Book Review: The Language of God

 Information about the book

Collins, Francis S.  The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.  Simon and Schuster, Inc. New York. 2006.  Amazon

Summary

Dr. Francis Collins was the head of the Human Genome Project, and is a world-leading scientist.  He is also a person of faith.  From the back cover of the book: "Dr. Collins believes that faith in God and faith in science can coexist within a person and be harmonious.  In The Language of God he makes his case for God and for science."

Impressions

As a person who worked for 20 years in medical research and who has a Masters degree in biology, and as a person who now works in a religiously affiliated nonprofit, the subject of this book was very interesting to me.  In addition, I have registered for the BeADisciple.com course called Religion and Science: Pathways to Truth.  This book is written by the host of the course, so I thought it would be an excellent companion book to read.

I found the book to be engaging - it was easy to want to continue reading. Dr. Collins discusses his own faith journey, questions regarding human existence, and then writes about atheism, agnosticism, creationism, intelligent design, and biologos in a way that helps the reader to evaluate each in light of their scientific truth and their spiritual truth. His thesis is that one can see science as an expression of God's creativity, and can therefore accept the truth of science and be a person of faith.

I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it.

Posts about book

Collins Language

Lord of the Dance

 

I was watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.  There is a scene in the movie where Harry and Hermione are alone in the tent.  They are sad and afraid, and I think to make them forget their worries for a few minutes, Harry leads Hermione into a spontaneous dance. It’s a sweet scene between friends as they step (dance) away from what haunts them for just a few moments. As I watch it, I always wonder how they know how to dance together. Harry twirls Hermione, and she know which way to spin.

I wonder that because I’ve had an experience a little like that on an Emmaus walk. There is a time after dinner when everyone celebrates all that has happened so far. Sometimes, on some walks, team members will dance with pilgrims or other team members.  I was a team member, and one of the servers put out his hand to dance. I accepted, but I was terrible - I don’t know how to follow, and I certainly didn’t know how to twirl - in which direction - like Hermione did. 

And yet I follow the Lord of the Dance. How do I do that when I don’t even know how to follow? Maybe that is one of the ways I AM to follow. The Lord of the Dance knows how to lead and how to help me to know how to follow. Even when I twirl the wrong way or step on my own feet. He IS the Lord of the Dance. 

Perspectives: Titanic Hull

 This is a piece of the hull of the Titanic. We saw it at the Titanic display at the Luxor in Las Vegas.  Those who brought it to the surface know what part of the ship it was and whose cabins the windows looked into.  I just think it is fascinating. 

The colors are lights - not the colors of the hull - probably obviously.

A Prayer for my call

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me.

A couple of years ago, I was asked to write a Call Story for my CLM interview with the DCOM. I posted it in 2023.

At Jurisdictional Conference this month, someone quoted the song that I quote above. It's called Spirit Lead me by Hillsong United.

This quote is the prayer of my call story. It really resonates with me, and it succinctly describes my experience of call. 

 

Course Review: Leading Like Nehemiah

 Information about the Course

This is an advanced Lay Ministry course offered by BeADisiciple.com called Leading Like Nehemiah.  This is a course offered as part of the Wesley Academy for Advanced Christian Studies, created in partnership with Wesley Theological Seminary and BeADisciple.  The course instructor is Darla Theiler, and it includes videos with Rev. Dr. Lovett Weems.  The course is six weeks long. Each week involves a small amount of Bible Study, viewing a 5 minute video of Rev. Dr. Weems speaking about the current topic for that week, answering three out of five questions each week (and posting the answers) and participation in online discussions.

The course can be part of a certification called Certificate in Advanced Christian Study.  The certificate involves completion of six courses such as this one.  The course can also be taken as a stand alone option.

Summary

From the website: (This course) looks for wisdom in the story of an often-overlooked Bible character: Nehemiah, and his testament to the holy calling of leadership. The story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem is well known. Lesser known are the lessons Nehemiah provides to the faithful leader today, lessons like: the role of prayer, discernment of vision, development of a team, and perseverance through the inevitable challenges today’s church leader faces. Join us in this six-week course to explore these virtues of faithful leadership. 

Impressions

This course was less involved than other courses I've taken through this program, but the topic was interesting. In order to prepare prior to the start of the course, I read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah - this was not a requirement of the course. Each week requires a small reading from the book of Nehemiah, a little journaling of your thoughts (that are not submitted), and viewing the video of the week (much shorter than other class videos). Each week has five questions for review. I answered all five, but only posted three answers (per the class instructions). Each week, students are required to respond to other people's posts - at least two significant responses each week. This wasn't hard to accomplish.

A few things I noticed that were different than other courses through this program:

• The lessons were not posted ahead of time. I wish they had been, because sometimes it is necessary for me to work ahead in order to negotiate my schedule. That was not possible with this set up - class material was posted on the Sunday of each week.
• The teacher, unlike other classes, rarely posted responses to students' posts. I missed this because previously the leaders' posts had always kindled conversation. The instructor did create and post (for four of the weeks) a long, involved summary of responses, which must have been time intensive for her to complete. Those were nice, but I missed the interaction.
• Because of the lack of involved reading assignments, I feel like I didn't learn as much as I usually do in these classes. Usually, a class will have a recommended text (but not required) text. This one did not. After the class was over, I did purchase and read a Nehemiah commentary, but it was terrible (review here).

The class was good. The topic was good as were the points that were made. I feel as if I learned much about the book of Nehemiah through the study of it. I would recommend the course, although I am not as enthusiastic about it as other courses I have taken.

Posts about the Class

Posts about the class will have the tag Nehemiah Leadership

Perspective: Anticipation

 Anticipation

The Place Where you Belong

 As I mentioned in a previous post, at Annual Conference this year, Michael Beck, who is the Director of Fresh Expressions for the United Methodist Church was the guest speaker for our educational time.  

Among the information he shared, was a focus on compassion. He reported that we are living in an epidemic of isolation and loneliness.  We as the church have the gift to offer: a communal life in Christ. People are longing for that gift. And yet, 1 in 3 people have experienced religious trauma. He theorizes that we are having a crisis of compassion in the church. We don't offer wholeness or belonging.

Soon after Michael Beck's presentation, we heard the song "Well Done" by the Afters.  Here is the chorus:

Well done, well done

My good and faithful one

Welcome to the place where you belong

Well done, well done

My beloved child

You have run the race and now you're home

Welcome to the place where you belong.

In my mind this came together: in our churches, we should be offering compassion and hospitality to such a radical degree that it is like heaven - Welcome to the place where you belong.

Complicated

Last night, while scrolling through Facebook, I encountered a video of a model of the human knee, with all of its bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments moving as the knee bent and straightened. I showed it to Steve, who thought, as I did, that it was amazing.  I said, "We are fearfully and wonderfully made."  Have you ever seen the workings of a knee? I was astounded at how complicated it is.

Today I'm reading the introduction to the book The Language of God by Francis S. Collins.  Dr. Francis Collins was the head of the Human Genome Project.  In the introduction to this book, he wrote, "A live reading of [the DNA code of our species] at a rate of three letters per second would take thirty-one years....Printing these letters out in regular font on a normal bond paper and binding them all together would result in a tower the height of the Washington Monument."

We are fearfully and wonderfully made. In the intricacies and beauty of our being is a system that is so complicated that we only understand it a somewhat - and that is after centuries of study. We are complicated.

We are complicated, and we take that for granted. We are rarely astounded by it. We think things are simple and easy to explain, while our very essence is complexity.

Whatever it is, whatever you are trying to explain or understand, if you think it is simple, you haven't explored it enough or thought about it with the fullest amount of attention. Perhaps you are biased or misinformed. We are complicated. Life is complicated.

Glory be to God.

Perspectives: Taking a frog for a ride

 

Discouraged?

 Have you ever felt discouragement when involved in a lengthy or daunting task? What was most challenging? What kept you going?

 I remember sitting in a meeting of a few conference leaders, listening to a presentation about the new “initiatives and programs” to increase church vitality. It felt like I was listening to the same presentation from past meetings, and that we were pretending that this was all new and curative. I think church revitalization is a lengthy and daunting task, and I am often discouraged, even in my own local church.

What makes it the most challenging is that we often only see the lack of progress. There might sometimes be experiences of the Spirit and “successes,” but most often we see empty pews and the lack of children among us.

What keeps me going is when I am involved in new parts of the vision or with people who are excited for the work. Examples would be the members of  the Conference CLM class that I teach, who are so passionate about following their call, or the sweet spirit of an Annual Conference when that spirit hasn’t always been their lately, or when someone who has felt excluded and separated from the church finds a home in our church.

Book Review: Be Determined

 Information about the book

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Determined (Nehemiah): Standing Firm in the Face of Opposition. David C. Cook. Colorado Springs, Colorado. 2009.

Summary

From Amazon: Warren Wiersbe unwraps the book of Nehemiah in his study Be Determined to show a servant so selfless, a mission so humbling, and a perseverance so admirable that Christians are drawn to a new awe of God.  As the leader God calls to mobilize and equip His people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was a man who didn't know the word no when it came to God's economy.

The book is a chapter by chapter look at the book of Nehemiah.

Impressions

I chose to read this book because I am finishing up a Leadership class based on the book of Nehemiah - in fact, each week I’ve been posting a question from the class with my answer.  I thought reading a study of the book as I complete the class would be a good refresher as well as a continuation of my habit of reading a book along with these classes - as an extra.

As of now, I’ve read a little more than 60% of the book.  I’ll come back to this when I have finished, but I didn’t want to lose my thoughts before I had a chance to record them.This book is one in a series of studies - Be Series Commentary.  This one is Be Determined. One of the reasons I chose this book is that the series was recommended to me and to the CLM class. I thought I would give it a sample.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be reading any of the others. Don’t get me wrong - there are some gems in this book, but most of the time, I am frustrated by it.  Here are some of the reasons:

• Before I started the class, I read through Nehemiah, and in the class, I’ve been rereading parts of it. No where in the book do I remember seeing a reference to Satan, and yet parts of this book, rather than focusing on Nehemiah or his work, are focused on how the book relates to battling Satan. Not all of it, but parts of it.
• The author uses verses pulled from scripture to support his points - with no connection to their context at all. This can be a dangerous habit, and sometimes it feels as if he is using scriptural references to make his points.
• He never refers to leaders as women (so far).  Leaders are men.
• He relates much of the book to being Christian. Nehemiah isn’t about being Christian, and it seems like a stretch.  In fact much of his application of Nehemiah seems like a stretch.
• He uses Meme worthy points. By this I mean that he makes statements that would seem to be true, because they sound true, and he is so convinced of them, but with some thought, one can see that the statement may be true in some circumstances, but not all.  This author writes in black and white.

My list seems harsh, I know, but it is what is frustrating me about this book. As I said, it does have some wisdom, but for me, it is hard to find it among that which is frustrating. I’m sure this would be good for someone else, and I will finish the book, but probably not read another one.  I think the author missed a truly wonderful opportunity to dig into the Hebrew story of Nehemiah, and to tell us about the scripture we are reading.

Posts about book

Wiersbe Nehemiah

Perspectives: Knitting Mural

 Mural on the wall of a Knitting / Yarn store.

Coming Together

Many different workers employed various skills in repairing different portions of the wall. As you work with groups, have you seen people with different gifts and abilities come together? Why is this important to successful group efforts? How can we recognize and engage the gifts of others? 

Yes, I have seen that in different groups, people with different gifts and abilities come together to accomplish the task. I’ve seen this in our staff – each person having different gifts and roles and working collaboratively to not only do their work but to help others as necessary. This type of collaboration is important because no one has all of the gifts and time to do the work. We not only need each other, but we need what each of us can bring to the work. It’s an illustration of the body of Christ. In order to recognize and engage the gifts of others, it is important to let people do their part – to recruit people and to delegate the work. Give them leeway to do the work the way they see best, and trust them to do it. Watch what they do with the eye to recognize their gifts. Encourage people in their work, praising the good work they do, even as sometimes it is necessary to provide constructive criticism.

Resources

One thing I have noticed about writing for this blog - and this November I’ll have been doing it for 19 years - the content inspiration from the posts comes from what I am doing at the time.  If I’m reading a devotional book (or any kind of book), if I’m taking a class, if I’m preaching or teaching - then these things fuel the posts.  If I’m not doing those things, it becomes difficult to produce any kind of writing.  That’s not surprising, right?  It makes sense.

Our most recent CLM class was about preaching, and the students spent several weeks learning about different ways to prepare a sermon to preach.  When I was first preparing the curriculum for this class, I read a book called Preaching Grace: Possibilities for Growing your Preaching and Changing People’s Lives by Kennon L. Callahan.  The author works through eight possibilities for ways preachers can grow their preaching and offer sermons that are more helpful.  I reviewed the book here.

One of the possibilities the author describes is resources.  When I think of resources as related to preaching, I think of commentaries and study bibles.  That’s not what Callahan means.  Resources are those activities you do - your involvement in the community.  He suggests finding a group that relates to your hobby, or going out and doing service work in the community.  Find something you enjoy that helps you build relationships with people. This will be a resource for your preaching.