ER and the Atonement

I’m not a watcher of ER, but a friend sent me this clip from a recent episode titled “Atonement.” Without knowing the context of the interaction between patient and chaplain, it seems like a cry for help from an increasingly secular and postmodern world.

The man doesn’t need to look within himself to understand his feelings and thus "fix" himself. He needed answers to his questions. What the man needed to hear was the good news of Jesus Christ.

Taken to Task

Has it been a while since you've read Jonah? It's about something more profound than a prophet and a fish. For one thing, it's about God's guidance.

"God's guidance" is a familiar phrase in Christian circles. We all want to be gently nudged in the direction of our desires, the direction of success. If only God will let slip a little of his plan, his will, we'll gladly follow! Or so we think.

Jonah's case is far different, far more realistic, and far more profound.

It is different because God's direction to Jonah is not a light, breezy thing. It is not in line with Jonah's personal ambitions at all. Instead, he summons Jonah to a difficult task - preaching to a sophisticated, large, and most likely violent crowd in the major world city of Ninevah.

It is more realistic because Jonah balks at God's plan; tries to remove himself both physically and psychologically from dealing with God's plan; and only obeys God after a watershed experience frees him of his fears. It is through Jonah's near-death experience that he is confronted with his mortality, and also God's salvation; afterward, he figures, what's a few thousand angry Ninevites between friends?

Finally, it is more profound because the main character here is not Jonah. It is not the whale. It is God himself, who is determined to give Ninevah a chance to repent. And this is striking because he does this in spite of a very reluctant follower - who hardly deserves to be called a "follower" at all! Ultimately, it is quite reassuring that God is willing to work through us even though he has to go to great lengths to get our attention, while we meanwhile resist his authority in our lives.

What is underscored here is God's desire to rescue us from ourselves. He rescues Jonah from himself in more ways than one, and he rescues a generation of Ninevites from their waywardness and ignorance. As Jonah says in chapter 2, "Salvation belongs to the Lord!"

Keeping Accounts...Of What?

Here's something that was literally "overheard" at New Covenant this past weekend.

Harry Schaumburg, in a seminar on sexual purity, spoke about accountability. And perhaps when we think of Christian accountability we think of praying together and perhaps asking a few tough questions of each other, usually at a local coffee shop. But Dr. Schaumburg proposed some questions that cut deeper. Questions like these:

• In daily circumstances, particularly those that are difficult, do I believe that God reigns?


• In daily neglecting God, or discounting His sovereignty, has this led to depression?


• In daily discounting God's sovereignty has this led to self-pity?


• On what do I base my hope and encouragement? Improved circumstances/relationships or the promises of God?

There were numerous other questions. But these, I think, cut more to the heart of our relationship with God - and our relationship with sin - than most questions we ask one another. And they cut deeper than most questions we even ask ourselves!

How would you answer the above questions? What would it be like to have friends with whom you discussed these questions?

God of Politics

I follow national politics. In many ways, it's like following football or any other sport, except that the stakes are higher.

As I monitor my own interest in political matters, I often wonder whether politics fills a religious void in many of our lives. Political shows fill the airwaves on Sunday mornings. Pundits, like priests, keep the fires burning 24 hours a day. But below the surface, it seems something else is going on too. Politics, like religion, has a totalizing effect: demanding not only more time and space in our lives, but also serving as the fundamental reference point for ethics, value, meaning, and accomplishment.

As I watched Morning Joe today, I thought about how there seems to be no end to political discussion. Sheer speculation is in limitless supply, and certain topics get discussed from every angle - and then discussed again. And you know what, I often find it pretty entertaining - and occasionally informative.

And then I thought about a passage in the New Testament where people are described as having "itching ears" that are quick to hear what entertains them - and slow to hear, really hear, what God has to say.

The passage (1 Timothy 4:3) is speaking about false religion, not politics.

Then again...