CS Lewis and World War I - Fascinating Context For Watching "All Quiet On The Western Front"

 I took time recently to watch the new release "All Quiet on the Western Front" that is streaming on Netflix.  It is a hard movie to watch in many regards.  You see the painful pointlessness of trench warfare in World War I, the differing experieces  and perspectives of the "glory of war" - all those things that make the original novel one of the great works of the 20th century.

A few days later, while reading and discussing CS Lewis with a friend, I realized there was a fascinating story that could be connected to the film.  Namely, that both CS Lewis (Mere Christianity, Chronicles of Narnia, God in the Dock, The Problem of Pain) and his friend JRR Tolkein (Lord of the Rings) had served in the British Army in the same setting.  Both men saw some of the most inhumane experiences that the 20th century could dream up.  One entered the war as a practicing Catholic, the other as a committed atheist.  A decade later, both were deeply committed Christians, brilliant writers, Oxford professors and good friends.

I'd recommend that you take time to 

• Read CS Lewis and the Great War by Joseph Loconte in the National Review - CLICK HERE for the article
• View A Hobbit, A Wardrobe and A Great War - 5 minutes on YouTube - CLICK HERE  

Then go ahead and watch All Quiet On The Western Front with those men in mind.

Texts and Recordings for Bach @ Celebration Service - Sunday, Nov 13 @ 9 am

 November 2022 Music Recordings and Translations

Our thanks to Director Scott VandenBerg for providing these texts and links to quality recordings for the music used in our November 13 worship service.

A Kind Word For Sabbath-Keeping

Several weeks ago I began a sermon on the Ten Commandments with some probing questions at the expense of an well-remebered tradition in the Christian Reformed Church: Sabbath-Keeping.  (CLICK HERE and fast-forward to 39:10 for the sermon)  For better or for worse - and in truth I might say there is a little of each at play here - those days are long gone.

In the interest of full consideration though, I'd like to pass on a portion of a recent post by Tish Harrision Warren in the NY Times that caught my eye.  As she often does, she is able to find a life-giving wisdom among the practices of authentic gospel-centered practice that captures the original intent and inspires modern faith.

When Philip Schaff, a 19th-century Swiss German theologian, immigrated to the United States, he was impressed by the ability of ideologically disparate religious groups to collaborate politically to solve social ills. For Schaff and many others, a key issue in the burgeoning industrialist economy of the North was the preservation of time for worship, rest and family life to preserve the dignity of the worker. They looked to Sabbath laws, in part, to help achieve this. Schaff stressed that keeping theSabbath wasn’t merely a religious observance but served a civic function. It was a practical way,through time itself, to treat workers as valuable humans with whole lives to be lived.

In an 1863 address to the National Sabbath Convention, Schaff argued that “Sabbath rest” is necessary for both body and soul; that it preserves “health, wealth and the temporal happiness and prosperity of individuals and communities.” He went on to say that “our energy and restless activityas a nation, our teeming wealth and prosperity and our very liberty makes the Sabbath a special necessity for us.” He called Sabbath laws a check and limit to the “degrading worship of the almighty dollar.” “Take away the Sabbath,” Schaff said, “and you destroy the most humane and democratic institution,” which is made particularly for “the man of labor and toil, of poverty and sorrow.”

I don’t expect us to put blue laws back on the books. I understand that most Americans — including religious Americans — no longer observe a strict day of rest. I also understand, of course, that the Sabbath lands on different days for different religious traditions. Still, with the boundaryless work of the digital age, with consumer pressure for retail stores and e-commerce companies to remain open at all times, and with our unholy worship of productivity and convenience, the spirit of these laws is more needed than ever before. What practices now limit “our restless activity as a nation”? What resources are there in our culture to curb the “degrading worship of the almighty dollar”?

Excerpted from We Are Humans, Not Machines by Tish Harrison Warren.  New York Times, October 16, 2022

CLICK HERE for the full post - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/16/opinion/work-rest-sabbath.html

It may ask that you set up an account that gives you very limited and free access to the NY Times online and her weekly newsletter.

"Adult Dialogue" on Wednesday Evenings

"Adult Dialogue" Following Community Night

On Wednesday evenings at 6:15 following Community Night Dinner, we will be offering an option for adults not involved serving with GEMS and Cadets.  Watch the schedule for a variety of solo sessions interspersed with a regular offering of discussions centered on the book Do You Believe? by Paul David Tripp.

Come for dinner at 5:15.  Stay for a variety of growth and fellowship opportunities.

"Adult Dialogue" Schedule - Session Details Below

• Wed, Oct 19 - Do You Believe - chpt1
• Wed, Oct 26 - Do You Believe - chpt 2
• Wed, Nov 2 - The Music and Impact of JS Bach
• Wed, Von 9 - Do You Believe - chpt 3

The Music & Impact of JS Bach

In many ways, the music of JS Bach is the musical flowering of Martin Luther's 150 years earlier rediscovery of the Gospel of God's Grace that we call the Reformation.  Much of it was written for the worship of the local church that employed him.  While certainly a musician of outstanding genius, that genius was both the given and shaped by a deep experience of Jesus.

Led by Scott Vanden Berg - Director of Instrumental Music at Holland Christian High School and Director of the Holland Bach Society - and Dr David Keep - Assistant Professor of Music at Hope College - focused on the music and impact of JS Bach as we prepare for the upcoming Bach @ Celebration on Sunday, Nov 13.

"Do You Believe?" By Paul David Tripp

Several groups at Harderwyk are already using and growing by reading and reflecting on this book together - including the Council.  One week we will focus on a single, core Christian doctrine and the following week focus on it's real-life application.  Come and participate - Pastor Darwin will have a one-page summary and brief overview of the focus.  Uou can also purchase the book and read one chapter - about 20 minutes - as preparation as well

CLICK HERE for Amazon link.

Amazon Description: 

Doctrine―what Christians believe―directly influences how they live. The biblical truths about God, humanity, and the world are not merely about knowing more―they are also about loving God and making sense of this life and the life to come. But what happens when there is disparity between what believers confess and how they live?

In his latest book, Do You Believe?, pastor and bestselling author Paul David Tripp takes a close look at 12 core doctrines and how they engage and transform the human heart and mind. According to Tripp, “true belief is always lived.” To demonstrate, he unpacks each doctrine and presents its relevance for the Christian life. As readers explore topics such as the doctrine of God, the holiness of God, and the doctrine of Scripture, they will be fueled to fall deeper in love with and stand in awe of their Creator and Father―putting the truths of God’s word on display for all the world to see.

I Think This May Be How It Looks When Done Right?

Matt Chandler is pretty different from me.  He is an "All-Texas born-and-bred" guy.  Mega-church pastor. Southern Baptist Convention.  For all of that difference though, I have over the years appreciated Matt's focus on the Gospel of God's Grace.  I've read blog posts, heard sermons and used his videos for discipling mission teams.

So I was sad when I started seeing the headlines about him stepping down from his pastorate for a season because of an indiscretion.  "Oh no!" I thought.  Another crash and burn big-church pastor story.  "And I sorta liked Matt."

Then my Harderwyk colleague Pastor Aaron VanDerVeen shared with us all the video of the announcement made to the church in Texas that Matt serves.  CLICK HERE for a video of that announcement.  I'm showing this from the church's own website with their written announcement for background.  It's about 18 minutes in length.  

I watched and was struck: no "act of adultery."  The direct messages in question were not clandestine or secret from his central relationships.  The woman who raised the questions was taken seriously.  Matt went immediately to speak with people that he was accountable to.  There was a long, prayerful process with outside, independent review.  It felt painfully long and discrete, but then, it was apparently done well and the wheels of justice always seem slow.  Decisions were made by leadership and the congregation brought into them in remarkably open and transparent ways.  The pastor was dealt with, while the others were kept protected from public focus.

All in all, from what I could see over several weeks, I began to think that maybe this is what it looks like to do accountabity well in a local church in light of the Gospel.  Perhaps I'm not seeing everything.  Time will tell.  But after some time to look and ponder, maybe this IS how accountability should move forward.  Four things in partcicular seem to stand out to me:

Pastors Should Be Held To A Higher Standard - I think this is what Paul meant in I Timothy 3:2 when he wrote his friend Timothy that elders should be "above reproach."  It's not that we are better than anyone else or less broken or get extra credit for good behavior.  It is about the position of pastoral leadership is consequential enough that we must be of good character as demonstrated over time.  When we mess up, people and their faith get wounded or confused.

Gospel Grace For Everyone - Still, the Gospel of God's Grace is for everyone - pastors included.  When a problem arises - or perhaps better for this case: "begins to arise" - the Gospel gives an understanding, a compassion and a hope that go well beyond either protecting the organization or pastor on the one side or throwing him under the bus on the other.  A clear-eyed diagnosis of the problem with a hopeful treatment aimed at care, healing and restoration for all affected can be hard work, but it is what the Gospel calls us to

Quick and Real Repentance - I am so thankful that Matt took seriously the person and the conversation that started all of this.  I'm thankful that he was quick to take the matter to people who were ready to pursue this with integrity.  Matt already had safe people with accountable relationships.  Apparently the structure was already in place to deal with a problem.  The process itself took time, but getting it started did not seem to.

We're In This Together - It seems that neither Matt, the friend he was messaging nor her friend who first raised the concerns were boxed out or isolated for the purpose of determining an outcome.  To a remarkable extent, it seems everyone was considered, listened to and protected.

As you might expect in the United States today, there were plenty of negative headlines and judgements for Matt and the Village Church through all this.  No need to give them more creedance, but at this point, I'm thankful for their quick, caring response, catching a "seed problem" before it grew bigger and more damaging.  That's my read.

CLICK HERE for the initial report on the incident in Christianity Today, a reliable source.

Parenting Resources & Research From Pastor Bill

My wife and I began the parenting adventure in a different century.  That gives us some historical perspective on what parents face today.  

Now, as an overdue grandparent and pastor of young families, I find myself very, very aware of how dramatically the world that we parent in has  changed.  Technology, entertainment and social pressures have altered the ocean of life that families will grow in.  No wise parent would face those waters alone.  Here are three GREAT resources for encouraging and equipping parents in this new setting.   

By the way, they are in alphabetical and not rank order.  You’ll want to read them all, even if you are raising only boys or only girls.  Odds are still good that your kids will eventually bring home your potential “child-in-law” and you’ll want to get started understanding that gender NOW!

Learning To Engage A Child's Heart - Paul David Tripp

Over the years I have come to appreciate the work of Paul David Tripp in so many forms.  Books like New Morning Mercies and Lead, various live and recorded seminars as well as his website.  Everything has been helpful for me.

Probably nothing stands out as much though as a brief segment of a parenting seminar more than 5 years ago.  "Five Questions You Must Ask Your Kids" is the best twelve minutes in gospel-centered equipping for parents I have ever seen.  How I wish I had seen it while my kids were still in the house.

I remember using it in a teacher's In-Service Training at Grace Christian School in Alexandria, LA with great impact.  It has helped me in counseling of others, as well as sorting out my own responses to circumstances in my life.

Take time to watch, learn, listen and then apply.  CLICK HERE for a downloadable worksheet with the Five Questions.