New vocabulary related to the coronavirus is spreading almost as fast as the virus itself. For instance, I’ve heard “quoutfit” (quarantine outfit – what you wear at home all day in a quarantine) and “quaranstream” (binge-watching if you’re confined to your home). To this new vocabularly, I’ve made up another one: CORONAFORMATION (Coronavirus + Spiritual Transformation). Does God long to continue to shepherd you as your Heavenly Father with tenderness and strength during the coronavirus?  You bet! Our church staff, including this blog, will be providing digital content during these unusual times. You can check out the homepage of trinitywellsprings.com and this blog for frequent CORONAFORMATION content for your personal walk with the Lord and for your family during this time. Enjoy!

The Lord delights and takes great pleasure in reminding you “to not be afraid”.  From Genesis to Revelation, the divine decree to “Fear Not” appears to be among the Lord’s favorite commands in holy scripture to his people.

When the biblical writers use repetition, we can rest assured that the idea has a weighty sense of gravitas to our Lord. For instance, the Bible repeatedly tells us that God is Holy (Lev. 19:2; Ex. 15:11; 1 Sam. 2:2; Psalm 77:13; Isa. 6:3; Luke 1:49; 1 Pet. 1:16), and when the majestic “Holy, Holy, Holy” is sung around the throne of God (Rev. 4:8), God is praised as three times holy. This trifold doxology not only flattens us before a majestic God but also helps us understand the holy seriousness of the nature of God. God is three times Holy!

Repetition communicates gravitas in the scriptures. When our family arrived in Edinburgh, we constantly had to tell our young sons in the midst of a bustling city, “Look both ways before you cross the street!” Their lives were at stake! In a similar vein, God is constantly telling his children to “Fear Not”, for their own good and spiritual health.

Though I have not counted personally myself, I’ve heard it said that the Bible says “Fear Not” (and its close companion phrases) 365 times – one for each day of the year. That is, the command to “Fear Not” or “Be Not Afraid” is repeated so frequently in the Scriptures (Psalm 23:4; 27:1; 56:3; 94:19; Proverbs 12:25; Isaiah 41:10; 43:1; Matthew 6:34; Mark 6:50; John 14:27; Philippians 4:6-7; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 Peter 5:6-7) that you could say that God is trying to use a Bull Horn to get your attention!

During the coronavirus, how do you fan the flame of faith rather than pour gasoline on your fears?

(1)   Be Reminded: The Lord Goes with You…Wherever You Go.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. ~ Joshua 1:9

(2)   Be Prayerful: Have You Sought the Lord in the Midst of your Fear?

Are you afraid?  This is a natural human reaction. Yet, the Christian response is to seek the Lord in the midst of your fear. The Lord delights to deliver you from all your fears.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. ~ Psalm 34:4

(3)   Be Strong-Minded: Take Every Thought Captive

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ~ Rom. 12:2

Ask the question: Does this thought come from fear, panic, or hysteria or does this thought help me become transformed by God and, therefore, better able to discern what God’s will for my life is at this particular moment? 

(4)   Be Thankful: God is with you during Trials

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
 When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.  ~ Isaiah 43:1b-3a

Even when challenging times arise for the Christian, we can rest in the Lord and be thankful.  Our Rescuing and Redeeming God walks with us during the trials of life. The promise of God’s presence is secure: I will be with you!

Thankful to remind you of God’s steadfast love during these times,

Pastor Jason Carter

Following Jesus is both hard and exciting.

Last Sunday, we finished our 11th sermon exploring the implications of the Sermon on the Mount for our life of discipleship by looking at Matthew 5:21-22. The heights and depths of Jesus’ teaching is staggering. We will undoubtedly cover more ground than two verses per week in the weeks ahead, but my aim is that we lean hard into these words of Jesus – the most famous sermon ever preached – for the next several months.

Let me encourage you in a couple of directions as we engage the Sermon on the Mount:

1)     Rediscover your love affair with Jesus. 

Occasionally in the church, one hears about so and so having a crisis of faith or wandering away from regular church attendance. “Suzy” experiences a deep hurt in her life and begins to drift away, “Bob” feels underwhelmed by the church service itself, “Jill” lets dominant cultural narratives erode her confidence in the Word of God, and “Charles” would rather fish or play golf on Sunday mornings. Each individual may have attended church faithfully for a season of life. Now, it’s the last activity – if they are honest – they want to do on a Sunday morning.

Beneath the surface of complaints against the church or complaints against the worship service or complaints against the preacher is often a deeper soul-level reality: often, the person’s love affair with Jesus has cooled. The embers have died down. The soul-level fascination with following Jesus is choked out by the affairs and busyness of this life. Messianic pretenders parade with frequency across the dashboard of our lives: political ideologies, family obligations, and self-indulgent relaxation all seem, at times, to compete with Jesus or even offer better promises of meaning, belonging, and rest than following Jesus. 

If you feel yourself barely hanging onto the church, becoming bored (or frustrated) with the church, or often (or occasionally) thinking to yourself “is church really worth it?”, let me counsel you in simple terms:

            Rediscover your love affair with Jesus. 

Meditate on God’s great love for you in Jesus (John 15:13; Rom 5:8; Eph 2:4-5; 1 John 3:1; 4:19). Be amazed again at Jesus’ unique compassion in the gospels (Luke 7:13; Mt. 8:16-17; 9:36; 14:14; cf. Heb. 4:15). Try applying the meekness of Jesus to your life for even a week (Mt. 5:5; 27:12-14; Phil 2:7; Is. 53:7).  Seek to withdraw to a quiet place to be with Jesus (Mark 6:31; Luke 5:16).  Stoke the Jesus-centered fire again, pour cold water on the secondary issues that are distracting you (whether inside or outside of the church), and hear Jesus’ words afresh to you:

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Mt 16:24-25)

A love affair with Jesus is a promise to find true life, true rest, true meaning, and true belonging. Following Jesus takes you to the center of your true identity.

I dare say that every child of God faces the dull-drums of being a Christian. Being a Christ-follower is hard; soul-work is hard to eat at the drive-thru (with the quickened pace and busyness that characterize many of our lives). During such times, be careful of blaming secondary issues. The church is an easy target because it’s never a perfect place, it’s filled with imperfect people, and it never seems to cater precisely to all your individual preferences!

As we journey through the Sermon on the Mount, my hope for you is simple: Be fascinated again with Jesus. Admire his qualities. Be intrigued again by his teachings. Be truly offended by the radical nature of his kingdom. Be driven to despair by the inescapable acknowledgement that you don’t measure up and desperately need his grace. Be captivated by a love that experiences the cross and a joy and peace that promises a resurrection.

Because what you need is what the church needs: continual renewal centered upon a simple love affair with Jesus.

2)     Read along with the Sermon on the Mount.

I became fascinated with Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount as early as my high school days.  Hot embers were placed in my soul and a fascination with Jesus and his teaching was partly driven by reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s penetrating study of the Sermon on the Mount in his classic book The Cost of Discipleship.

At the heart of Bonhoeffer’s clarion call in The Cost of Discipleship is a simple admonishment to “get on with it” in obeying Jesus:

 “Humanly speaking, it is possible to understand the Sermon on the Mount in a thousand different ways. But Jesus knows only one possibility: simple surrender and obedience – not interpreting or applying it, but doing and obeying it. That is the only way to hear his words. He does not mean for us to discuss it as an ideal. He really means for us to get on with it.” (Bonhoeffer)

Currently, our elders are reading The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard which is also a captivating study on the Sermon on the Mount. Dallas Willard is a master-teacher in the art of spiritual formation. How does the soul come alive? How does abiding in Jesus allow us to enter into “the eternal kind of life now”?  Dallas Willard longs to connect our life of faith with a robust apprenticeship of Jesus:

 “The idea of having faith in Jesus has come to be totally isolated from being his apprentice and learning how to do what he said.” (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy).

So tolle lege – “take and read”.  The Cost of Discipleship and The Divine Conspiracy would both (or either) make great companions for your journey with Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount.

Rev. Dr. Dana Allin, ECO’s Synod Executive, addresses the 2020 National Gathering, Photo courtsey of Rev. Dr. David Mauldin from Palm City Presbyterian Church.

From Feb. 3 – 6, 2020 over 1350 people met at the Gaylord Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, bringing together our 22 Presbyteries, 393 congregations, 20+ church plants, representing about 127,000 Covenant Partners around the United States.  Global mission partners from places like Egypt, Brazil, and Iran also gathered to show their solidarity and support of ECO’s vision for ministry and mission. 

As many of you know, ECO is not an acronym. The full name ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians reinforces ECO’s passion to strength the ecosystem of local congregations where lay people, deacons, elders, and pastors may all flourish in our life-giving discipleship.

The name speaks to ECO’s core commitments:

• Covenant: to connect leaders in accountable relationships and encourage collaboration.

• Order: to commit to a shared way of life as we unite around a shared theological core.

• Evangelical: to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ and plant new missional communities.

• Presbyterian: to stand within our Reformed heritage and celebrate the life of the mind.

I have consistently been impressed by the high caliber leaders – both elders and pastors – that gather together in our own Presbytery of Florida and at the National Gathering.  ECO is now eight years old, and still retains the feel of a “movement” that longs to ignite church planting, encourage flourishing discipleship, and catalyze church renewal while retaining a robust evangelical heart within a distinctively robust Reformed theological focus. 

Theological Business in 2020:

In 2018, there were various overtures by Presbyteries asking the denomination to take a serious look at our Book of Confessions. Historically, Reformed denominations have been guided by confessional statements which are considered to be a subordinate standard to the Bible but a faithful and historical explanation of scriptural truth.  In 2020, a vote brought this theological study to its conclusion by adopting and re-affirming the following Creeds as our Confessional Standards:

1. The Nicene Creed

2. The Apostle’s Creed

3. The Heidelberg Catechism

4. The Westminster Confession of Faith, The Westminster Shorter Catechism, The Westminster Longer Catechism

5. The Barmen Declaration.

Thus, ECO jettisoned the Second Helvetic Confession, The Confession of 1967, The Brief Statement of Faith, and (somewhat surprisingly given our roots in Scottish Presbyterianism), The Scots Confession. Our Confessional Standards are now far more concise and manageable compared to our former denomination.

The Presbytery of Florida:

The Presbytery of Florida met after lunch the second day of the National Gathering.  Over the next 18 months, about ½ of the senior pastors in the Presbytery are retiring – part of what the denomination is affectionally calling “The Gray Wave”.  Therefore, our Ministry Partnership Team, which works with churches in the call process, was strengthened by adding three new members. I was formally prayed over as I began (really on Jan. 1) my role as the Vice-Moderator of the Presbytery of Florida. In 2020, my role will transition into the Moderator of the Presbytery for a standard two-year term. 

Church Planting:

One of our church plants in our own Presbytery -- Providencia in West Palm Beach -- brought nearly a dozen millennial-aged leaders from their church, including about six who are moving toward ordination. It was helpful to hear from our Synod Executive, Dana Allin, who shared with the gathering that church planting has become more difficult in our postmodern age, with new churches requiring a “longer runway” to get off the ground. Over the next 10 years, ECO’s goal is to create structures with a sufficiently robust leadership pipeline to sustain a flourishing church planting movement to grow the denomination from 400 to 1000 churches over the next decade. What an audacious goal! It will need new finances and new leaders to sustain these new church developments. 

Global Engagement:

As you might imagine, I loved hearing about ECO’s global engagement. Did you know that the largest Protestant denomination in the Middle East is Presbyterian?  The Synod of the Nile – which represents Egypt’s Presbyterian Church – also boasts the largest Protestant church in the region (12,000 members) and impacts the entire middle east through sending missionaries and planting churches. Places like Iraq and Gaza are receiving missionaries from our Egyptian brethren! 

All in all, outstanding worship, great keynote speakers, and a unified and peaceful business meeting were all highlights of ECO’s 2020 National Gathering.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)

Evangelicalism is a house divided politically in 2020.  The last few weeks have seen major evangelical volleys back and forth over the political divide.

The brouhaha started with Christianity Today’s editor-in-chief Mark Galli’s editorial “Trump Should be Removed from Office” and continued to gain steam with the follow-up piece from CT’s President/CEO Timothy Dalrymple’s “The Flag in the Whirlwind”. The most recent high-level evangelical rebuttal was penned by evangelical theologian and ethicist Wayne Grudem “Trump Should Not be Removed from Office”. All call themselves evangelicals.  All are highly respected.  CT has been the flagship evangelical periodical since 1956, being founded by Billy Graham, and Grudem is responsible for Systematic Theology, one of the most popular single-volume systematic theology textbooks assigned in seminaries and bible colleges over the last 25 years. There is probably not an evangelical pastor in America who has not read Christianity Today or heard of Wayne Grudem.

I have no reason to exacerbate the divisiveness.  My voice is not a national voice. My concern is pastoral and local: to shepherd the people under my care and make sure our corporate witness to Jesus Christ in our community is stronger in 2020 despite the divisiveness of our political landscape. To that end, let me make a modest proposal and advocate for a seemingly forgotten Christian attribute.

I believe the Christ-centered trait evangelicals most need in the political arena (and on social media) in 2020 is meekness. Let me explain. 

A Helpful 17th Century Definition

In the 17th century, Matthew Henry wrote a little book called A Discourse on Meekness and Quietness of Spirit. The puritan writer argued that the old term meekness (mansuetus in Latin) was often associated with the process of taming wild beasts of burden and curbing the aggressiveness of a wild, bucking stallion. By curbing a naturally aggressive nature, meekness could actually characterize a formerly aggressive horse.

The opposite of meekness is unbridled aggressiveness rooted in an easily bruised ego that lashes out with the tongue. The opposite of meekness is wading into controversy at every opportunity while provoking the other in endless confrontation.  Matthew Henry argued that meekness wisely cools the heat of passion and curbs the often-untamable tongue. Meekness is strength harnessed.   

In short, a meek person gives a wise, poised, and measured reaction – something often foreign to the hyper-aggressive type of engagements that have become (virtually) normalized on social media.

I believe evangelical Christians would be wise to recover the lost trait of meekness during the upcoming political elections. Yes, there is a place for healthy discourse in the public square. Yes, there is a place for healthy dialogue across the political spectrum. Yet the modest question I raise to my fellow evangelicals is this: is social media the place where those ideals organically happen in a manner that adorns the gospel of Jesus Christ above all things in a winsome way to a watching world? 

Meekness Considers Who You Are

In a previous blog post, I alluded to George C. Edwards III, the presidential historian at Texas A&M, who conducted the seminal study on the history of “The Bully Pulpit” in American politics.  The results were counter-intuitive.  During the 20th and 21st centuries, presidents have given fireside chats, appeared on radio and TV, and crisscrossed the nation to stump at rallies for their point of view.  Edwards’ study argues persuasively that all those activities of “The Bully Pulpit” never moved the needle of public opinion in the President’s favor or translated into significant legislative victories for presidential policies in Congress.  

"It is true for all presidents. They virtually never move public opinion in their direction," Edwards tells National Journal…"It happened for Ronald Reagan. It happened for FDR. It happens all the time. You should anticipate failure if you're trying to change people's minds. The data is overwhelming.” [1]

In other words, all the ranting and raving, all the advocating and cajoling by the President of the United States of America – the most influential and powerful person on the planet for much of the 20th and 21st centuries – did not sway public opinion.

To me, that is very interesting.  Applying these ideas to our own divided times potentially speaks volumes about our own use of social media. Consider the following ideas:

1. The most powerful person on the planet cannot move the needle of public opinion.

2. Social media is a significantly weaker instrument in this regard (“I changed my opinion because of a vitriol Facebook post”…SAID NO ONE EVER.)

3. Our unbelieving neighbors should primarily know Christians for our love of people and our love for the gospel (not our politics). 

If meekness in general is subordinating our passions and rights in order to love another (think: the example of Christ), then I’d argue that meekness on social media during a time of extreme political divisiveness might be subordinating our own political passions and rights (at least on social media) in order to preserve the priority of our witness to Jesus Christ to our unbelieving friends.

If your neighbors and friends primarily see you (in the world of social media or otherwise) through a political lens, you may have un-intentionally lost (or severely diminished) your witness to Christ by engaging in (potentially needless) political debates on social media.

A meek person on social media knows the difference between argumentation and wisdom:  “A smart person knows what to say.  A wise person knows whether or not to say it.” (Anonymous)

A meek person on social media chooses to subordinate a (political) opinion in order to prioritize a (gospel) witness. Whereas older generations (Baby Boomers and Gen Xers) tend to think of their “real” identity as separate and distinct from their “digital identity”, studies show that there is no such compartmentalization for Millennials and Gen Zers.  This means that younger generations tend to see “you” as the sum of your social media (political) posts AND your interpersonal (witnessing) interactions.

Since 1 in 4 young people are reportedly leaving the church for socio-political reasons, the hyper-politicization of the evangelical church seems not to be doing our witness to Christ any favors.  Meekness on social media may help preserve the priority of our own interpersonal witness in an increasingly sensitive (and watching) world. 

A meek person intentionally embraces a holistic sense of Christian vocation (yes, even on social media).  The vocation of the vast majority of pastors that I know causes them to pause before posting about politics. The majority of pastors recognize that their congregations are a “house divided” politically, and many seek to “keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3) by not becoming embroiled in needless political controversy.

In short, many pastors choose to exhibit meekness on social media (by curbing their opinions) though they may hold strong political convictions.  If evangelicals believe in the priesthood of all believers, then lay people may also (wisely) choose to embrace this same ethos: to view your Christian vocation holistically to include your online social media persona. 

A Simple Plea for Meekness

Although I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, and I work for a non-profit organization – to steal a favorite saying of former GCTS President Walter C. Kaiser Jr. – I do not foresee meekness as characterizing any of the presidential candidates running for office in 2020. 

Yet, simply because meekness is in short supply from our political leaders does not mean that evangelicals need to mirror the bombastic rhetoric emanating from both sides of the political aisle, either interpersonally or on social media.

In fact, your meekness may speak more loudly than the most earsplitting political post you could share or write on social media during this election year 2020, and Jesus promises you will even inherit the earth.

*****

[1] See George E. Condon Jr. and National Journal, “The Myth of the Bully Pulpit: Presidents can talk all they want (and they do), but it won’t get results,” The Atlantic, April 4, 2013: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/the-myth-of-the-bully-pulpit/443067/

If your primary aim is to gain a sense of community, it will always allude you.

In our consumeristic society, there are many who move from organization to organization, from one friend network to another friend network, and, yes, from one church to another church in pursuit of community. They pursue community directly.  A sense of community is often perceived (in consumeristic terms) as a religious commodity that the church dispenses for all who long for it.  Yet, after a while, people are shocked that their direct pursuit of community often comes up short.

What has gone wrong? They have not understood that some ideas are rightly considered by-products of aiming at something else; some pursuits are by-products of other more central pursuits. Community falls within this dynamic.

Community is the by-product of aiming and pursuing something else. Community is cultivated by loving and serving others.  Think about Mother Teresa.  She created community not by directly pursuing community but rather by loving and serving others. Eventually there arose around Mother Teresa an extraordinary global community. People would flock from all corners of the globe to Calcutta to be part of this incredible community that was cultivated not by pursuing (and wanting and longing for community) but rather was created by love and service. The same holds true in the local church.

I love what Paul Miller in A Loving Life writes: “You don’t find community, you create it through love.”  If you are desperate for community, begin by loving and serving those around you.[1]

The general axiom that applies to forming community in a local church is this: the more you intentionally love and serve others, the more community you will experience.  That is, community is created through intentional expressions of love and purposefully serving alongside others.

In 2020, tweak the famous words of John F. Kennedy into a theological mantra: “Ask not what your church can do for you, ask what you can do for your church.”  If you do, you might just find what you are looking for – a true community of faith. 

**********

[1] Paul Miller, A Loving Life, p. 100.

Miller also writes, “Instinctively, we hunt for a church or community that makes us feel good.  It is good to be in a place where you are welcome, but making that quest central is idolatry. And like all idolatry, it ultimately disappoints. But if we pursue hesed love, then, wherever we go, we create community. Here are two different formulas for community formation:

Search for community where I am loved….become disappointed with community

Show hesed love [a sacrificial, covenantal love]....create community.”

Do you know how long it takes the average person to read the Bible in a year? Surprisingly, only about 70 hours.

That’s less time than the average American spends in front of the television every month. In other words, if most people would exchange their TV time for Scripture reading, they’d finish reading the entire Bible in four weeks or less. If that sounds unworkable, consider this: In no more than fifteen minutes a day you can read through the Bible in less than a year’s time. (Don Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines, 29)

There are lots of Bible reading plans that are profitable for the Christian. Let me mention six good options:

1. The Kingdom Bible Reading Plan. This plan involves reading the entire Bible in a year but only 25 days every month. You will read through every book of the Bible once and the Psalms twice.

2. The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan. This plan involves reading the entire Bible in a year but only 25 days every month: two NT readings, 1 reading from Wisdom Literature, and 1 reading from the rest of the OT.

3. Bible Reading Program for Shirkers and Slackers. If you’ve tried reading the Bible before…and, well, come up a little short or given up entirely, this plan might be for you. Different genres are assigned on different days on the week.

4. The 5x5x5 New Testament Reading Plan. Read through the entire New Testament in 5 days a week, 5 minutes a day.

5. F-260: A Bible reading Plan for Busy Believers. F-260 is a two-hundred and sixy day reading plan that highlights foundational passages of Scripture by reading 1 or 2 chapters a day for five days/week.

6. 5 Day Bible Reading Program. Covers the whole Bible in chronological fashion. Read the whole Bible in 5 days/week.

Having a specific plan & a specific place to read your Bible is so critical for getting into God’s Word.

The same goes for reading the Bible with your kids. Family Devotional Readings give you a few ideas for reading passages with your kids.