I am still in the middle of raising kids, and I really cannot give massive levels of advice about how to parent. I’m still learning myself. However, this approach to parenting by grace caught our attention a long time ago, and became the bedrock of what we try to do. We have not done it perfectly (like, at all), but it is the general philosophy out of which we try to work. I’m super glad the Brothers Zahl podcast pulled together a lot of the important topics into a single conversation. This episode is well worth the listen whether you are currently parenting kids at home of any age or if your kids are grown and you are working through how to parent adult children.
Finished reading: The Anglican Evangelical Doctrine of Infant Baptism by John R. W. Stott 📚
This is really good and concise. There are some ideas that I think could enrich it from more Lutheran and Patristic backgrounds to get at the objectivity of God’s work in baptism. For instance, Augustine’s image of the soldier tattoo from Against the Donatists can enrich the idea of “ex opere operato” as being objectively true on God’s side, even if not subjectively beneficial for us when we lack faith. Losing the objective work of God when focusing on faith is a perennial problem for modern evangelicals and produces a lot of doubt rather than faith. True faith needs an object apart from the subject, and baptism gives this object to trust “ex opere operato” …so to speak.
As one looks at baptism, one sees God working objectively and can trust that work. This is not supplanting the need for faith for baptism to be beneficial, but it’s the exercising of it.
Either way, this will become my quick handout book for those coming into the Anglican tradition from a broad evangelical background.
Finished reading: Haruki Murakami Collection 3 Books Set (Men Without Women, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Norwegian Wood) by Haruki Murakami 📚
Finished reading: Church Planting Is for Wimps (Redesign) by Mike McKinley 📚
Great Book! Should be required reading before starting church planting. We need an Anglican version of this, or at least a set of notes on how to appropriate it for Anglicans.
Psalm 71:19
Oh, what great troubles and adversities you have shown me! And yet you have turned and refreshed me; indeed, you have brought me again from the depths of the earth.
The shepherd leads through the valley. It is not a sign of his absence, but his presence and promise to come out the other side.
Genesis 14
After Abraham had gone forth in the night and conquered the enemies who had enslaved Lot (after Lot had himself willingly chose to put himself within the city of Sodom), the high priest Melchizedek offered bread and wine in thanksgiving. Abraham refused to take anything for himself, but gave everything for those whom he had saved. This is a mystery that points to Christ
John 7:1-24
Jesus’s work is not his own but the Father’s. The right response will only come from those who see the Father, and as we read yesterday, no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him. The entirety of fruitfulness in ministry is dependent on faithfulness to the Father who gives the increase. “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” (1 Corinthians 3:7)
Currently reading: Haruki Murakami Collection 3 Books Set (Men Without Women, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Norwegian Wood) by Haruki Murakami 📚
Hopping John Recipe
Hoppin John 2022
Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 hours. Strain and store for Hoppin’ John on New Years.
#recipes
Currently reading: The shepherd’s life by James Rebanks 📚
Great game this weekend. Go Gamecocks! 🏈
Apprenticeships that combine in-class instruction with real-world experience working on a factory floor yield significant earnings gains for workers, a study by two think tanks shows
To watch The Great British Baking Show is to believe that the average guy and gal can do remarkable things, that good nature is compatible with excellence, that high achievement will be recognized, that honest feedback can lead to improvement, that there are things to life beyond work.
A friend pointed out to me the concept of “sister walls.” Before breaking down a faulty foundations a building, you have to build up a different one to take its place first. This takes time and hard work, but it may be the very thing we have failed to do in western culture.
Anthony Bourdain in Kitchen Confidential: “Cooking is a craft, I like to think, and a good cook is a craftsman, not an artist. There’s nothing wrong with that. The great cathedrals of Europe were built by craftsmen, they weren’t designed by them. Practicing your craft in expert fashion is noble, honorable, and satisfying, and I’ll generally take a stand up mercenary who takes pride in his professionalism over an artist any day.” 📚
A good friend gave me a copy of the new calf split leather edition of the Book of Common Prayer (2019), and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I was critical of the early editions of this prayer book, but they keep getting better!
