Centrality and Necessity of Prayer

"Prayer was so essential to Edwards's Christianity that the idea of a Christian who did not pray was preposterous. . . . It seemed contrary to Edwards's understanding of Scripture that anyone could be indwelled by the Spirit who causes God's children to "cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" (Rom. 8:15; cf. Gal. 4:6) and yet not cry out to the Father in regular prayer" (Donald S. Whitney, "Pursuing A Passion for God Through Spiritual Disciplines: Learning from Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 115).

Soak Yourself With Scripture

"Reading is exposure to Scripture--and that's the starting place--but meditation is the absorption of Scripture" (Donald S. Whitney, "Pursuing A Passion for God Through Spiritual Disciplines: Learning from Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 114).

Bible Meditation

"While there is no one ideal method of meditating on the Bible, essentially it involves thinking in a prolonged and focused way about something found in the text while hearing, reading, studying, and memorizing it" (Donald S. Whitney, "Pursuing A Passion for God Through Spiritual Disciplines: Learning from Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 113).

Speeches with Unity

"A speech does not have to be simplistic to be well unified. Simple, dialectical, and problem-solving logic can serve as helpful approaches depending on the situation" (Quentin Schultze, An Essential Guide to Public Speaking, 62).

Catastrophe of Fools

"The images of snow in summer and rain in harvest [in Proverbs 26:1-3] illustrate that honoring a fool occurs in a world out of joint and that to do so is catastrophic. As snow in harvest destroys crops and brings death, an individual or society that honors a fool destroys a life or a culture full of promise" (Bruce Waltke, "Old Testament Interpretation Issues for Big Idea Preaching: Problematic Sources, Poetics, and Preaching the Old Testament - An Exposition of Proverbs 26:1-12," in The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching, eds. Keith Willhite and Scott M. Gibson, 45).

How "Advent" Fits Into the Church Calendar Puzzle

"Perhaps the most important single characteristic of the annual calendar presupposed by the ecumenical lectionary is its Christological center. The annual sequence of seasons is actually a pairing of two Christ-celebrations: (1) Christmas and (2) Easter, (1) Incarnation and (2) Redemption. The Christmas celebration is prepared for in Advent and reflected in Epiphany. The Easter celebration is prepared for in Lent and reflected in the fifty days following, which climax in Pentecost. In this sense the Christian Year may be described as the annual rehearsal of the history of our salvation accomplished in the birth, death, resurrection, and return of Jesus Christ" (Horace T. Allen Jr., A Handbook for the Lectionary, 25).

Advent

Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marveled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him (Luke 1:57 – 66).

In Luke 1 we are told that there was a certain priest named Zacharias, who was married to a barren woman named Elisabeth, and, that according to the custom of the priests, Zacharias' lot was drawn for a turn to burn incense in the temple of the Lord. And so during the instituted time, the people gathered outside and gave themselves to prayer while Zacharias stood before the altar and offered incense to the Lord.

At this time, however, an angel of the Lord came to Zacharias and conveyed a message: the angel revealed that his prayer had been heard, that his wife was going to get pregnant and deliver a son, and that they were to name the son “John” (1:13). But most importantly the angel told them that the Lord would use their son to turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and that he would also make ready and prepare the people for the LORD (1:17).

Zacharias was in shock and disbelief. The angel then told him that due to his initial disbelief that he would become and remain speechless until the child was born. So, going forward, for Zacharias, even his temporary state of speechlessness would have served as a witness to the angelic message; his word-barren mouth would have confirmed and corroborated the angel’s message.

The Gospel passage above narrates the birth of John. Elisabeth’s womb was barren, initially. But her womb was eventually filled with a miracle-child. Contrast the filled womb with Zacharias’ mouth: the latter became word-barren, but Elisabeth’s womb became the opposite--it was filled, dignified with fruitfulness. Nine mnths passed and the child was born. On the eighth day after the child was born Zacharias’ temporarily-barren mouth became, again, fruitful—we are told his tongue loosed, that he spake, and praised God!

Prior to this doxology, however, we are told that the relatives wanted to name the miracle-child “Zacharias” after his father’s name: apparently this was a family name according to family convention or practice. But obviously Elisabeth had received the angelic revelation from Zacharias. He had been speechless, but prior to the birth of their son he must have communicated to his wife that she was going to get pregnant and that the angel said they needed to name the child John. Thus, when the family attempts to mis-name the miracle-child, Elisabeth speaks up. She rocks the family-boat, she challenges the familial-status-quo, but not for the sake of being a rebel; neither for the sake of being antagonistic or contentious; nor for the sake of whim—what we call doing something for kicks and giggles. Elisabeth spoke up and said, Not so, but he shall be called John. And she did so out of covenantal obedience to the God. The same God who sent the angelic messenger, who filled her barren-womb with a son, and gave them a name for their miracle-child. The child’s name was to be John, meaning “Jehovah is a gracious giver” or “Jehovah has graced.”

As we think about the miracle and graciousness of God displayed through the events surrounding the birth of John the Baptist, it would do us well to acknowledge that on the one hand, family traditions, family conventions, and family practices, what we might call “House Rules", like naming a child after one's father, are good and right. However, we must never let them our family practices interfere with God’s word of revelation or graciousness. This is the first week of Advent and we are preparing to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As is often times the case during holidays, families begin and/or continue with the observation of family traditions. Our family traditions, however, must not stand in the way or veil God's graciousness. So, we need to ensure that our families, due to familial allegiance and family observations, do not run roughshod over Advent. When our family’s “Christmas traditions” become more important that genuinely preparing to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus, then that is like when the tail wags the dog. It should not be so.

Our families should not be large stones in the river of Christmas, where the Christmas-waters break, crash, and run around us. Rather, we should be like artisan carpentry: where all the joints and corners are dovetailed. Our families should live in the Kingdom of God and we should celebrate Christmas within God’s Kingdom, with Kingdom priorities. We, and our family practices, ought to be dovetailed, integrated into the Kingdom.

May God give us grace that our each and every one of our family’s Christmas-traditions may never be at odds with Jehovah’s Christmastide Graces.

The Means That Result in True Godliness

"The purpose for practicing the spiritual disciplines is not to see how many chapters of the Bible we can read or how long we can pray, nor is it found in anything else that can be counted or measured. We're not necessarily more godly because we engage in these biblical practices. Instead, these biblical practices should be the means that result in true godliness--that is, intimacy with and conformity with Christ" (Donald S. Whitney, "Pursuing a Passion for God Through Spiritual Disciplines," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 111).

The Joy of Enjoying God in Christ

"Do we understand religion as Edwards did? Specifically, do we understand Christian experience as the joy of enjoying God in Christ, framed by the struggles of a life of repentance, self-denial, and suffering in its various forms?" (J.I. Packer, "The Glory of God and the Reviving of Religion: A Study in the Mind of Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 107).

Final Era, Begun

"What is nowadays called postmillennialism seemed to him [Jonathan Edwards] clear in Scripture -- Old Testament prophecy, including Daniel, and the book of Revelation, interpreted in historicist terms, being the main sources. He though the final era of history, when knowledge of God would fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, had begun" (J.I. Packer, "The Glory of God and the Reviving of Religion: A Study in the Mind of Jonathan Edwards," in A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, eds. John Piper and Justin Taylor, 105).

Against Wild Blurting

"Your freedom as a writer is not freedom of expression in the sense of wild blurting; you may not let rip. It is life at its most free, if you are fortunate enough to be able to try it, because you select your materials, invent your task, and pace yourself. In the democracies, you may even write and publish anything you please about any governments or institutions, even if what you write is demonstrably false" (Annie Dillard, The Writing Life, 11).

Humanities vs. Fear

"There are, of course, perfectly reasonable arguments (supported by evidence) for the practical advantages of the humanities. Medical schools recognizes the value of humane learning, so studying the literature that you really love can give you a boost in the admissions pool. Employers know that a degree in classics is evidence of intelligence, discipline, analytic ability, and linguistic precision as well as of the ability to think your way into another culture. Liberal-arts majors tend to out-earn business majors over the long run. But these truths make little impression. Parents and students are not looking for rational arguments. They are looking for something to latch onto now to quiet their fears" (Mark Shiffman, "Majoring in Fear" in First Things (November, 2014).

Imaged Witness

"As Creator, God has guaranteed that he will never be without witness to the creatures who have been made in his image. He has ensured that all of his human creatures will, and will always, know him" (K. Scott Oliphint, Covenantal Apologetics, 101).

Military Load Balancing or the Lack Thereof

"It was not rumor but fact that federal troops were stationed in the South on Reconstruction duty while Custer was fighting in the West. How people interpreted that usually depended on their politics"  (James E. Mueller, Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn, 76).

War News Coverage and the Lack Thereof

"Unlike the Civil War, which had been covered by hundreds of correspondents from papers around the country, the Indian wars were covered haphazardly by a small group sent from newspapers that were willing and able to hire reporters to cover the fighting. Only two major newspapers, the Chicago Times and the New York Herald, regularly covered the Indian campaigns between 1867 and 1881. The majority of newspapers were content to rely on wire reports or "exchanges" of stories with the newspapers that had correspondents at the front. Many newspapers also used freelancers and sometimes army officers. Custer himself actually contributed stories to the New York Herald" (James E. Mueller, Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn, 32).

Great Story

"The Little Bighorn was a great story for two main reasons: the magnitude of the defeat and the death of Custer. Furthermore, the circumstances of the battle and Custer's career were controversial, a main characteristic of any good story. . . . Like many of those with outsize personalities, Custer attracted devoted friends but equally bitter enemies in his lifetime, and the fantastic nature of his death has carried the same debate forward among historians and Custer buffs who are sometimes called Custerphiles or Custerphobes, depending on their perspective. Both camps find his life endlessly fascinating, and with good reason, for it includes the highs and lows of a real American character" (James E. Mueller, Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn, 11).

Life and Doctrine

"Too few Christians today have an adequate grasp of biblical doctrine. This is due to a widespread disinterest in doctrinal preaching and deep reading. . . . This problem, though intensified in our day, is not new. Eighty years ago J. Gresham Machen lamented: 'The growth of ignorance in the Church is the logical and inevitable result of false notion that Christianity is a life and not also a doctrine; if Christianity is not a doctrine then of course teaching is not necessary to Christianity'" (Kenneth L. Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion, 40).

Theological Awareness

"Christians should be aware of contemporary theological issues, particular theological formulations impacting evangelicalism" (Kenneth L. Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion, 40).

The (Needed) Spirit of Contemporary Christian Thought

I'm partial to Robert Louis Wilken's introductory observation in The Spirit of Early Christian Thought.

I am convinced that the study of early Christian thought has been too preoccupied with ideas. The intellectual effort of the early church was at the service of a much loftier goal than giving conceptual form to Christian belief. Its mission was to win the hearts and minds of men and women and to change their lives. Christian thinkers appealed to a much deeper level of human experience than had the religious institutions of society or the doctrines of the philosophers. In this endeavor the Bible was a central factor (xiv).

Wilken goes on to note that the early church "gave men and women a new love, Jesus Christ, a person who inspired their actions and held their affections" (xv).

In light of this, I believe it is safe to say that contemporary Pentecostals are doing a better job than the historic mainline churches of appealing to the "much deeper level of human experience." Thus, in the wake of Pentecostalism we see personal change and congregational growth. But IMHO the Pentecostal-endeavor has failed to make the Bible a central factor.

Another of Wilken's introductory observations is key: "What has impressed me the most is the omnipresence of the Bible in early Christian writings" (xvii). If the contemporary church can both (a) bear witness to her experience that the love of Jesus Christ has changed her and (b) make the Bible a central factor to that lifestyle of witness, then I believe we'll see church growth and cultural transformation on par with the Early Church. 

Custer As "Good Copy"

"Uniquely charismatic men like Custer, who always seem to be in the right place at the right time, are indeed rare, which is why he was always good copy, as journalists are wont to say. If it is true that he led himself and his men to their deaths at the Little Bighorn in a mad dash for glory, then he was only doing what the press and its voracious readers expected him to do" (James E. Mueller, Shooting Arrows and Slinging Mud: Custer, the Press, and the Little Bighorn, 6).