Assistant Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and 9Marks blogger, Greg Gilbert, a man whose thinking and writing I’ve come to benefit from in recent months, has written several excellent articles on what the gospel is and isn’t: 1, 2, and 3.

Yet, even his kids don’t quite come away clear on things.  I find this encouraging.

Two Sundays ago, Hunter, William and I were driving out to pick up some CiCi’s Pizza and listening to our favorite radio station: NPR.  For some reason I knew the voice we were listening to was hugely famous and yet we were all moaning in agony over what we were hearing.  It was probably the worst voice I’d ever heard over the radio.  The boys were laughing.  The song went on, it seemed like, forever.  (said something about Memphis in the chorus)  So I used my phone lifeline to call my friend and bass player at Lakeview, AJ Dicharry, confident that he’d be able to tell me who this was.  No answer.  Long story short, it was Bob Dylan.

In related news, Dylan is negotiating a deal to be a voice-over for a GPS system.  Small comfort, since in the 7-8 minute song he never seemed to locate anything remotely resembling a melody line.

Given my lack of a sense of direction, it is likely that I will eventually acquiesce and get a GPS system for my car.  But I won’t be asking Dylan to get me anywhere.

Pivot this Sunday

Don’t miss our meeting this Sunday night.  We’ll close out our Incarnate series with a panel discussion and Q&A time. I want to have a few Pivot leaders talk through issues related to how we are to live and speak as ambassadors in the world, then we’re going to open the mic to broaden the conversation.  I hope you’ll be there.

Theo/SheoForum

Our study of Ed Welch’s book, Blame It On the Brain: Distinguishing  Chemical Imbalances, Brain Disorders, and Disobedience finishes as we have our meeting this morning at 6am.  It has been a thought-provoking and helpful study.  Once we close out this book, the men (TheoForum) will head back into Grudem’s Systematic Theology.  The next book for the ladies is being discussed, so hopefully I’ll have something to announce by Pivot this weekend.

Okatoma, 8/29

Our annual, oft-cancelled canoe trip looks like it’s actually going to happen this year.  We’ll meet at the church building for 8am sharp and carpool to Mississippi. Wear bathing suits with a shirt and shorts, water shoes, towel, igloo-packed-lunch and sunscreen.  When the trip actually happens, it’s lots of fun.  Let’s pray for good weather.

SEE YOU ALL THIS SUNDAY NIGHT!

… and have a ceremony, Randy, Mandy and many other friends best beat the cobwebs off your groove!  This looks like a blast.

What a joy marriage has been!  Doesn’t dance communicate joy in ways that few other things do?

Two card-carrying bibliophiles talk about great literature.  Actually, in this case, Powlison is talking and CJ is recording everything for … well, us.

In the spirit of Carl Trueman, I figured I’d title this as provocatively as possible.  An incisive statement from the eloquent historian.

“At root, we could say that, in the West, human imperfection comes increasingly to be seen as a lack of money – because money can buy any or all of these things and thus enable us to become perfect. In fact, of course, this culture is itself profoundly flawed and ultimately self-defeating – money, like crack cocaine, gives short-term fixes but the experience of buying something lasts only a moment. And, for the record, I believe this is because it is not the buying of products which ultimately drives consumerism; it is the buying of products which does this (that’s one for a future Wages piece). When I buy something, then for a split second, I become god; I, Carl Trueman, use my divine powers to transubstantiate a worthless piece of paper or plastic into a loaf of bread, a book, a car, a house. This momentary self-deification satisfies my idolatry of self, but only for a moment; it has to be repeated again and again and again if I am to keep myself persuaded that I am indeed god, master of all I survey.”