me -- are really quite clumsy.  Not literally stumbling or falling over ourselves, but often doing the social equivalent.  We put our feet in our mouths, we make others feel uncomfortable, we have a knack of saying the right thing at the wrong time, and vice versa. It may be the exuberant charismatic Christian who just assumes that everybody else is on the same page as them.  It might be the type who drops Christian jargon and ideas into every conversation.  It could be the awkward, shy, "uncomfortable to be around" Christian.  Or even the one who seems embarrassed to be, or at least to be known to be, a Christian. I suspect that whether you're a Christian, not a Christian, or not sure what you believe, you can at least identify with my experience.  That is, we Christians can be quite clumsy.  In fact, as I read back over this, I've used the word Christian eight tim...

Jeanie and David Gushee's A Morning and Evening Prayerbook is an amazing collection of daily prayers for morning and evening -- prayers from a variety of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox resources throughout Christian history -- that will enliven your prayer life. There's inspiration, hope, reflection, and, above all, love, found in these prayers.  While they follow the church year closely, it is just as easy to pick a day and pray -- and use these prayers as a springboard for your own petitions. This is a resource you shouldn't miss! ____________________ I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review here.

Boyd Purcell's Christianity without Insanity:  For Optimal Mental/Emotional/Physical Health brings emotional stability and health to the forefront in looking at Christian faith through a pastoral lens. Much like his previous work in Spiritual Terrorism , Christianity without Insanity has Purcell looking specifically at the inclusive nature of Jesus' death and resurrection.  In particular, Purcell asks, how can a vindictive and unjust God be the One that is loving and just?   How can the seeming conflict between the stern autocratic God of the Old Testament and the compassionate and forgiving Jesus -- God incarnate in Jesus Christ -- of the New Testament be reconciled?  Is there a way?  Purcell's conclusions will be tumultuous for some.  But his pastoral heart and commitment to mental health as a retired counselor shine through.  And for those who give this book time to sink in, it becomes Light where there has been only so much heat. _...

Michael Strauss' The Book of Revelation:  A New Translation is a fresh and wonderful translation of the most unappreciated and misunderstood book of the New Testament.  The Book of Revelation is a strange and nearly-esoteric one.  And uninitiated readers can find all sorts of wild things in it. Which is what makes Michael Strauss' new translation remarkable.  Unlike the other "wooden" translations most of us are accustomed to, The Book of Revelation weaves Handel's Messiah together with words and concepts from a variety of languages -- Spanish, Italian, French and Greek -- to create a fresh hearing for the biblical text. And Strauss has removed all the artificial devices that keep modern readers from reading the narrative in the way first century readers would have heard this text.  Gone are the chapter and verse divisions.  And the artwork only adds to the apocryphal feel. ______________________ I received a free copy of this book from the publi...

As I sit in the dark hours of this morning, that's the question I want to pose:  Is it "love" or is it "manipulation"? Some years ago, a guy came to see me about his marriage.  For forty-five minutes he told me all the things that were wrong with his wife.  If half of what he said was true, he had every right to complain.  He was a Christian, and he knew everything the Bible had to say about marriage.  He was especially well-versed in the portions dealing with wives and submission, apparently.  But the more he spoke, the more I became suspicious about the portions in Scripture about marriage that he didn't know. When he finished, I asked him, "How can I help?" "Tell me what I should do." "What do you think God wants you to do?" "I don't know.  I've tried everything." "What do you mean, you've tried everything?" He went on to tell me all the things he had done to "help" ...

One of the most painful yet gratifying tasks for my pastoral ministry has always been preaching the funeral sermon. It's painful because of the deep work that goes into walking with a family through the valley of death.  It's a complicated time, because pastors always bear their own griefs, too.  So the wounds that come to the living in the death of the deceased are carried not only by family and friends, but also by the clergy who speak the names of the deceased and speak the loving truth about their lives. On the other hand, it's gratifying because in death ministers are able -- at really the only point in their ministry -- to see the flowering of their pastoral work.  We are typically not only graced to be the last who will speak the name of the deceased in community.  We are also able to see, first-hand, the fruits of our pastoral labors in the grief of the living. So preaching a funeral is something that pastors should always think about -- what they are d...

I first read Victor Hugo's novel as a sophomore in college.  That novel, like Cervantes' Don Quixote (which I read at the same time), had a remarkable effect on me.  Both are still -- to this day -- a profoundly spiritual, and distinctively Christian, experience. Then came the movie at Christmas, 2012.  I saw the movie with Kendra and was moved to tears at the final scene. Then Kendra and I were able to see the musical live at TPAC in 2016.  We saw it again at the Tennessee Theatre last night. All of this to say:  We're both hardcore fans.  She can sing every line of every part (male and female); I'm able to sing-along with the voices whose notes I can actually hit on key (which is to say, not very much).  But the soundtrack is an important part of our life together. Unfortunately, though, in watching it last night, Kendra and I were forced to take a seat on different rows.  We bought our tickets a little too late.  So the experienc...

It's been a long, slow -- and I mean slow -- year here at The Little Friar.  I've only posted a handful of real blogs over recent months.  And by 'real', I mean of the substantive sort that this venue was created to offer.  Instead, most of what I've posted have been book reviews or devotionals for other venues.  Even those posts will begin to taper off, as I'm becoming far more judicious about the books I agree to review. As much as I try to keep blogging, other things get in the way. Just this week, there have been a cavalcade of distractions. There have been good moments, of course -- moments that would make for substantive reflections here.  But I just don't seem to have the energy to write them this morning. This weekend Kendra and I are going to see Les Miserables again -- this time at Broadway in Knoxville at the Tennessee Theatre.  So that should give fodder for writing.  But I doubt it.  Again, I just don't seem to have the ener...

It's tough enough living day to day, making all the necessary changes I have to make with my life, to worry about adding some over-arching change to which I will aspire for the New Year.  I'm enough of a mean-spirited, selfish, depressed, solipsist, that one resolution cannot make all the changes that need to be made. So I don't do it. Most people make so short-sighted and self-involved New Year resolutions that, typically, they'll have forgotten what they decided to change by the end of January, or at least most certainly by June. That said, I believe the making of resolutions -- since I do make them (just daily, not annually).  Resolutions offer us a time to give an account, if only to ourselves, about who we take ourselves to be and what we aspire to become.  That kind of honest introspection is anything but self-involved and narcissistic. With everyone one of us, there's a wide gulf between what we are meant to be and what we allow ourselves ...

Preaching during Christmas is always a difficult thing to do.  Partly because the story is so often heard that it's so little known.  Jesus' birth -- at least as recounted in the gospels -- is a highly-charged and political affair.  I've known for a long time that preachers don't have the luxury of dismissing in the pulpit a serious question that arises from the pews, so I knew I'd have to say a word about the current American political climate, too.  Listening to Jesus -- as the teachers in the Temple in Luke 2 did -- is a complicated and complicating thing.  It often means you'll have to filter through all the other voices that demand attention -- even if those voices, like Mary, attempt to put Jesus in the place we're rather certain Jesus is meant to occupy.  After all, Mary attempting to scold Jesus -- "Look, son, why are you treating us like this?  Don't you know that your dad and I have been looking for you ... for three days ?!?" -- w...

Ace Collins' Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas offers some little-known holiday history in this interesting book that teems with Christmas facts and legends, arranged alphabetically by topic. Readers will be fascinated to learn, for example, that the holiday shopping season used to be only a couple of weeks long, but was extended during WWII so families could get care packages off to soldiers in a timely fashion. Or that St. Francis of Assisi was one of the first people to use a live nativity scene to teach others about Christ's birth. Collins tackles customs such as Christmas gifts and cards, and the popularity of cultural events like the Nutcracker and the Messiah (which, intriguingly, fell entirely out of fashion in the decades after Handel's death). There are chapters on the history of holly, mistletoe, Christmas trees, candy canes, poinsettias, yule logs, stockings and -- of course -- Santa Claus. It's ideal reading for thos...

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, upon them the light has dawned. You have increased their joy and given them great gladness; they rejoiced before you as with joy at the harvest. For you have shattered the yoke that burdened them; the collar that lay heavy on their shoulders. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given , and the government will be upon his shoulders. And his name will be called: Wonderful Counselor; the Mighty God; the Everlasting Father; the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness. From this time forth and for evermore; the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. -- Isaiah 9.2,3b,4a,6,7  All the blessings of a holy, bright, and happy Christmas from the McCarters!

It is now that season when I see all sorts of posts on Facebook that call for Christians:  "Keep Christ in CHRISTmas". And I simply shake my head. I don't expect American culture to keep Christ in anything, much less Christmas. That's the Church's responsibility.  (Those two -- American culture and Church -- aren't interchangeable terms.) Besides, the "Christ" of American culture is so utterly unlike the Christ of the Church's Scripture, that it's probably best to leave that cultural Christ out of anything. What really does disturb me is that the Christian sisters and brothers worried about keeping Christ in Christmas have little problem with this Christ being left out of other national holidays.  I'm looking at you, Memorial Day and Independence Day.  Days, I should add, when he's said things about why those days might be bad -- "Love your enemies" and "pray for those who abuse and kill you". The rea...