“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?

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!

Just Courage: God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian

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.

Dan: Your urine self appraisal?!?

Scott: Uh, sorry … Year End’h.

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

Taking a cue from a friend who has begun a series on his blog called Spam of the Day, in which he “embrace[s] Spam as a cultural phenominam,” I am starting a series here on Transformatum called Rearranged Spam. The game is to take all of the words from the spam email and rearrange them into something a little more literate. I have not added or subtracted any words, nor have I changed their tenses or persons. I have only taken liberties with punctuation. This first is about the dangers of alcohol and boating.

Original Spam (sans Rx image)

>>the two canoes, which was the task that the whole party was now
>>and who was striving to communicate with him, would be apt to
>>indulging in a liquor so much more palatable than that he was
>he was compelled to keep himself. The odor of the whiskey was so
>Margery appeared no more. Assured now of the accuracy of his
>There was tolerably firm ground on it, but it lay in an irregular
background to admit of his being seen. But the fire still blazed in
the night. As it was probable that the sentinel would take his
collected in a body on the brow of the hill, where the chief was
is here can be removed into the thicket that is luckily so near; and
blood, and the usual temporary paralysis had been the consequence.
whiskey, and let them long for it without gettin’ any, as a

Rearranged Spam

Assured of the accuracy of where he was, that is, of the whole of his background, the chief was now compelled to keep himself indulging in his liquor and so the usual and temporary paralysis had been the consequence. Can it be? It was. But luckily Margery was more apt than that. He was striving to communicate with him, but the sentinel lay on firm ground in an irregular body on the brow of the hill and, being seen, would no more admit it. The odor here was a gettin’ near tolerably palatable, as it was probable that there was so much whiskey collected in the blood, that the two appeared as a fire which still blazed in the night. So for any who would long to party without the whiskey, it was now his task to let them be removed and take the canoes into the thicket.

On a more serious note, if you want to become a better writer (or learn how to write in general) then my best advice is to read a lot of books. (HT: Ben)

If any pilgrim monk come from distant parts with wish as a guest to dwell in our monastery and will be content with the customs which he finds in this place, and do not perchance by his lavishness disturb the monastery, but is simply content with what he finds; he shall be received for as long a time as he wishes. If indeed he find fault with anything or expose it reasonably and with humility and charity, the Abbot shall discuss it prudently, lest perchance God has sent him for this very purpose. But if he has been found gossipy or divisive in the time of his sojourn as the guest, not only ought he not be joined in the body of the monastery, but also it shall be said to him honestly that he must depart. If he does not go, let two stout monks, in the name of God, explain the matter to him.

— Rule of St. Benedict, Benedictine Monastery, 6th Century

A little Learning is a dang’rous Thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:

-and-

Words are like Leaves; and where they most abound,
Much Fruit of Sense beneath is rarely found.

— Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 1711

The first quote reminds me of the importance for continuous learning, while the second seems to be a warning against being fooled by glamour and ostentation. What sorts of thoughts and images do they conjure up for you?