Book Review of The Good Book by Peter Gomes

Peter Gomes recent death put him in the news and made many newly aware of his life and legacy as a preacher, teacher, and public Christian. Gomes was, first and foremost, a preacher. His book reflects the kind of week in, week out wrestling with scripture most preachers experience. He seems to have two audiences in mind--intellectual non-Christians whose passing familiarity with the Bible has made them resistant to it, and literalist Christians who have failed to embrace the cultural and literary complexity of the Bible. Gomes affirms the authority and spiritual vitality of scripture. He clearly loves the Bible and has had a lover's conversation with the Bible for a lifetime. At the same time, he describes the dangers of literalistic readings, demonstrating that a purely literal reading of the Bible affirms such universally abhorred practices as slavery. The historical work on this subject is very good and very thorough.

The book is best known for Gomes's conversation about homosexuality. His reflections on the subject were probably very progressive for the time the book was published, particularly since he writes as a person with a high view of scripture and respect for the authority of the Bible. It would be a mistake to judge the book by one's opinions about one small chapter in a large book, because evangelicals could learn a lot about helpful ways to approach scripture seriously and thoughtfully, no matter what their opinions might be concerning homosexuality and the Bible. In no way does Gomes take a "God loves everybody so let's throw out anything in the Bible that doesn't sound nice" approach. Evangelicals could certainly find food for thought on this contentious subject from Gomes thoughtful reflections. Gomes acknowledged he had a homosexual orientation even as he lived a celibate life, but became an advocate for same-sex unions/marriage equality. His book maintains a balance of affirmation of the physical aspects of sexual love while maintaining that the Gospel requires the believer to submit all aspects of life to Christian discipleship.

Perhaps the book's greatest weakness is that Gomes kept writing after he was finished. For example, the chapter on "The Bible and Temptation" offered nothing about the nature of the Bible per se, but only reflections on temptation that might be found in any devotional book on the subject.

Readers should be aware that though the book has a scholarly feel, Gomes is a preacher first and academic second. His approach is much different than a scholar writing for a general audience, such as NT Wright's "The Last Word." His reflections are the thoughts of an engaged preacher using and quoting academic resources in an illustrative manner.

Book Review of Socrates in the City by Eric Metaxas

I discovered Eric Metaxas through his very good, very big, and very accessible biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This book represents a similar effort in one respect--it seeks to bring issues generally reserved to thoughtful Christian readers to a broader audience. "Socrates in the City" is a collection of essays transcribed from talks given by a wide variety of Christian thinkers at events geared toward upscale New Yorkers. Metaxas has sought to capture the mood of these events, which are clearly heavy on ideas and light in tone. Some of the humor is entertaining and some of it comes off a bit corny in print, but it makes what might have been a dense read flow easily. The Q & A at the end of each talk is also included, and contains many of the best insights.

The contributors are a remarkable group, including Templeton prize winners John Polkinhorne and Charles Colson, best selling authors such as NT Wright, Francis Collins, and Os Guinness, and Alister McGrath. Many of the subjects deal with the compatibility of faith and science. Several others deal with faith in the public sphere.

The book presents itself as a sort of open-ended reflection on deep subjects, but make no mistake, it certainly has a Christian apologetic purpose. Each speaker seeks to defend the Christian faith to its cultured despisers. Many of them represent the conservative voice within their communions--Charles Colson among evangelicals, NT Wright among Anglicans, and Richard John Neuhaus among Roman Catholics.

The Socrates in the City gatherings are designed to attract successful New Yorkers and the events are held in posh settings. The book retains a sort of snootiness as a result, and that got tiresome. Intellecualism and anything that smacks of elitism seem out of place in conversation about a faith founded by a peasant who was killed on a cross as a common criminal.

Still, I appreciated the introduction the book offered to several important thinkers. Os Guinness on civility in public discourse couldn't be more timely or urgent. Paul Vitz's thoughts on the relation of fatherhood and one's perception of God are fascinating. Colson's essay is truly terrific, and I'm not always his fan. Socrates in the City certainly serves its purpose of giving bite sized pieces of important thinkers introducing their contributions in accessible ways.

Any Questions?

Preachers get lots of regular questions. I recently got a Facebook message asking me for Bible shopping advice. I used my answer as a basis for a Sunday School lesson (complete with massive stacks of examples) and folks seemed to really love it. So, if you have a question you'd like a preacher to answer, others probably have the same question. Send me a question and I will anonymously blog my thoughts at least once a week. You can post them here, Facebook or tweet me, or email nathanwattwood@gmail.com.

Prayer based on Psalm 62

O God, so many times our trust has been violated and we have been left feeling empty and disillusioned. We have trusted in people--our parents, romantic partners, spouses, friends, employers, children, and so many others--and they have let us down. Some of them had good intentions and just turned out to be flawed human beings. Others were malicious and harmed us deeply. We have trusted in religion and have been disappointed. Our pastors have had feet of clay. Our doctrinal systems turned out to be shaky and lifeless, our churches been less than we expected of them, and some of us have been deeply wounded by religious people. When we became cynical, we decided that we could trust no one but ourselves. It turned out that we could not even trust ourselves. We couldn’t be the people we wanted to be. We couldn’t make everything happen on our own. And trying made us feel empty, anxious, exhausted and angry. So here we are. Waiting for you. Praying that you will be as faithful as you keep telling us you are. Our souls wait in silence. We trust in you. Amen.

Prayer based on John 1:43-46 (Phillip tells Nathaniel about Jesus)

John 1:43-46
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’


Prayer
Holy God, I come to you with all my doubts, all my confusions. So many seem so sure of your promises. It seems like the Christian faith is more simple for them, that it works better for them than it has worked for me. O God, I have more than a few issues with you that remained unresolved. I have questions that you have not answered. Like Nathaniel questioning Phillip, I’ve got a lot to work on. But Phillip told Nathaniel to “Come and See” for himself. And here I am tonight. So, please Jesus, show me yourself. Amen

Update on Habitat for Humanity Zoning--Good news!

We sought a zoning change on the lot our church is building a Habitat for Humanity house upon last month. We expected a quick and easy decision from the city council, but were disappointed when Councilman Calhoun asked for two weeks to make sure that his constituents wanted the house in the neighborhood. We were even more disappointed when Councilman Calhoun delayed a vote again at the last meeting.

Tonight, Councilman Calhoun was the councilman who made the motion to grant the zoning change. The council voted unanimously in favor of the change. We can break ground immediately and start construction as soon as the slab is complete.

Many thanks to all the members of the council, especially Councilman Calhoun for his leadership. Many thanks also to Frank Litchfield and Carla Surles for their work to make this a reality.

Let's build a house!

Opinions About Children's Minutes

Of the many things I do, I am often most associated with my primary role in Sunday morning worship, leading the children's minute. In case any of my readers don't know what that is, the children's minute is part of the worship service in which the small children come to the front and sit around the minister to hear a lesson before they transition to children's church. Children's minutes are incredibly popular in mainline churches because they often serve as a church version of "Kids Say the Darndest Things" and they are very cute and heartwarming times for the congregation. I've developed some opinions and even convictions that inform the way I lead them. Some come from my training (Tom Long actually discussed children's minutes when I was in his preaching class at Emory) and some I've developed others over time.

The first and most important thing I do with children's minutes is make sure that they have the same point and the same purpose (Tom Long called it "focus and function") as the main sermon. Worship services should say one thing or they will say nothing. I use the text, sermon title, hymns, and liturgical pieces from the bulletin to get a sense of what the service will say, and I craft a children's sermon that will offer the same message in an age-appropriate way.

My children's minutes are different than most because I do not believe that object lessons or analogies are developmentally appropriate for 3-6-year-olds. This is not my idea, but it is something I have internalized and I'm one of the few who rarely bring a prop. Few kids can understand how our hearts are like play-doh or the Bible is like a compass. Here's what kids can understand, almost from the womb: Kids can understand stories, and kids can understand holidays. The Gospel is full of stories and the church is full of holidays, so these are always rich resources for children's minutes. Children also see things in the sanctuary and wonder about them, so they can learn from windows and the baptismal font, the altar, and the colors. They understand relationships, and they need to hear what the Gospel says about sharing, forgiving, and loving others. These are age-appropriate for everyone in the congregation. One more thing--children understand music and they are never to young to sing a song during a children's minute.

I often wonder what children really learn during children's minutes. It's clear to me that the spoken message is sometimes misunderstood. That's OK. It's understood far more than we might imagine. But the unspoken message of the children's minute is perhaps the most important thing we teach. When the children come down the aisle, they look to see how they will be received. If the person leading the children's minute communicates hospitality, openness, joy, and genuine care, those children will grow up never remembering a time that the church did not embrace them and value them.