Durham to Canterbury !!!

It is an amazing development.  I am grateful to the Lord and will keep this dear man of God in my daily prayers.   See the following story:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9662546/Bishop-of-Durham-to-be-Archbishop-of-Canterbury.html

Shed to Study Project, Week 9

This week we finished dry walling the shed.  Actually John Cardinal did it all.  Tonight I finished priming all the exterior wood.  Tomorrow we hopefully begin painting interior and exterior.  Next week we should be able to install the floor.  Good progress.  I may be able to move in before Thanksgiving.

Through the Bible, Week 9, part 2

The Monarchy

The establishment of Israel's monarchy is recorded in 1 Samuel 8.  It is clear that monarchy arises from a dual agency: the will of the people who demand it and the will of the LORD God who consents to it.  Indeed, kingship was already envisioned and foretold in Deuteronomy 17:14-20, in a passage that scholars often refer to as the "Law of the King:" 

You may appoint a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose.  One from among your brothers shall you set as a king over you....But he shall not multiply horses to himself....Neither shall he multiply wives to himself....Neither shall he multiply to himself silver and gold...and he shall write himself a copy of this Law [torah]... to keep all the words of this Law and these statues to do them, that his thought not be lifted above his brother ...to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom.

The king is forbidden to amass large quantities of horses (i.e. instruments of large standing armies), wives (i.e. compromising alliances and palace intrigue, of which wives are an instrument) and gold (i.e. a regime of heavy taxation and conquest).  These three proscriptions are really one: to prevent the way of life that is characteristic of the great imperial states from which Israel has been and will be redeemed.  It is a law designed to create what we might call a limited state. Just as the dietary and purity laws impose moderation on the lives of the ordinary Israelite, the "Law of the King" imposes moderation on the life of the king and his administration.

Though Solomon violates all three statutes to kings, David is known for violating only one, the one pertaining to many wives.  The biblical narrative names eight such wives, of which the episode pertaining to his adultery with Bathsheba is the centerpiece (2 Sam 11-12).  The book of Samuel devotes two chapters to this episode, a rather large amount of material considering, by modern standards, this was a mere"private" sin.  Private sin yes, but with wide ranging public consequences that haunt him and the country all the way to the end of his reign - and beyond.  As John Stott reminds us, David broke four other commandments when he violated this one: beginning with covetousness, then theft and bearing false witness, and finally murder.

Even though David famously repents after Nathan's parabolic rebuke (see Psalm 51), God announces judgement: "I will bring against you evil from within your own house" (2 Samuel 12:11).  And indeed, David's appetite for women infects his sons.  Amnon rapes his half-sister Tamar and Absalom sleeps with his father's wives. Amnon dies too early to know where his sin will lead, but with Absalom both bloodshed and treason are mixed in with his inability to constrain his sexual urges. In the end, David leaves his succession in shambles between warring wives and siblings.  The biblical narrative leads us to believe that none of this would have happened if David had the self-possession to love and be loyal to one woman.

The image of Eden still shines through the tragedy of the biblical narrative and the divine standard of faithful nuptial love remains clear through its violation.  Indeed, the life and love of David's great grandparents recorded in the book of Ruth is a stinging rebuke to his marital infidelity, its interpersonal destructiveness and the abiding effect on Israel's national character.   

Through the Bible, Week 9

The Monarchy of Israel

Israel's evolution from a tribal confederacy into a monarchy is partly due to their need to maintain a central military authority capable of restraining Israel's surrounding enemies.  We see early in the book of Samuel the repeated defeat of Israel at the hands of various Canaanite tribes, including even the capture of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines (1 Sam. 5-6).  It is in this context of constant military threat, and even annihilation, that Saul, then David, emerges as the king that Israel urges the prophet Samuel to anoint to lead them (1 Sam 8:7).

David became King by divine choice, not heredity.  Under the laws of heredity, Jonathan, the son of Saul, should be king.  Instead, Jonathan recognizes David's divine election and enters a pact with David to protect him against his own father, King Saul, as well as against his own self-interest (1 Samuel 18-20).  David was already the anointed leader of Israel but not yet enthroned when they entered this agreement.  (The delay between divine election and human recognition is an important narrative analogue in depicting the emerging reign of Jesus in the Gospels.  A minority of faithful, valient men surround Jesus just as they did David - confident the nation will eventually recognize what they do.)

David's capacity and excellence in leadership is evidenced in these years through his military  prowess and, in particular, his conquest of Israel's nemesis, the Philistines.  It is also  evidenced by his diplomatic skills.  He chooses Jerusalem as the new nation's capital (rather than his local Hebron) because of its neutral location, straddling the border between southern and northern Israel.  

It was in the context of having defeated most of Israel's surrounding enemies and unifying the confederacy under one national capital, that David meets his greatest battle. In the eight book of Israel's primary history (Samuel) David violates the eight command (you shall not commit adultery).  This episode is sandwiched into larger battle episode, a literary technique known as "intercalation."  IT is designed to help the reader see the inserted narrative in terms of the larger one (2 Sam 11:1; 12:26-31).  David is engaged in battle with the Ammonites.  He has just defeated the Arameans to the North, the Canaanites to the South, the Philistines to the West.  And now his gaze is directed Eastward.  He sees a woman taking a ritual bath, the wife of one of his commanders.  David is about to engage his greatest battle and suffer his - and the country's - most humilating and enduring defeat.

We will explore that battle, and what it reveals about King David and Israel's monarchy,  in subsequent posts.

The Three Amigo's

One of the joys of serving Truro are the great people I get to work with.  Tim Mayfield and Coleman Tyler are really wonderful men who love God, their wives and our congregation.  This was a light moment at the beginning of our largest Alpha Course.

A Sermon by Bishop Justin Welby (new edition)

A Pentecost Homily from the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury 

It was announced today that Bishop Welby has been appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury.  As I got to know this truly remarkable and holy man I confess to hoping he would not get the job - the ultimate "meat grinder" in the Church.  We Anglicans really don't deserve someone this good.  But God in his goodness and mercy seldom gives us what we deserve.

In a recent conversation he referenced this sermon.  In the sermon he describes his meeting with me and the Bishop of Virginia at HTB in May.  I looked it up and now I share it with you dear reader.  It is a window into the soul of a very fine  Christian leader.

http://www.durham.anglican.org/userfiles/file/Durham%20Website/News%20and%20Events/From%20the%20Bishops/Bishop%20Justin/PENTECOST%20SERMON%202012.pdf

Canon Theologian of Dodge City, Kansas

The inimitable Ashley Null is teaching Cranmer's Theology of Worship at Truro this week.

I met Ash the first time a decade or so ago at the vicarage of Holy Trinity Brompton.  Ash had been the tutor of The Rev Sandy Millar's son, Sam, while at Cambridge.  We hit it off immediately.  Once we learned we both hailed from Western Kansas, we have been thick as thieves.

After Cranmer, the poet of Anglicanism, we share enthusiasm for cowboy poetry, High Plains lore and the writings of interesting people like Jim Hoy.  Jim is a medievalist by training and cowboy poet by temperament and calling.

Our next big project is preparing a conference for the sesquicentennial of the Chisholm Trail and then riding it together in 2017.  A true "City Slickers" moment.  Hopefully, Truro will be in its new buildings by then.