Today only (Oct. 31) you can purchase a Reformation Study Bible (ESV) for just $15.17. Why that price? That would be the year Luther nailed his 95 theses to a Wittenberg church door. Since I already own this edition, I am personally holding out for the 500th anniversary in 2017. 
Sprint Agrees to Unlock Phones: Reminiscent of the days during the “Ma Bell” breakup, back when you had to rent or buy equipment from your service provider (under the pretense that 3rd party phones would mess up their network).
Most of my junior year in Mr. Lavelle’s high school English class was spent memorizing poetry from throughout the vast spectrum of Western literature. The final examination was to recite on paper some sixty different verses of poetry and prose. As pointless as it seemed at the time (akin to learning algebra), it was an exercise that has had a lasting effect. I was reminded recently in conversation of just how many of those assignments stuck with me over the last eighteen years: “He prayeth best, who loveth best, all things both great and small; for the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all” (Coleridge, Rime of the Ancient Mariner); “Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found” (Pope, An Essay on Criticism); and then there was Richard Lovelace’s famous love song, To Althea, From Prison: “Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take that for an hermitage.” That last half of Lovelace was a stretch (I admit to googling it), but with some prodding I could come up with more … In Xanadu did Kublai Khan a stately pleasure dome decree … on second thought I will spare you further torture, suffice it to say that I am thankful for having Mr. Lavelle as a teacher and being on the receiving end of his passion for poetry. Paul J. Lavelle, Jr., age 54, of Harrisburg, PA passed away peacefully after a courageous battle against cancer on Tuesday, March 13, 2007.
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Recently I came across the writings of a different Richard Lovelace—the contemporary Richard F. Lovelace, professor of church history at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, who, other than name, has little else in common with the hasty 17th century cavalier lyricist, except for having a gift at conveying complex principles (albeit a lot less flowery). One such example is the following passage from “Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal,” a book that takes a deep dive into a world where revival is “normative;” exploring the reality that our seemingly ordinary “spiritual lives” are being radically shaped and altered by God. Writing on the issue of “the gravitational force toward enculturation,” that is, the gravitational force of fallen humanity to wed the truth of God’s redemptive proclamations to the forms and functions of fallen humanity as embodied in the surrounding culture, Lovelace says:
“The evangelical stream, however, was only partially dis-enculturated, and it became increasingly less so, … But it was still largely wedded to the Puritan version of the training-code morality [an enculturated version itself; a thorough-going product of the enculturation of the gospel, rather than the "separatist" image we have of Puritanism ...], which caught on in Pietist circles also. As the understanding of grace declined in revivalism, evangelicalism erected a stronger shell of protective enculturation to guard it from the world. Not only did it cling to the Puritan taboos, but in the nineteenth century it added more: wine and tobacco, both of which had been consumed by both Reformers and Puritans. The early Temperance movement was motivated by social compassion for the victims of distilled liquor during the stresses of the Industrial Revolution, and it really called for temperance. When moderation seemed too difficult a spiritual discipline and too slow a remedy, the revivalists of the 1820′s and 30′s moved on to redefine temperance as abstinence, to the horror of Charles Hodge [professor at Princeton Seminary], who protested that the replacement of Communion wine with grape juice was an insult to Jesus and to biblical ethics. … A few decades later, coffee and tea were added to the taboo list by revivalist Charles Finney [whose] understanding of justification and sanctification were essentially severed from any doctrine of union with Christ; in effect, he taught justification by sanctification and not by faith, and sanctification by will power more than by grace.” (Lovelace, Dynamics, p194, emphasis added)
Note the connection at the end of the passage between the development of a moralistic training-code ethic and the “disconnect” of justification from the person, work and life of Christ and the union of the believer in Christ’s person, work and life. As Lovelace says almost explicitly, the degree to which we lose a clear focus on the nature and place of the “grace of God in Christ” we develop calcified hearts; as we become increasingly “accustomed to grace,” as is generally the case here in the Bible Belt, we become increasingly impervious to the life-work of grace itself.
The thrust of his argument: revivals tend to fizzle at the rate that the clarity, centrality and certainty of “God’s grace in Christ” diminishes; and the corollary—those who are “asleep in the light” are wakened and energized at the rate that “God’s grace in Christ” becomes more intensively clear and indispensably central and un-movably certain to the understanding and practice of all of life. How? It is by the prayerful, faith-filled preaching, teaching, and counseling of the Word, which is always (thankfully) accompanied by the Spirit who overcomes our faithless and self-protective resistance so as not to flop lifeless on the sanctuary floor, but so that it will have its intended, life-creating effect.
Along these lines we (those who are called as leaders in the Church) find that one of our greatest shepherding struggles involves 1) getting disentangled from the “enculturated” way in which we understand, live and teach the gospel of “God’s grace in Jesus Christ” and 2) struggling to articulate in winsome and convicting ways the extent to which we are addicted to pursuit of the Kingdom according to the forms, functions and patterns of fallen humanity. That is, it is not merely that we say “no” to “drink, smoke, chew and going with girls who do;” but more to the heart of the matter, it is that we seek to pursue “Jesus” and “the life of Jesus” and even “the righteousness of Jesus” according to the strategies and systems of the world, “according to the flesh,” as Paul says in 2 Corinthians.
Pursuing Christ and His Kingdom “according to the flesh” is so profoundly, deeply and pervasively a part of who we are and a part of the religious industry in the South, that anything that directly or indirectly counters it is dismissed out of hand—sometimes, but rarely, dismissed violently and explicitly; but more often dismissed out of hand by benign, though willful and ignorant, blindness and deafness (cf. Eph 4:17ff).
May we therefore be continually reminded of our shepherd calling: namely, to lift high the cross of “God’s astounding grace in Jesus Christ” in such a way that we and the congregations given to our care are consciously and increasingly gripped by its reality, pulsing through every aspect of life in a fallen world.
Between typical and atypical events, I totally blanked on the fact that game four of the World Series was last night. I am glad the Red Sox won, but sweeps are just not conducive to chaotic family life. Next time let’s at least take it to six games.
In spite of receiving a few compliments about the previous theme, I have chosen to switch to a different design. If I am counting correctly, this is the fifth WordPress template to grace Transformatum’s pages (sixth if you include the Blogger years). The motivation (and help) to change came from Shawn and Ben, who have been using Sandbox and WordPress to style their tumble-blog hybrids. I have barely made any edits to this theme’s PHP files. What you see is all CSS. That might not mean much to you, but perhaps this will: with this latest update I have come to a few conclusions about my personal preferences and feelings for blog design.
However, please keep in mind that these opinions are subject to change at a moment’s notice. As Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes once said (emphasis added), “Some people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available. Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise. And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads. I pragmatically turn my whims into principles.”
For the record books, the current layout started as Simpla and was ported to Sandbox. From there I added special classes that correspond with categories in WordPress in order to create the tumble-hybrid look. I also intensified the colors slightly and tweaked a few features (hid this, added that, etc.). I will continue to make small updates over the coming days, but if you see anything amiss feel free to let me know. Also, if you have any “logo” ideas please pass them along. I think it is time for Transformatum to get a little more brand identity.