Signers Of The Declaration Of Independence – Real Men

There’s an email going around entitled “The Price They Paid”, ostensibly about the fate of the signers of the Declaration of Independence – the story purports to recount the incredible losses and hardships each signer endured. According to the story, every signer was essentially a martyr.

Well, I have an interest in this since I’m a direct descendant of John Adams (my mother and her sister were Adams’s and have the genealogy going back to John). The Snopes article below provides the actual history of the signers, and it’s quite a mixed bag. No super heroes, no martyrs. (for more brief bios on the signers, go here).

As the Snopes article points out, even John Adams and Thomas Jefferson recognized “that the act of transforming the American Revolution into history placed a premium on selecting events and heroes that fit neatly into a dramatic formula, thereby distorting the more tangled and incoherent experience that participants actually making the history felt at the time.” We want our heroes, not our history! It was for that very reason that Adams and Jefferson, near the end of their lives, wrote numerous letters to each other setting straight the real history of the Revolution.

While watching the HBO special on John Adams, I was struck that little physical or emotional makeup was used – there were discolored splotches on Adams’ head, and he really was not very nice to his children; Jefferson came off as aloof and more than a bit arrogant and something of a priss; Franklin was an opportunist and womanizer. None of this is to deride or tear down these mean. All of it is to say that they were men, real men with real faults. They were not superheroes or martyrs.

It’s so hard to accept the doctrine of total depravity. We do so want our heroes, and we’ll make them up out of history if we have to. Because there’s something in us that wants to believe that our hero is right there in us, waiting to come forth in the right circumstances.

Christianity teaches that our hero is not in us, but comes from outside of us; that each and every one of us is a splotchy, selfish sinner including Jefferson, Adams, you and me. And that when goodness and glory occur in lives such as ours, it’s because of a God who works by putting “treasure in earthen vessels”, not because we’re heroes.

So this Independence Day, can we put aside our hero worship, and remember our absolute dependence on One (and only one) who sets us free?

I do commend the article below – may it bring you a greater appreciation of how a real God works in real history through real men.

Essay outlines the fates of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

The Price They Paid
snopes@snopes.com
Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Intellectual Spam

There’s a lot of BS going around out there in cyber-space: half-truths, outright lies, rumors and innuendo. To sort out the real from the bull, I heartily recommend the Snopes website. It’s devoted to smoking out urban legends. Below, for example, is a very recent email purporting to advise us about the ACLU’s attempt to remove cross-shaped headstones from Federal cemeteries. It’s NOT TRUE.

Life is full enough without wasting time and energy on intellectual spam.

Is the ACLU seeking to remove cross-shaped headstones removed from federal cemeteries?

Grave Concerns
snopes@snopes.com
Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:00:00 GMT

For Those Who Fear Their Faith Is Not Enough

In his book Why Johnny Can’t Preach, T. David Gordon recounts an incident in the life of renowned 19th century theologian Robert Lewis Dabney. In his old age, Dabney became blind and weak, very aware that his death was near. He wrote to a friend, Clement Vaughn, wondering whether he would have faith strong enough to face his impending death. Vaughn wrote back to Dabney and asked what a traveler would do if he came to a chasm over which a bridge was spanned:

“What does he do to breed confidence in the bridge? He looks at the bridge; he gets down and examines it. He don’t [sic] stand at the bridge-head and turn his thoughts curiously in on his own mind to see if he has confidence in the bridge. If his examination of the bridge gives him a certain amount of confidence, and yet he wants more, how does he make his faith grow? Why, in the same way; he still continues to examine the bridge. Now, my dear old man, let your faith take care of itself for awhile, and you just think of what you are allowed to trust in. Think of the Master’s power, think of his love; think how he is interested in the soul that searches for him, and will not be comforted until he finds him. Think of what he has done, his work. That blood of his is mightier than all the sins of all the sinners that ever lived. Don’t you think it will master yours?….May God give you grace, not to lay too much stress on your faith, but to grasp the great ground of confidence, Christ, and all his work and all his personal fitness to be a sinner’s refuge. Faith is only an eye to see him. I have been praying that God would quiet your pains as you advance, and enable you to see the gladness of the gospel at every step. Good bye. God be with you as he will. Think of the Bridge!”

It’s not a bad thing to examine our faith to keep us from deluding ourselves about our belief. But in this self-absorbed, individualistic age it’s so easy focus on our selves rather than on our God. When there’s doubt, when there’s fear or anxiety that my faith is not strong enough, good enough, genuine enough – it’s an extraordinary release to turn away from my self and “flee to Christ”, to focus on him, to recount his works and the richness of his person. And so I encourage you, when fear or doubt assails you – Think of the Bridge!

UCC General Synod Winds Up

If you go to the UCC website (www.ucc.org) you may be able to navigate around the cheerleading and verbiage (what are “Big Things”, as opposed to little things – like “Church Stuff”?) to find the GS resolutions and their disposition at this year’s General Synod. Or you can click here.

This was a calmer, gentler GS than in recent years – you can read FWC’s Bob Thompson’s comments about that here . The resolution that I think would have stirred most controversy – In Support Of Physician Assistance in Dying – was referred to Justice & Witness Ministries “with the recommendation that it be considered in the study process established by the Twenty-Sixth General Synod in the resolution, “Legalization of Physician Aid in Dying” (07-GS-37).

Calvin 500

 

Yes, next Friday, 10th July will mark the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth. Every time we talk of being in covenant, every time we refer to our destiny, every time we refer to God’s sovereignty, we can thank John Calvin for his work in reforming the church.

Happy birthday, John!

Calvin 500
Exiled Preacher (pastor.davies@blueyonder.co.uk)
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Cops: Woman takes kneeling woman’s cash in church (AP)

Actually, I’m just testing a new blog tool with this entry – but hey, the story makes you wonder if you can pray with just one eye closed…

AP – Nassau County police said a congregant at a Long Island church disregarded at least one of its commandments: Thou shalt not steal. Police said the 46-year-old woman reached over a pew and took cash from a purse while its owner knelt Sunday at Our Lady of Hope Roman Catholic Church in Westbury. Police said an usher saw the theft, and officers stopped the woman as she left the church.

Cops: Woman takes kneeling woman’s cash in church (AP)
Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:48:54 GMT

Or This…

Man! I can hardly wait to get this kid in my arms!!

Michael Jackson Free Zone

Part of me was working on making some comments about M.J.’s sudden death – but a larger and, I think, better part of me thought “why?”  An icon of “pop” culture has died. I’m struck by the term “Pop culture” – as in bubbles popping, as in a vacuous culture, as in “here-today-gone-tomorrow” culture.

I’m sure there are other more interesting blog comments out there about this event – but you won’t find them here. If there is any content here at all, then this is a Michael Jackson free zone.

The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of our Lord endures forever.

Why I Yell When Preaching

My preaching style has changed over the years, some of it being a reflection of preachers to whom I listen. I’ve always been an intense person, but in these last few years that intensity has taken the form of animation in my preaching – knocking on the pulpit, slapping the archway just to the right of the pulpit, lowering my voice to a whisper and yes, raising my voice to a shout.

I do not know how to say “I love you” dispassionately, or how to talk about the gospel without feeling. Though some may see it as overly dramatic, I experience it as demonstrative preaching.  The danger to this type of preaching, of course, is that of calling attention to the preacher rather than to the message. But the medium is at least a part of the message, so the idea of dispassionate preaching on the passion has a ring of hypocrisy to it, at least to my ears.

Tope Koleoso writes about why he shouts when he preaches. Here’s an excerpt that struck me as true:

Therefore, I shout, I laugh, I cry, and I dance. Therefore, I use my voice, my hands, my legs and my eyes. Therefore, I will do it with utter conviction and passion for if I will not do it from the heart, I will not do it at all. Therefore, I engage the crowd, the best I can for I will not be ignored seeing that I carry the greatest message the world has ever heard. Therefore, I will be even more undignified for I do it all to the glory of God. Therefore I will be careful and calm lest I become the message and distract from the cross and by so doing, sin against the Lord I love.

At one point in his life, Henry David Thoreau was thrown in jail for civil disobedience for the sake of his conscience.  He was visited by his friend Ralph W. Emerson who asked “Henry, what are you doing in there?” Thoreau replied “Waldo, the question is what are you doing out there?”

In the same way I’d ask those who question shouting in the pulpit – what are you doing preaching the passion dispassionately, as though the Good News was really mildly interesting news in an intellectual-only sort of way?

FWC and UCC General Synod

The UCC General Synod is going on this week in Grand Rapids (for more info on resolutions, happenings, etc. go here). Faithful and Welcoming’s Bob Thompson is also at Synod and presenting a workshop. He’s in search of finding the “essentials” in which we’re to have unity. You can check his blog here to follow his progress and comments.

Can You Be Safe, And Be A Christian?

I read and commend Touchstone magazine (see below for its self-description), and was struck this morning by an article by Anthony Esolen entitled The Unquiet Men. Its thesis is that you can’t play it safe and follow Jesus. That has lots of implications in this society which seems to me to be moving farther and farther onto the Safety Reservation, and losing more and more of its soul. Here are a couple of paragraphs that caught my attention:

“Imagine the churches themselves turning away from the net and its great haul of fish on the stormy Sea of Galilee. Imagine them turning to another net, a so-called safety net, stitched up big enough to catch everyone in it meshes, but letting the essence of charity slip through. Think of the committees, the bureaucratic language of modern prayer….Is it possible, I am wondering, that the paltry safety of modern life is itself to blame for our insensitivity to the holy? Or rather, whether our almost obsessive desire to insulate ourselves from risk (with even our debauches made “safe” by barriers or pills) also insulate us from the most dangerous of enemies, that is, the love of God? John Ford, I believe, looked upon the weakling world we have made for ourselves, and he spat. Someone else did that too, if I remember, in the Book of Revelation.”

Touchstone is a Christian journal, conservative in doctrine and eclectic in content, with editors and readers from each of the three great divisions of Christendom – Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox. It provides a place where Christians of various backgrounds can speak on the basis of shared belief in the fundamental doctrines of the faith as revealed in Holy Scripture and summarized in the ancient creeds of the Church.

You can see the magazine online here.

Two Of My Favorite People

For those who remember Miss Crabtree – here are two of my favorite people: Chubsy Ubsy and Drewsy Wewsy (man, did I really say that?)

Mo Andrew Pix

Tired of ‘em yet? Just a million more to come!

Opal and Red, New Best Friends

We’re dedicating our new 14- passenger handicap accessible bus this coming Sunday, June 21 between services. Just wanted you to know there’s no “sibling rivalry” on Red’s part!

Before And After – Part Deux

Our New Little Guy

For more pix and vids – and you KNOW you want to see them all – go here.

Unto Us A Child Is Born!

Andrew Samuel Crecelius, born at 4:54 pm June 16. 2009, all 9 pounds 4 ounces of big bouncy boy!

Before And After

I’m taking the liberty of putting up here a pic of my son Sam (Earl Samuel III no less!) and his lovely wife Jen. This is the before pic – as in before the birth of their very first baby! (Good to see a Cardinal fan, deep in the heart of Texas, huh?)

Sam and Jen Crecelius

WHO, Flu and Panic

In my email the other day came this notice from my denomination (UCC):

Friends,

There will no doubt be questions about what to do now that the H1N1 Flu has been declared a pandemic.  Please help by sharing this information within your Conference.  I have provided here a link to National Disaster Ministries resources with CDC facts that was posted previously: http://www.ucc.org/disaster/national-disaster-resources.html ; and, an update from the CDC as of this date: http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1FLU/.  Also, I have provided below information received from the NVOAD about what it means to declare a pandemic.  Thanks for your help.

My first thought was skeptical – here we go with another panic/crisis du jour. Actually the above-noted resource was fairly calm and balanced. But I keep seeing headlines like “U.S. Swine Flu Deaths Hit Double Digits” (msnbc.com 3/21/09) and “Swine Flu Kills 7 In New York City” (video from msnbc.com 3/21/09). Look at those articles a little more closely and you realize that MOST of these deaths were due to other causes that the flu complicated. I just can’t get away from the idea that the media is trying to scare people – again.

So it was a pleasure to read this article in the in the Washington Times titled “A Pandemic of Panic – Are We Dead Yet?” To give you the flavor, it begins:

We were all supposed to be in the graveyard by now, done in by AIDS, SARS, bird flu, poisoned peanut butter, Hong Kong flu, killer tomatoes, global warming and strangulation by kudzu. But here we are, proof that there really is life after death.

Don’t panic. Just read it. Could it just POSSIBLY be that God is in charge after all?

Grandpa Any Day Now

My son and daughter-in-law in Dallas are scheduled to have their first baby, and my first grandbaby, this coming Tuesday. Seems strange to have such events scheduled – back in my day they happened when they happened. But either for the doc’s convenience, or for the couple’s stress reduction, this baby’s birth should, God willing, happen on Tuesday.

The odd thing for me has been that I said early on that I didn’t want to know what sex the baby was. Everyone else in my family now know, but not me. In fact, everyone on staff at St. Paul’s (ok, nearly everyone) knows, but not me. I’m in the dark. And I like it that way! I have a surprise to look forward to next Tuesday that no one else in my family has! So it’s exciting stuff…

Check back next Tuesday and I’ll put up here the name, sex, etc. I’m kinda pulling for “Earlene”, but somehow I get the message that that ain’t gonna happen…