Between the Trees

Going to be out of town for the next week in Walthill, Nebraska on a reservation with the Umohon nation, about 30 minutes southwest of Sioux City. If you think of it, keep our team in your prayers. We’ll mostly just be trying to evaluate how our church can get involved in assisting the Umohon in whatever ways possible, so primarily pray that God would give us eyes to see needs and the imagination to dream of ways to address those needs.

But before we take off, here’s a few links to keep you busy:

First, if you’re a regular blog reader, you should read this article by Abraham Piper explaining what RSS is and how you can use it to streamline your blog reading. I made the switch to Google Reader earlier this week and I love it. And while you’re there, read his wife Molly’s series on how to help a grieving friend. Abraham and Molly lost a daughter earlier this year when Felicity Margaret Piper was still-born. Abraham has a really moving poem about the six month anniversary of her death.

Darryl Dash has a thoughtful two-part series on pastoral envy that is good reading for anyone, but especially people considering pastoral ministry.

It wouldn’t be a blog-spotting post if I didn’t link to Abraham Piper’s blog at some point. Here’s an excellent question to ponder as well as a sharp commentary on Christianese.

Keith Ghormley, an elder at Zion Church here in Lincoln, got a gorgeous picture of a marvelous storm we had the other night. Enjoy.

Mike Morrell has a dialogue with John Crowder, a leading young charismatic, about charismatic Christians and mysticism. I’ve not read a whole lot about the movement yet, but I appreciate Crowder’s explanations and Morrell’s thoughtful questions.

Bob Hyatt, a pastor in Portland, talked about the frustrating feelings of inadequacy he has to deal with when counseling a couple.

Michael Spencer is always a good guy to link to, and his post discussing a well-known Catholic apologist is well-worth the time to read.

Finally, Scot McKnight posted a letter he received from a reader of his blog. It was a strong reminder to me of the true weight of evil in the world and the necessity that we have a biblically-grounded compassion in our dealings with all people and all issues.

Last thing, a quote for the road from Robert Capon:

“The church, in short, has a role to play only here and now; so if it wants a role model for its operations, it should imitate the kingdom’s present, nonjudgmental way of doing business, not its final one. It definitely should not attempt, in this world, to do the kind of sorting out that the kingdom so plainly refuses to do until the next. But alas, beginning right in apostolic time – indeed, beginning even in Scripture itself – excommunication has been one of the church’s favorite indoor sports. Second in popularity only to jumping to conclusions about who should be given the heave-ho first, the practice of tossing out rotten types while the net is still in the water has been almost everybody’s idea of a terrific way to further the kingdom. Everybody’s, that is, except Jesus’ — the one who put the church in the business of being fishers of men to begin with. The net result, to use an apt phrase for such ineptness, has been an operation that looks as if it is being run more by his competitors than by his partners.”

Yes, I know it’s a provocative closer, but I kinda like that. See y’all in a week!