Good News All Around

You know—I talk about the dangers of biblical inerrancy.

Yes, many good people are biblical inerrantists. But many good people are very selective about the neighbors they will be good to.

And they support their unkindness to gay people and other minorities with scripture.

For the inerrantist, all scripture is of equal value and authority. No priority is given to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

His message of God’s unconditional love for all people is overruled.

Scripture itself is used to silence Jesus.

But I see signs of hope in the church. Yes, the church is in decline; but conservative, inerrantist Christianity is declining at the fastest rate of all.

“Evangelicals” are down to 14% of the population from a high of 25%.

And they are the oldest group–average age, 56.

That’s what makes the future of the churches who recently broke from United Methodism look uncertain.

They have joined a doomed group. Doomed—because their opposition to gay people and love for Mr. Trump leads to a moral dead end.

It has no future.

And that’s good.

Unkindness needs to die.

The worst thing that could happen is for the far-right church to flourish.

A. W. Tozer said of the racist white church in the 60s, “We do not want revival of this. A revival of the kind of Christianity we know today in America might prove to be a moral tragedy from which we would not recover.”

So, the good news is that hatred and ignorance are becoming harder to sell.

We do need revival.

But only if Jesus is at the heart of it. +++

Join us for worship.

“An Evening With The Gospel” Concert

I’m giving a concert Saturday night, 6:00 p.m.

This Saturday—the 9th.

St. Matthew has two of the best singers around, our choir director and our “star soloist.”

They are in on most of the shows in our new concert series, but not this one.

It’s just me.

So, tell me again why I am doing this?

It’s a fundraiser to keep Friday’s Word going and to support our music program.

We consider this little box in the paper a kind of ministry. It’s a way to reach—well—you with a sane message about faith when there is so much nonsense around.

But it ain’t cheap.

That’s where our Second Saturday Concerts come in. We’ve had two, and they seem to be working.

But this one is just me.

Ol’ Max.

Or old Max. And can Old Max still sing?

Or could he ever?

I’m clearly not the one to answer that. But I have been doing something like it all my life.

As a teen, I almost had a career singing How Great Thou Art.

When the great Dr. Charles Allen came to our small town to preach, I was trotted out to sing—yes—How Great Thou Art.

I sang it at 17 funerals in a two-year period.

But in recent years, with great singers around, I haven’t done much solo work.

So, why am I doing this concert? Want the truth?

I love to sing. It’s a spiritual experience for me to bring a song to life.

The concert is called An Evening with the Gospel.

It lasts an hour. It’s free, as is the dinner after.

We will take an offering. Consider coming at 6:00, tomorrow night, Saturday the 9th, at St. Matthew.

SEPTEMBER — AT LAST!

No reason for most people to be aware (my book, Discovering God, is not out yet), but I do claim to know something about religious and near-death experiences.

I first met God through experience when I was 14 and have studied such encounters ever since.

I have had, throughout my life, a good deal of what William James called “business with God.”

No, I don’t know why.

I do know that these experiences are part of my call to ministry.

They help shape the message I proclaim in Jesus’ name. For the God I know through experience is the God I know in Christ.

And here is what I am always trying to tell you:

God is not silent.

God is accessible.

God is knowable.

Einstein said that “we know all that we know through experience.”

Note the “all.”

This includes God.

Everything in the Bible which is right about God is a product of experience.

Those first disciples experienced God through Jesus. Paul tells us he received the whole of the gospel he preached directly from an experience of the Risen Christ.

God is knowable.

Theology is not a matter of guesswork. It is not just opinion. It can be as accurate as math.

This is how we can know Jesus is right about God.

The God we meet in experience is the God we know through Christ—a God of unconditional love.

And this is how we know the author of the book of Revelation is wrong.

The vengeful God of Revelation does not exist.

How do I know?

Jesus—and experience– tell me so.

John Stoehr of Yale says that most evangelical preachers pay almost no attention to the Sermon on the Mount.

And many Christians don’t agree with the core of it.

Stoehr must be a smart guy. I’ve been saying the same thing for years.

I’ll talk about that next week. This week, I must talk about the concert at St. Matthew Saturday night.

Six o’clock. Dinner after.

Our concerts help support Friday’s Word and other aspects of our outreach.

They are important.

They are also free.

But we do pass that plate.

And we have a great time. (I promise.)

This concert is called Hymns and Sounds Like.

There are three hymns, but the other eight songs are the “sounds like”—pop songs that could be hymns with a couple of word changes.

Like, say, You’ve got a Friend. It has always reminded me of Jesus’ words on prayer.

And our great soloist, Shannon Davidson, will sing Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You. Dolly wrote it for someone who was very mad at her.

What about You Raise Me Up? I know—it’s a love song. But I think of Jesus every time.

Throw in a few great old hymns and we end up with a very spiritual and very uplifting evening.

I will sing, too. And tell a story. Four singers, all together.

These monthly concerts take a lot of work. I expect good attendance.

Don’t disappoint me.

Don’t make me have to call you or knock on your door. Just come and enjoy.

That’s Saturday, Aug. 19.

At 6:00.

Plan to stay and eat.

(Not live-streamed.)