As I was getting ready to tweet that I was headed to a Session meeting tonight, I was reminded at how foreign that term sounds to folks outside of the church (or even beyond Presbyterian and reformed circles). In fact, I often tell people that I am going to an elders’ meeting, or simply something at church. Below is a good definition of the term “Session,” which comes from our church’s officer contact page.

“Session” – derived from the Latin, sessio, meaning “seated” or “sitting” refers primarily to King Jesus’ shepherdly oversight of His Church, the Body of Christ, from where he is “seated” today at the right hand of God the Father. Secondarily and derivatively, in the local congregation, it refers to the exercise of this oversight through men called, equipped and led by His Spirit, and recognized by the congregation by the work of the same Spirit, for the accomplishment of His Mission and the display of His Glory in and through the congregation.

What strikes me the most here is the clear, comforting and yet sobering statement that Jesus Christ is the head of His Church — not the elders or pastors. Such an understanding of submissive shepherding stands in stark contrast to our culture’s view of leadership, does it not?

sen·tence
n. 1. A grammatical unit that is syntactically independent and has a subject that is expressed or, as in imperative sentences, understood and a predicate that contains at least one finite verb.

A couple of months ago I was teasing a friend about his frequent usage of very l-o-n-g sentences. The particular object of my chastisement was the following 114 word … er, ‘grammatical unit,’ expounding on Ephesians 3.

Since, by our place in Christ by the abounding grace and mercy of God our Father, we have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his Son’s marvelous light, being carried with him, as it were, through our baptism into him, through death and into the glorious light of his resurrection, Paul prays that we would be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints the breadth, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge so that we may be increasingly filled with the fullness of God’s goodness and grace and righteousness, filled with the knowledge of his will according to the wisdom and understanding of his Spirit.

About a month passed before my friend forwarded along the following quote (with vindicated glee I might add). After penning a sentence of 103 words (or 83 if you count the three multi-hyphenated words as one each …), N.T. Wright interrupts himself:

(The reader may be thankful that this is in English. In German, that entire last phrase [a hyphenated "word" of 13 words in length] might become a single word. As it is, I make no apology for the length of the sentence thereby concluded. All these things need to be held together – a task extremely easy in the first century for someone like Paul, and apparently next to impossible for those whose soteriology never had an Israel-dimension and who don’t want to start thinking about one now.) — N.T. Wright, Justification, p 96.

So the next time someone in the church accuses you of being long winded or verbose, rest assured that you are in good company. Smile and then appeal to Paul’s own wordiness demonstrated in Ephesians 1 — there was a reason he did not chop it up like the NIV does!

Gary Haugen (International Justice Mission) has just published a new book titled, Just Courage: God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian. While I do not have a copy (nor plan to), you can click the “Search Inside” link and read an excerpt on Amazon (note: *low* priority on wish list). I know it is hard to judge a book by its cover, but the opening paragraphs are particularly discomforting.

Even though I read the words almost twenty-five years ago, I can still picture them upon the page. The words were and have remained so disturbing to me that I remember exactly where I was when I read them. I was a freshman in college sitting up late one night in the dorm laundry room waiting for my clothes to dry and reading John Stuart Mill’s essay “On Liberty.” Writing in 1859, Mill was trying to explain the process by which words lose their meaning, and he casually offered that the best example of this phenomenon was Christians. Christians, he observed, seem to have the amazing ability to say the most wonderful things without actually believing them.

What became more disturbing was his list of things that Christians, like me, actually say — like, blessed are the poor and humble; it’s better to give than receive; judge not, lest you be judged; love your neighbor as yourself, etc. — and examining, one by one, how differently I would live my life if I actually believed such things. As Mill concluded, “The sayings of Christ co-exist passively in their minds, producing hardly any effect beyond what is caused by mere listening to words so amiable and bland.”

I move that we all just continue on as if the observation had never been made. Any seconds?

Lord, have mercy.

O Breath of life, come sweeping through us, revive your church with life and pow’r,
O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us, and fit your church to meet this hour.

O Wind of God, come bend us, break us, till humbly we confess our need;
then in your tenderness remake us, revive, restore, for this we plead.

O Breath of love, come breathe within us, renewing thought and will and heart;
come, Love of Christ, afresh to win us, revive your church in every part.

O Heart of Christ, once broken for us, ’tis there we find our strength and rest;
our broken contrite hearts now solace, and let your waiting church be blest.

Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating while harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting, equip your church to spread the light.

To Read or Not to Read (100 pp PDF/20 pp summary): “If, at the current pace, America continues to lose the habit of regular reading, the nation will suffer substantial economic, social, and civic setbacks” (Dana Gioia, Chairman, NEA).

At Today’s Session MeetingScott: [under the influence of a cold] … and I still have my year-end self appraisal to write.

Dan: Your urine self appraisal?!?

Scott: Uh, sorry … Year End’h.

Various: [amid laughter] Strong, steady str… [remainder of conversation redacted]