Books of 2009

I read the same number of books this year as I did in 2008, which is slightly discouraging. But considering that the Institutes is only one "book," I guess it works out. One of these years I'd love to reach my goal of reading 52 in one year.

18 Words – J.I. Packer
A Better Way – Michael Horton
The Case for Christ – Lee Strobel
The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism – Gregg Strawbridge (ed.)
The Defense of the Faith – Cornelius Van Til
God of Promise – Michael Horton
The God-breathed Scripture – Edward J. Young
Holiness of God – R.C. Sproul
How Our Children Come to Faith – Stephen Smallman
Institutes of the Christian Religion – John Calvin
Is Christianity Good for the World? – Hitchens & Wilson
Jesus, Made in America – Stephen J. Nichols
Just Do Something – Kevin DeYoung
Knowing Scripture – R.C. Sproul
Love in the Ruins – Walker Percy
The Moviegoer – Walker Percy
Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi
Not Even a Hint – Josh Harris
Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl – N.D. Wilson
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
Orthodoxy – G.K. Chesterton
Primer on Worship and Reformation – Doug Wilson
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment – Jeremiah Burroughs
Redemption Accomplished and Applied – John Murray
Religion Saves – Mark Driscoll
Summer of '49 – David Halberstam
Surprised By Hope – N.T. Wright
Surviving Financial Meltdown – Blue & White
Till We Have Faces – C.S. Lewis
Tolkien & Lewis: The Gift of Friendship – Colin Duriez
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Turning Points – Mark Noll
Vintage Jesus – Mark Driscoll
We Become What We Worship – G.K. Beale
What is Justification By Faith Alone – J.V. Fesko
Why We Love the Church – DeYoung & Kluck
With Reverence and Awe – Muether & Hart

Stay tuned for the Second Annual 2009 Year-end Book Awards.

Christmas in New Jersey

We had a wonderful Christmas with both sides of our family, but unfortunately only took pictures with one side (a beautiful eight-month-old boy definitely facilitates more picture taking!).

Liam with Aunt E:


















Liam concentrating hard with Aunt Amy:


















Look at that smile!














And another:


















Pearce family picture:

Sunday Citation

"No government can be happily established unless piety is the first concern; and that those laws are preposterous which neglect God's right and provide only for men...it is fitting that [magistrates] should labor to protect and assert the honor of him whose representatives they are, and by whose grace they govern...As if God appointed rulers in his name to decide earthly controversies but overlooked what was of far greater importance - that he himself should be purely worshiped according to the prescription of the law...

"Princes themselves will in turn remember that their revenues are not so much their private chests as the treasuries of the entire people, which cannot be squandered or despoiled without manifest injustice. Or rather, that these are almost the very blood of the people, which it would be the harshest inhumanity not to spare. Moreover, let them consider that their imposts and levies, and other kinds of tributes are nothing but supports of public necessity; but that to impose them upon the common folk without cause is tyrannical extortion.

"These considerations do not encourage princes to waste and expensive luxury, as there is surely no need to add fuel to their cupidity, already to much kindled of itself. But as it is very necessary that, whatever they venture, they should venture with a pure conscience before God, they must be taught how much is lawful for them, that they may not in impious self-confidence come under God's displeasure."

-John Calvin in the Institutes, sections 4.20.9 and 4.20.13 on "Concern for both Tables of the Law" and "Concerning the right of the government to levy tribute"

Christmas Hymn

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, text circa 5th century:

Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
And with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly-minded,
For with blessing in his hand
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
Our full homage to demand.

King of kings, yet born of Mary,
As of old on earth he stood
Lord of lords, in human vesture -
In the Body and the Blood -
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven
Spreads its vanguard on the way,
As the Light of Light descendeth
From the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish
As the darkness clears away.

At his feet the six-winged seraph;
Cherubim with sleepless eye,
Veil their faces to the Presence,
As with ceaseless voice they cry,
Alleluia, alleluia,
Alleluia, Lord Most High.

Amen, come, Lord Jesus!

Christmas Eve Passage

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”

Isaiah 11:1-9; 12:1-2

Fall Books

I was blessed with lots of free time to read this fall, and I capitalized on this by attempting some more ambitious (and long) works.

A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-centered Worship - Michael Horton (2002). Not Horton's best work due to tediousness/wordiness (could have been at least 20-30 pages shorter) and over-applied metaphors (namely the drama metaphor), but had its good moments. Very helpful were chapters on the redemptive-historical approach, Christian recovery of the Sabbath, the Lord's Supper, and the non-neutrality of style in worship.

The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism - Gregg Strawbridge, ed. (2003). I already did a full review of this excellent book. Highly recommended for people on both sides of the debate.

Institutes of the Christian Religion - John Calvin (1559). I'm done! What a fantastic, clear, long explanation of the Christian faith, doctrine, church, and practice. Particularly potent sections I read this fall season include those on worship (intermingled with tedious condemnations of Rome), the sacraments, the marks of a true church, and church discipline.

Is Christianity Good for the World? - Christopher Hitchens & Doug Wilson (2008). A brief written debate between a leading intellectual atheist (Hitchens) and a Christian pastor and apologist (Wilson). Wilson's blunt Vantilian responses to Hitchens' vague moral assertions and rhetorical smoke and mirrors wins the day. An written form of the recently-released DVD Collision.

The Moviegoer - Walker Percy (1961). The second Percy novel I've read this year. Not as light-hearted as Love in the Ruins, but more realistic, more emotional, and more difficult. The protagonist lives out an ambiguous existential crisis: his "search." He struggles between a life of significance (doing medical research) and the simple life (a simple financial broker but cognizant of the deep realities of life and living with them). This book is so much more than a mere existential search, though, and I resonated with much in Percy's work. I look forward to reading more of him.

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success One Relationship at a Time - Keith Ferrazzi (2005). Borrowed from a friend at church. A helpful book on relationship building and networking. The author borders on narcissism but does offer good nuggets of advice. For example, I was helped by the admonition to build my network by not only looking for what I can get out of such connections, but by always offering something first. Came at a good time as I start to build my network for my future career.

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (1937). A tragic classic work about two companions' adventures as migrant workers during the Great Depression. I wish I could read and understand great works of literature like this more deeply; I'd love to see themes, symbols, application, and cultural commentary more clearly in similar ways English teachers do.

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment - Jeremiah Burroughs (1630ish). A powerful, convicting book. Drives home the point again and again that a lack of contentment is tied to many sins, that contentment is necessary because of our unworthiness of any of the good we have received, and that contentment is not a fulfillment of our desires but a lessening of them. Burroughs has a tendency to allegorize the Bible too much, however. If you buy this book, please do not buy the Sovereign Grace Publishers edition, as it detracts from the reader's enjoyment and concentration. They squeeze a 250-page book into 99 pages, and everything is in miniscule bold-faced font. Go with the Banner of Truth Puritan Paperbacks edition.

Redemption Accomplished and Applied - John Murray (1955). Seminal work on the atonement, God's redemption, and Reformed soteriology. I've already read parts of it twice, and will revisit it often. Powerful, dense, challenging, edifying, fantastic book. A definite finalist for the 2009 Book MVP.

Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church - N.T. Wright (2008). A book like this deserves a larger review, but oh well. A hearty "amen" to Wright's premise: "This is not at all a matter of putting a check beside some dogmas and not others, with the resurrection simply being a rather more difficult box to check off than some others. It is a matter of a belief that is a symptom of an entire worldview, an accurate index to a way of looking at everything else." Wright solidly defends Christ's resurrection, explains its significance, and provides the evidence and hope for the future resurrection of the dead. His critiques of common misconceptions about heaven (as the final place our souls go when we die), salvation (as a relationship with God and a ticket to heaven), and the church's purpose (church growth) are also good. But I'm not sold on all his conclusions. While affirming good news of the forgiveness of sins, he downplays the gospel of Christ in favor of politically charged activism (he continually harps on debt remission and ecological responsibility, for example). I'm not against working for justice, healing, and enrichment, but apart from the true gospel, these are hollow. Wright is a brilliant writer, but he often falls into the rhetorical trap of caricaturing incorrect views while announcing himself as the triumphant savior with the absolutely correct perspective. There were several other issues I have as well, including hints of his New Perspective and his Lewis-like view on a dehumanizing hell. Many helpful thoughts throughout, though it's easy to get caught up in his brilliant writing and forceful assertions.

Turning Points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity - Mark A. Noll (2001). Examines twelve momentous events in Christianity's history. Well written and painstakingly researched, if only a bit dry. Good to learn more about important events that have shaped the church through the ages and continue to shape the church's worship and work today.

Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion - Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck (2009). Starts off as an answer to many of the critics of the institutional church (George Barna, So You Don't Want to go to Church Anymore, "be the church not just go to church," etc.). If such criticisms aren't relevant to your life, friends, or networks, it might not be an interesting read. But the last few chapters on the theology of the church (DeYoung) and why we should love the church (Kluck) were excellent. They were biblical, clear, witty, and convicting in looking at my love of and criticisms of the church. Not as influential as Why We're Not Emergent, but still solid.

I also read a couple installments in the Basics of the Reformed Faith series: What is Justification By Faith Alone? - J.V. Fesko and How Our Children Come to Faith - Stephen Smallman. Helpful booklet-size introductions to important aspects of Reformed Christianity.

Blogger's note: clicking some book links helps me get free books.

Sunday Citation

"The true church can be recognized if it has the following marks: The church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel; it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them; it practices church discipline for correcting faults. In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God, rejecting all things contrary to it and holding Jesus Christ as the only Head. By these marks one can be assured of recognizing the true church - and no one ought to be separated from it.

As for those who can belong to the church, we can recognize them by the distinguishing marks of Christians: namely by faith, and by their fleeing from sin and pursuing righteousness, once they have received the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. They love the true God and their neighbors, without turning to the right or left, and they crucify the flesh and its works. Though great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their lives, appealing constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of the Lord Jesus, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins, through faith in him.

As for the false church, it assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God; it does not want to subject itself to the yoke of Christ; it does not administer the sacraments as Christ commanded in his Word; it rather adds to them or subtracts from them as it pleases; it bases itself on men, more than on Jesus Christ; it persecutes those who live holy lives according to the Word of God and who rebuke it for its faults, greed, and idolatry. These two churches are easy to recognize and thus to distinguish from each other."

-from the Belgic Confession, Article 29, on "The Marks of the True Church," 1561

Advent v. Christmas Hymns

Since I’ve been on the topic of liturgies and Advent season, I’ve also been thinking a lot lately about Advent and Christmas hymns in corporate worship. Specifically, because I have been helping our church select the psalms and hymns each week, I’ve been miffed at the dearth of solid Advent hymns in relation to Christmas hymns.

There are plenty of great Christmas hymns in hymnals, but few great Advent hymns by comparison. Note the distinction: Advent hymns are those that are anticipatory in nature, looking toward the glorious redemption that Immanuel, the incarnate Son of God, will bring to His people. Many of these include earnest prayers for Immanuel to come to redeem His people (e.g. O Come, O Come, Immanuel; Come, Thou Long-expected Jesus). Christmas hymns, by contrast, are celebrations of the accomplished fact with references to “today,” “tonight,” or the angels and shepherds. [Aside: While I’m on the topic of Christmas hymns, what’s up with all the theologically unsound ones? Away in a Manger and Once in Royal David's City, just to name two, are biblically iffy for one reason or another.]

Good Christmas hymns are very appropriate for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but I find singing them in the weeks before Christmas to be awkward. I’m thinking here, for example, of Good Christian Men Rejoice, What Child is This (one of my favorites), O Little Town of Bethlehem, or even O Come, All Ye Faithful. I recognize that Christ was already born two thousand years ago, but in the season leading up to a day of celebrating Christ’s birth, it is appropriate to look ahead to that Christmas day with joyful anticipation, and to have our songs reflect that.

My point is that I wish there were more Advent hymns that are appropriate for corporate worship in the weeks leading up to Christmas. There are only so many times we can sing Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, How Lovely Shines the Morning Star, or Of the Father’s Love Begotten. Further, there are only a few good options that incorporate scriptures like Psalm 24, Isaiah 9, 11, or 40. Appropriateness also includes the words matching the music as well, which would disqualify some options. For example, we are singing To Us a Child of Hope is Born this week, but to the tune of O For a Thousand Tongues since the accompanying tune in the Red Trinity hymnal is an unfortunate sentimental diddy.

I wish I could write hymns, because writing an Advent hymn would near the top of my list this time of year. Does anyone have any suggestions for other Advent-appropriate hymns? Preferably ones that would sound good with a piano/flute or organ/string quartet accompaniment.

Editorial note: I know that song titles are to be placed in quotation marks, but since I was listing many consecutively, I omitted them for better readability.

In Praise of Liturgical Calendars

Mother's Day sermons. Memorial Day sermons. Even Thanksgiving sermons. Attend a given evangelical church around one of these holidays and odds are that you'll hear one of these sermons, or hear a lot about these holidays in the worship service.

Ascension Sunday sermons. Pentecost Sunday sermons. Epiphany sermons. Mention any of those particular Sundays at a given evangelical church, and odds are you'll receive a blank stare in return.

I'm not about to argue against the apostle Paul by saying we should rigidly observe a specific liturgical calendar (Romans 14:5ff; he's not referring to the Sabbath, as is sometimes thought). But I think that with the generic evangelical church's rejection of a liturgical calendar, a certain richness of worship was also rejected. Take, for example, the traditional Advent season in which we are now immersed. The four Sundays in Advent follow beautifully the biblical pattern of longing for the promised Messiah (Sunday of Prophecy), the purification the Messiah would bring (Judgment), the joy the Messiah would bring to His people (Joy), and the goodwill to those with whom He is well-pleased (Peace).

Further, nature abhors a vacuum, and so does the church. With the rejection of liturgical calendars came the vacuum of a calendar-less church. So by rejecting the liturgical calendars of our fathers and grandfathers, we have unwittingly embraced the American liturgical calendar, celebrating Mother's Day, Father's Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Veteran's Day alongside the secular culture while formerly joyous Christian celebrations like Ascension Sunday, Epiphany, and Pentecost are forgotten. Christians shouldn't necessarily abstain from celebrating such American holidays, but I question the validity of bringing them into the church's worship, especially at the expense of such biblically rich "holidays" that are right under our noses.

I think that using church's liturgical calendar is a beautiful way of enfolding believers into the divine drama of redemption, making the good news of Christ's birth, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and outpouring of His Spirit even more real throughout the year. They are great ways for Christians to celebrate the glorious work of Christ.

A Reminder of Resurrection Amid Advent

N.T. Wright (collective gasp) offers a helpful reminder in Surprised by Hope to not let our Christmas celebrations overshadow the centrality of Easter:

"Christmas has now far outstripped Easter in popular culture as the real celebratory center of the Christian year - a move that completely reverses the New Testament's emphasis. We sometimes try, in hymns, prayers, and sermons, to build a whole theology on Christmas, but it can't in fact sustain such a thing. We then keep Lent, Holy Week, and Good Friday so thoroughly that we have hardly any energy left for Easter except for the first night and day. Easter, however, should be the center. Take that away and there is, almost literally, nothing left...Take away the stories of Jesus' birth, and you lose only two chapters of Matthew and two of Luke. Take away the resurrection, and you lose the entire New Testament and most of the second-century fathers as well." (pp. 23 ,43)

Sunday Citation

"God knew that we were going to need to pick up dimes, and so He gave us fingernails. He knew that twilights displayed in blue, apricot, and battle gray would be entirely astonishing and beyond us, and so He gave us eyes that can see in color. He could have made all food quite nourishing, but which tasted like wadded up newspaper soaked in machine oil. Instead He gave us the tastes of watermelon, pecans, oatmeal stout, buttered corn, apples, fresh bread, grilled sirloin, and twenty-five-year-old scotch. And He of course knew that we were going to need to thank Him, and so He gave us hearts and minds.

"The issue of thanksgiving is really central to the whole debate about the existence of God. On the one hand, if there is no God, there is no need to thank anyone. We are here as the result of a long chain of impersonal processes, grinding their way down to our brief moment in time. If there is a God, then every breath, every moment, every sight and sound, is sheer, unadulterated gift. And, as our mothers taught us, when someone gives you presents like this, the only appropriate response is to thank them."

-Doug Wilson in Is Christianity Good for the World? (2008, a debate with Christopher Hitchens), pp. 15-16

Information Overload

Church/theology

The conference talks from our church's Calvin For Today conference have been posted online for your listening enjoyment (stream online or download). I highly recommend them.

The Potency of Right Worship. An exposition of Psalm 97 from Credenda|Agenda, showing its importance for gaining an understanding of right worship. "Right worship occurs when a congregation of God approaches Him, sees Him as He is, and responds rightly, as He has commanded - in joy and glad submission."

Good reading

Friend, pastor, and former blogging partner Ken has started a new blog with a seminary friend of his (Jeff): The Moose are in Need of Reproof. Some great installments thus far.

I've been pleasantly surprised that Dr. Gordon's book, Why Johnny Can't Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers has found its way onto several best-book lists this year, including Challies' and Monergism's. No, I shamefully haven't read (or even purchased) this book yet.

Technology

The Hypersocialized Generation. "There is no going back - at least not in terms of retreat. The social universe is a fact of life, and a missiological challenge for the Christian church. We are all Facebookers now."

News

Just when you thought Lancaster was filled with peaceful, earth-loving Amish folk, this comes along. (Thanks, Mom and Dad Steele for passing this on)

National Geographic's International Photography Contest. Some breathtaking shots here. My favourites are 7, 10, 11, and 18.

O Come, Let Us Adore Him!

This Advent Season, I've been struck by the lyrics of one of the well-known Advent hymns, "O Come, All Ye Faithful." Check out the lyrics of the second verse:

God of God, Light of Light;
Lo, He abhors not the virgin's womb:
Very God, begotten not created.

Did you catch the profoundness of those words? They aren't your typical cutesy, mild Christmas carol words, are they? In fact, that verse is pretty much a rendition of part of the ancient Nicene Creed:

I believe...in one Lord Jesus Christ,
The only begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all worlds;
God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God;
Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father,
By whom all things were made.

Luke's account of Christ's birth is strikingly plain and simple, but the angels knew its ramifications. Considering that Christ's birth represented the advent of the Son of God who is God of God, Light of Light, and begotten of the Father before all worlds, is it any wonder that the angels couldn't contain themselves as heaven's host gloriously broke into the earthly realm to declare what the birth of the Messiah meant? I can't even begin to describe the wonder.

Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth, peace among those with whom He is pleased!

It's a Fire...Sale

One of our favourite television shows, Arrested Development, was a flop. Critics and a handful of people around the country loved it, but no one watched it. It lasted for three glorious seasons before its demise. I have good news for those of you who want to get into it, but haven't had a chance yet. Today only, at Amazon, you can get the entire series for $28.99! Check it out here. The series usually goes for $80 or more, so it's a great deal. You know you want to.

Sunday Citation

"Rubbish preaching certainly has a lot to answer for...I also think that a loss of understanding of what is going on when the preacher preaches is a problem. When the preacher preaches God is speaking in and through him. Too many people go to church with the idea that what is going on is really a one-man Bible-study. Somebody standing up at the front and explaining to me what a passage of Scripture means. I don't think preaching is ever less than that, but I do think it is more - it is much more than that. The Old Testament prophets are the analogy to the modern preacher. They are declaring the Word of God and when the Word of God goes out, it will not return to God empty. We don't go to church expecting the Word of God to go forth with power anymore. I think for too many people it is just a transfer of information, not a confrontation with the living covenant God."

-Carl Trueman in an interview on the White Horse Inn, September 13, 2009 broadcast date

Sabbath All Grown Up and Glorious

Ironic that this week, after two posts on the Lord's Day, that there is an excellent article at the Credenda|Agenda site about the Lord's Day as the high feast day for believers: "Keeping the Fast by Keeping the Feast." I highly commend it.

"There’s no Judaizing going on when our impulse is to allow the Sabbath of the Lord’s Supper [sic: Day?] to flow out and fill our day. Understood rightly, celebrating the Lord’s Day all day Sunday is just like wanting Christmas to last all day or Thanksgiving or Easter. The holy convocations of the Old Covenant left their impressions on the days and weeks and years. When the people of God gathered together to keep the Feasts, their joy filled the days...

"What I want to suggest is that the Lord’s Day, understood as the gathered worship of believers and the overflow that fills the first day of the week with joy in the new creation, ought to be the pattern for all feasting and fasting. We abstain from certain activities in order to worship the Lord with His people. We skip football games to eat in one another’s homes. We take off from work and take naps instead. We refrain from a more hurried (and frequently harried) schedule of work and meals, and we load a table with good things and laugh and rejoice and relax in one another’s presence and minister to those in need. In other words, our feasting always includes a kind of fasting."

Practical Lord's Day Thoughts

In our brief three years of marriage, we've learned a lot about what it means to keep the Lord's Day holy, and still have much to learn. In order to help our feeble, sinful idol factories (aka our hearts) we have some things we try to keep in mind to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, keep His day holy, and to aid in our sanctification. These aren't meant to be Pharisaical legalistic minutiae, nor are they meant to be archetypal or exhaustive. But this list includes some simple practical ideas of what our Sabbaths can (or should) look like. It's not necessarily a profound or hard thing, either, though I freely admit that we don't have all the answers. These are also biased toward our particular stage in life as a young married couple without children, as I imagine some of these will change when kids come along (such as catechizing, etc.).

• Worship with fellow believers at a Bible-believing church (two services = all the better!)
  
• Enjoy a meal with family or friends (not out at a restaurant!)
  
• Take a walk/hike/bike at a local state park
• Turn off the TV and computers
• Visit sick and/or elderly people
• Rest! This could take the form of a Sunday afternoon nap or an N.A.P.
• Read and study Scripture
• Read theological books, biographies, or poetry; reading out loud to each other is also good
  
• Listen to a sermon or podcast (White Horse Inn, R.C. Sproul, and my dad are some of our favourites)
• Talk about the morning's sermon and other worship elements (e.g. confession of sin, Lord's Supper, etc.)
  
• Call your parents, family members, or old friends
• Write a letter or journal entry
  
• Attend or host a psalm and hymn sing

Any other good suggestions?

The Eschatological Sabbath

As I am wont to do, I have been reflecting on the Lord's Day. Because of its prominence in Scripture, its importance in believers' lives, and necessity for true church practice, I don't think we can truly plumb the depths of its meaning in this lifetime. Lately my thoughts on the Sabbath Day, or Lord's Day, have been focused on its eschatological dimensions, on it being an eschatological day. In other words, the Lord's Day is a day that longs for, foreshadows, and is a foretaste of the consummation of all things and to eternity in the new heavens and the new earth.

For believers especially, Sundays are not just a day off work, a morning to go to church, a day for sports, or a day to catch up on errands. Nor is the importance of the day appreciated when believers just put in their time at an hour-long worship service in the morning (if that) and devote the rest of the day to their own agenda. Thoughts that we need to streamline worship or cut down on preaching length ring hollow when compared to a biblical view of the Sabbath. It almost seems like we want to make the worship service shorter so that our congregants' schedules are not cut into. But the preaching of Christ and Him crucified and raised from the dead should inform our Lord's Day observance.

Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20). It is because of His resurrection that we celebrate the Christian Sabbath on Sunday, the Lord's Day. Every Sunday, then, is a celebration of Christ's victory over death in the resurrection. This gives us opportunity to celebrate His resurrection as our Savior as well as to anticipate the future resurrection of the dead at the last day. The Lord's Day, then, is almost like a reminder of the down payment for the resurrection of the dead when Christ returns. The Christian Sabbath is a foretaste of eternity in this regard, foreshadowing it while provoking longing and yearning for that day. Michael Horton writes,

"Representing the consummation, this sabbatical pattern was the way not only of hoping for the new creation but of experiencing it and participating in its peace...The Lord's Day is the festival of the new creation to be treasured, a day not only that we set aside but that sets us aside. As children of this day, we proclaim that we are not our own but are bought with a price. It is a weekly Easter Day, transforming our identity and relation to this age by that power of the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. The Sabbath should not be treated as a blank space in the week but as the one space that is filled and overflowing with the richest gifts of divine activity." (in A Better Way, chapter 11)

With these eschatological elements and divine activity in mind, what we do on the Lord's Day should be a conscious response and anticipation of such things. What did the early church practice in light of Christ's recent resurrection? They devoted themselves to sitting under preaching, fellowshipping with other believers, celebrating the sacraments, and the prayers (Acts 2:42). This eschatological perspective should affect the worship service especially. Celebrating the Lord's Supper on the Lord's Day is an anticipation of the future marriage supper of the Lamb. We respond to God by singing His Word back to him in psalms and hymns that declare Christ as the risen King and not proclaiming our own piety, emotions, or good intentions. We confess our sins, coming to God as broken and sinful creatures in need of a Savior. We hear the assurance of pardon from God's Word that we have been reconciled to Him, and to renew our covenant with Him. We hear God speak through his messenger, which breaks us down by the imperatives of the law and builds us back up in Christ through the glorious indicatives of the gospel. On the Lord's Day we also sharpen one another in fellowship with one another, which is also a foretaste of eternity. We devote time to learn about God and talk about Him with our family and friends.

The Christian Sabbath - the Lord's Day - is not just a day off from work where we can do the things we wish we could do during the week. It's not a day to catch up on recreation, work, shopping, or whatever else we didn't have time for during the work week. Not having time during the week is not an excuse for Sabbath breaking. God has made time for us in the Lord's Day and we are commanded to make time for Him. The Christian Sabbath is not a legalistic day but a joyous, gladsome time for us to rest from our labors while enjoying Him and His good gifts, worshipping him in spirit and truth, and looking forward to our eternal Sabbath, the new heavens and the new earth (Hebrews 4).