January 27, 2012

Listening Report: Kathleen Edwards

Thanks to Mike Bell and our friends north of the border for sharing another great Canadian singer-songwriter with us. I’ve been enjoying Kathleen Edwards’ new album, Voyageur, lately, and thought you might like to hear some of her poignant, introspective music too.

Here is the first cut from the album, “Empty Threat,” recorded at a live CBC radio performance. You can read a good review of Voyageur at Slant, where Jonathan Keefe says of the album’s moody thematic textures, it “may not be the most uplifting album, but it’s acutely self-aware and revealing.”

I don’t know. I usually find such self-awareness refreshing.

Enjoy.

Thoughts on Church Discipline and Relational Wisdom

I haven’t been able to get this “church discipline” discussion off my mind.

First of all, thank you to all of you who have made this a vibrant and thoughtful conversation. As I said in my original post, I am agreement with most of you that the disciplinary process as described was inappropriate at best.

As for Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church, I guarantee that stories like this are not going to win them a lot of fans. Articles like this thoughtful one, written by frequent iMonk commenter Wenatchee the Hatchet (who left MHC a few years ago), suggest that practices of church discipline and accountability at MHC have long been of concern to observers. The web has been buzzing about Matthew Paul Turner’s articles, and more blogs have sprung up in their wake for those who feel they’ve been abused in authoritarian church settings.

Second, the more I’ve thought about this matter, however, the more I’m thinking that the shame of this story is that the “church discipline” aspect of this whole matter was unnecessary. That makes the rest of the story even sadder.

Why do I say “unnecessary”? Because this story provides a clear case study of the lack of relational wisdom that plagues many church communities. And that’s what I’d like us to consider today.

For purposes of discussion, once more, we will accept the story at face value. As I understand it, here is what happened.

  • One night, Andrew acted inappropriately with a woman other than his fiancee. (They did not have sexual intercourse.)
  • The next day, he felt guilty about what he had done and determined to tell his fiancee.
  • That night they went to their community group together.
  • After community group, they walked to his car and they had a hard conversation, during which Andrew confessed what had happened.
  • His fiancee understandably became upset and went back into the house.

Before the church ever got involved, Andrew set himself up for problems. What happened next led even further in the wrong direction, until the whole situation blew up in his face.

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This is the last of a three-part series Martha began this morning looking at the relationship between justice and charity and mercy, and how our actions in these ways affect our salvation. So far she has been challenging and … [Continue reading...]

Quotes From The Fathers On Mercy That Might Enlighten—Or Offend—You

This is part two of a three part essay from Martha of Ireland exploring how love, justice and mercy all tie in to our salvation. Let’s take a look at what some Church Fathers had to say on the topic, and if we remember that … [Continue reading...]

How To Earn Your Salvation in 14 E-Z Steps!

We are going to do something we don't normally do here today. We're going to feature a three-part essay. Martha of Ireland has written another brilliant piece, but it needs to be chewed slowly. Part two will run around noon … [Continue reading...]

MPT Posts on Church Discipline — and I Suggest a Better Way

NOTE: This post is not about a certain well-known pastor, even though it involves the church he leads. In the discussion that follows, I am not interested in having us talk about this pastor personally. So don't. Please keep the … [Continue reading...]

Misreading the Bible’s “Scientific Accuracy”

While we are on the subject of the Bible today, let's look at a point of view quite contrary to that of John Polkinghorne, the renowned physicist whose book we are working through (see this morning's post). Christian Post reports … [Continue reading...]

“A Developing Understanding of the Divine Will and Nature”?

The Bible, through a Scientist’s Eyes, part two Testing Scripture: A Scientist Explores the Bible by John Polkinghorne • • • "Development," chapter two of John Polkinghorne's small book on the Bible, is likely to be … [Continue reading...]

Open Mic: Evangelical Voters and Gingrich in S.C.

In our ongoing conversation about our faith and its relation to the 2012 election year events, I thought today we'd give the community a chance to discuss Newt Gingrich's win in Saturday's South Carolina Republican primary. Exit … [Continue reading...]

God’s Marvelous, Massive, Messy House

God's Marvelous, Massive, Messy House Part 1: A Thousand-Year Foundation Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity has an intriguing subtitle: "The First Three Thousand Years." Of course, Christianity per se has only been in … [Continue reading...]