Yesterday I attended an all day conference at Calvin Seminary, in which the guest speaker was Dr. Richard Lischer, Professor of Preaching at Duke Divinity School. I am now the proud owner of two of his books, 'Open Secrets: A Memoir of Faith and Discovery'[I've had this book for years] and newly purchased, 'The End of Words.' Yesterdays conference began with a worship service in which Dr. Lischer eloquently spoke about 'All Saints Day' Celebration.
It is remarkable how most Christians will probably celebrate Halloween as we give gifts and candy to little 'monsters,' and fail to celebrate on the first Sunday of November those who have gone on before us. THose who are now in that 'great clo
ud of witnesses' [Heb.12:1] that the writer of Hebrews talks about; not that they are watching and cheering us on, but that they are in the presence of God, there because of their faithfulness to his leadership in their lives. Some of these saints are well known, others have never been acknowledged by the common church, or perhaps by any church. As I thought about All Saints Day the first person to come to my mind was my father, a spiritual giant by my estimate ... then I began to think of others who in their journey on this earth touched and influenced me to love the Lord.
In the following morning session Dr. Lischer spoke about 'giving a word of hope' in these financially depressing times. Among the numerous notes that I took, I believe this statement was the headline, 'people don't expect the pastor to solve their problem but they do want to know you understand the times, and a word of hope, from beyond the ruins of this world, is brought to them!' He also spoke a little about C.S.Lewis's faith struggle after his wife, Helen Joy, died.
Then in the afternoon session Dr. Lischer spoke about the 'Four Horses of the Apocalyspe' ..
Suffering, Death, Doubt and Grief, and how they all ride together. He reminded us that 'suffering is often beyond the scope of pain and often in this world 'suffering is beyond reason,'
and not all suffering ends with such success as Job's. How often our view of the whole universe is shrunk to the size of my suffering. But among the afternoon lecture the thought that most grabbed my attention was 'people are desiring that the pastor gives words that 'only connect' ....... that connect them to the author. All in all, it was a good day, and a journey over and back was wonderful, as I went with our new lady Episcopalian Priest, Jeff the driver who is senior pastor at Presbyterian First, and one of his lay-preachers, our fellow Hope Methodist pastor, and ever-humble brother of our county's largest Independent Church ... what a mixture, what a blessing!
It is remarkable how most Christians will probably celebrate Halloween as we give gifts and candy to little 'monsters,' and fail to celebrate on the first Sunday of November those who have gone on before us. THose who are now in that 'great clo
ud of witnesses' [Heb.12:1] that the writer of Hebrews talks about; not that they are watching and cheering us on, but that they are in the presence of God, there because of their faithfulness to his leadership in their lives. Some of these saints are well known, others have never been acknowledged by the common church, or perhaps by any church. As I thought about All Saints Day the first person to come to my mind was my father, a spiritual giant by my estimate ... then I began to think of others who in their journey on this earth touched and influenced me to love the Lord.In the following morning session Dr. Lischer spoke about 'giving a word of hope' in these financially depressing times. Among the numerous notes that I took, I believe this statement was the headline, 'people don't expect the pastor to solve their problem but they do want to know you understand the times, and a word of hope, from beyond the ruins of this world, is brought to them!' He also spoke a little about C.S.Lewis's faith struggle after his wife, Helen Joy, died.
Then in the afternoon session Dr. Lischer spoke about the 'Four Horses of the Apocalyspe' ..
Suffering, Death, Doubt and Grief, and how they all ride together. He reminded us that 'suffering is often beyond the scope of pain and often in this world 'suffering is beyond reason,'
and not all suffering ends with such success as Job's. How often our view of the whole universe is shrunk to the size of my suffering. But among the afternoon lecture the thought that most grabbed my attention was 'people are desiring that the pastor gives words that 'only connect' ....... that connect them to the author. All in all, it was a good day, and a journey over and back was wonderful, as I went with our new lady Episcopalian Priest, Jeff the driver who is senior pastor at Presbyterian First, and one of his lay-preachers, our fellow Hope Methodist pastor, and ever-humble brother of our county's largest Independent Church ... what a mixture, what a blessing!
Well, I've never been much on Halloween, preferring to remember Reformation Day, instead, which is the focus at our kids' schools. Of course, that means that all the boys are dressed as either former Augustinian monks or the papists. At my daughter's Lutheran High School, it can get ugly what with the reenactments of Luther opening the convents when he decided that was OK for the clergy to marry.
ReplyDelete:)
Cheers.