No Line on the Horizon

03 Tuesday Mar 2009

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During my last year in seminary, my wife and I became big fans of U2. Since then we have collected most of their albums. We occasionally have pretty divergent music tastes, so it has been fun to have a group that we both really like. We are also neither one the kind of people to anticipate a new album’s release. So, it was fun to look forward to U2’s new album, No Line On The Horizon and pick it up today.

When we were in line to check out, I asked the cashier if I was the first person to buy this album today. I thought this was a funny joke, since I had seen at least three people carrying the CD out of the store as we were going in. Apparently, this just provides further confirmation of my corniness, as the cashier didn’t get it at all… Oh well.

I am listening to the CD for the first time as I type this, so I can’t really give any worthwhile review. But it is good to have a new CD to listen to. (By the way, I just noticed that amazon.com has the album for mp3 downloadfor $3.99… that is crazy!)

Anyone else out there excited about the new U2 CD? What are your thoughts about it?

Book Recommendation for Methodist History Buffs

26 Thursday Feb 2009

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I just finished reading Methodism and the Shaping of American Culture (edited by Nathan Hatch and John Wigger). This book is a compilation of ten essays written by various Methodist historians. Several of the essays were exceptional. Nathan Hatch writes an essay, “The Puzzle of American Methodism,” which points to the astonishing neglect of Methodism in American religious history. Hatch considers the reasons for this neglect and points to the important contribution that Methodism has to make to the understanding of religion in America.

David Hempton’s essay, “Methodist Growth in Transatlantic Perspective, ca.1770-1850,” provides a very helpful summary of much of the previous historiography of American Methodism. Hempton particularly interacts with E. P. Thompson’s work, offering an insightful critique. Hempton also looks at the European roots of American Methodism.

John H. Wigger’s essay , “Fighting Bees: Methodist Itinerants and the Dynamics of Methodist Growth, 1770-1820,” is an in-depth look at itinerancy in early American Methodism. If nothing else, one cannot help but notice the vast difference between the way itinerancy is understood today and the way it was understood then.

In “Consecrated Respectability: Phoebe Palmer and the Refinement of American Methodism,” Kathryn T. Long looks at the way in which Phoebe Palmer’s emphasis on holiness and entire sanctification sought to hold gentility and holiness in tension. Long compares Palmer’s understanding of sanctification to that of B. T. Roberts, for whom entire sanctification and wealth are clearly incompatible.

There are several other essay worth reading in this volume. Richard Carwardine’s essay “Methodists, Politics, and the Coming of the American Civil War,” helps one to better understand how Methodists engaged in politics in the period leading up to the Civil War. (I was particularly interested in his argument that the Methodist understanding of political engagement radically changed from Asbury’s lifetime to the mid-nineteenth century, to what he dubs a “Reformed public theology.”)

This collection of essays (as the title of the book suggests) helps the reader gain a better understanding of the way in which Methodism shaped American culture in its first one hundred years on American soil. For those who are interested in such an understanding, this is a worthwhile read.

Conspicuous

25 Wednesday Feb 2009

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At noon today, my family attended the Ash Wednesday service at Perkins Chapel on the campus of SMU. It was a wonderful service. It was a time when I was reminded that all is not well, but that this is not the way things have to be. I was confronted with my sin, had ashes placed on my forehead in the shape of a cross, and was exhorted to repent and believe the gospel. I was confronted with my mortality and reminded of the promise of new life in Christ.

I find the Ash Wednesday service to be an important one for the Christian life for many reasons. One of the main feelings I have after the service is simply that of feeling conspicuous. Throughout the day I am aware that I have ashes on my forehead and I feel like people are looking at them, looking at me. I feel self-conscious and find that I am more aware of my actions. Now, I am not sure whether people are actually watching me any more closely than normal (they probably aren’t). But, nevertheless, I find that I give just a bit more thought to how what I am doing could be connected by others to the fact that I have a cross on my head.

Initially, this feeling is usually frustrating and annoying. I don’t want to feel self-conscious. I don’t even want to be thinking so much about myself… isn’t the point for me to become increasingly focused on God? Yet, I find grace here. I find that being conspicuous is a means of grace. When I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb and I want to hide (or go to the bathroom and wipe the ashes off of my face), I am reminded of what Christ has done for me. I am reminded of how often I don’t stick out and people have no idea that I am a follower of Christ.

United Methodists used to be folk who were known for their excitement about the Good News. They used to be conspicuous. Early Methodists were far more often accused of being fanatics or enthusiasts than they were accused of being luke warm. Today it often seems that we are best known for either being open or content – indeed, lukewarm.

Today I believe that God is asking me to allow Christ to be more conspicuous in my life. I believe that God wants to free me from the things that keep me from becoming a deeply committed Christian. I believe that God wants to enable me to love others willingly, even naturally. And today I have been reminded that God’s grace becomes more tangible to me as I faithfully practice the means of grace.

Father, during this season of Lent please pour your renewing and sanctifying grace into the lives of your people. Help us to receive this grace and do nothing to inhibit it. Send your Spirit to guide us and lead us closer to your Son Jesus Christ, who is the source of our hope and salvation. And may we be conspicuous in our love of you and in our love for our neighbor. May it be so. Amen.

3 Free Books Left

23 Monday Feb 2009

Posted by in Life, links, Wesley

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I have 3 copies left of A Blueprint for Discipleship: Wesley’s General Rules as a Guide for Christian Living. If you haven’t claimed your copy yet, here is what you have to do to receive a free copy:

1. Have a blog.

2. Be willing to blog about the book after you read it.

3. Post a comment in this post with your name and your blog url in the comment. (Books will be given to the first 25 people to leave a comment.)

4. Send an email to deeplycommitted (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject “Free copy of Blueprint for Discipleship.” In the body of the email include the address that you would like the book mailed to.

Update: The 3 remaining copies have been claimed. Thanks so much for your interest.

Free Copies of Blueprint for Discipleship

19 Thursday Feb 2009

Posted by in Life, links, Wesley

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I am happy to announce that my marketing director at Upper Room/ Discipleship Resources has given me permission to give away 25 copies of my new book A Blueprint for Discipleship: Wesley’s General Rules as a Guide for Christian Living to people who are willing to blog about it. To receive your free copy you need to:

1. Have a blog.

2. Be willing to blog about the book after you read it.

3. Post a comment in this post with your name and your blog url in the comment. (Books will be given to the first 25 people to leave a comment.)

4. Send an email to deeplycommitted (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject “Free copy of Blueprint for Discipleship.” In the body of the email include the address that you would like the book mailed to.

Also, feel free to spread the word!

Update: All 25 copies have been claimed. Thanks so much for your interest.

The Trials of Itinerancy… in 1800

18 Wednesday Feb 2009

Posted by in Ministry, Wesley

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For Methodist ministers who may have had occasion to complain about the quality of an appointment, take heart! It could always be worse.

In 1799 the salary for a full time itinerant minister was $64 a year. Apparently it was recognized that Methodist itinerants were slightly under-compensated, because the following year that was increased to $80 a year. (I don’t know what that would come out to when adjusted for inflation, but a Congregationalist minister at the same time averaged about $400 per year.)

And if you were to get into a “who has the worst appointment” contest, I am willing to guess that Henry Smith has you beat. In 1801 after preaching a funeral sermon in Ohio Smith records that “when bed-time came I was conducted to the room from which the corpse had been taken a few hours before, to sleep on the bedstead, perhaps the very bed, on which the young man had died, without the house having been scrubbed and properly aired.”

Another Smith, Thomas Smith, in New Jersey in 1807, found himself in the awkward situation of having to sleep in the same room with the body of a man who had died that morning… His hosts must have thought him quite rude when they discovered that he had decided to sleep outside next to a tree.

If nothing else, this seems to bring out a whole different idea of radical hospitality than Bishop Robert Schnase talks about in his Five Practicesbook!

(The information in this post is found in John H. Wigger’s essay “Fighting Bees: Methodist Itinerants and the Dynamics of Methodist Growth, 1770-1820”, 87-133 in Methodism and the Shaping of American Culture, eds., Nathan O. Hatch, and John H. Wigger, (Nashville: Kingswood, 2001))

More Information about Blueprint for Discipleship

12 Thursday Feb 2009

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The Upper Room bookstore has recently updated its listing for A Blueprint for Discipleship: Wesley’s General Rules as a Guide for Christian Living. You can click on the previous link to read a summary of the book and view the contents. I think an excerpt from the book will also eventually be available.

I am told that the book cannot be pre-ordered through the website, but you can pre-order through Discipleship Resources by calling them directly: 1-800-972-0433.

If I Had $359…

10 Tuesday Feb 2009

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If I had $359 I would buy a Kindle 2. Yesterday when I visited the amazon.com page, I was greeted by the news that they are releasing a new version of the Kindle, which will be released on February 24, 2009. To be honest, I am not exactly sure of the practical value of a Kindle 2 for an academic. I would guess that many of the books I would want to read on it would not be available. However, the idea of being able to take 1,000 books and magically make them all weight a total of 10.2 ounces is very intriguing.

The weird thing is that Kindles are always on back-order, but I have never actually seen one. I would be very interested to see what it feels like to actually hold one and read the screen. I don’t think I would want to read an entire book on my computer, but the Kindle is supposed to look more like ink on paper than a computer screen.

The Kindle certainly has me intrigued.

What are your thoughts about the Kindle? Have you seen one? Or better yet, do you have one?

Blueprint for Discipleship Available for Pre-Order

05 Thursday Feb 2009

Posted by in Life, links, Wesley

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My new book with Discipleship Resources A Blueprint for Discipleship: Wesley’s General Rules as a Guide for Christian Livingis now available for pre-order through Amazon.com for $10.20. According to the folks at Discipleship Resources, the book should be available through Upper Room by February 27, and will be available through Cokesbury and other vendors soon after. I will post links to Cokesbury and Disipleship Resources/ Upper Room as they become available.

You can view more information about the book, including the contents and a few reviews at my author tree website.