Bill Cosby's Latest Book

Come on People!

Dr. Bill Cosby and Dr. Alvin Poussaint have penned an instant classic that every American, regardless of race should race out to purchase, read, and apply. As a middle-age white male, I fondly remember listening to the wit, wisdom, and humor of Bill Cosby on a 78 (a record for those too young to know). The joy he brought me as a youth is nothing compared to the joy he is bringing a race and a nation today as he and his co-author definitively address the "Path from Victims to Victors."

In 288 pages of tightly-written, well-crafted material, Cosby and Poussaint address, in turn, the topics of: "What's Going on with Black Men," "It Takes a Community," "We All Start Out As Children," The Media You Deserve," "Healthy Hearts and Minds," "The High Price of Violence," and "From Poverty to Prosperity." Simply reading these chapter titles demonstrates that "Come on People" holistically addresses the social ills of a people, wisely looking both at individual responsibility and societal/cultural influences.

From the very beginning, their words are riveting. "For the last generation or two, as our communities dissolved and our parenting skills broke down, no one has suffered more than our young black men. Your authors have been around long enough and traveled widely enough to, to think we understand something about the problem. And we're hopeful enough--or desperate enough--to think that with all of us working together we might find a solution" (p. 1).

Indeed, "Come on People: On the Path from Victims to Victors" is the single best modern book providing a solution to the problems facing a race and a nation. While an honest book, it is not a negative book. That is, it looks honestly at the negative factors influencing people today, while looking beyond the negative to positive answers and practical solutions.

My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir

My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is normally so quiet--on the bench and about his public life--that he almost has been perceived as reclusive. Finally, thoroughly, and happily, he has spoken (written) with "My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir." Thomas chronicles his rise from poverty, his upbringing by his grandfather who taught him lessons of personal responsibility, and his up-and-down road to the Supreme Court.

All the while Thomas honestly depicts the barriers he faced and the hurdles he had to overcome. Of course, Thomas also finally speaks about the Anita Hill charges. With candor about the pain and with substantiating evidence about the facts, his side of the story is finally told. But the greater message of the book is the story of how Thomas moved beyond suffering and prejudice and bias to live the America dream. It is a story filled with hope and dignity. It is a story worth telling and worth reading.

The "Jena Six" Case Requires the Wisdom of Solomon

The “Jena Six” Case Requires the Wisdom of Solomon

Jena, Louisiana has become a national hotspot after over a year’s worth of racial tension. In September 2006, latent animosity boiled over when a black high school freshmen asked if he could sit under what had become known as the “White Tree.” The next day, three white students hung nooses from the tree. When the principles’ attempt to expel the students was shot down by the Board, more racial friction erupted.

A little more than three months after the unconscionable noose incident, six Black students beat up a white student until he was knocked unconscious. After a three-hour hospital visit, he was released. When the town prosecutor initially charged the “Jena Six” with attempted murder, charges of racism rose again.

It would take the proverbial wisdom of Solomon to dissect the truth in this difficult situation. Clearly, a more strident response against the initial hate crime of hanging the nooses should have occurred. Shame on the school board for backing down. And while charges of attempted murder never were judicially appropriate in this case, those who minimized the attack also have some explaining to do. What would people call it if six white students punched, stomped, and beat one black student until he was unconscious?

But I don’t have the wisdom of Solomon to sort through all the claims and counterclaims to uncover the facts. What is needed is a modern-day Solomon, and not even the Solomon of the Bible, but a black man named Solomon Northrup who spent twelve years enslaved in Louisiana.

This Solomon had the ability to look at life without having the color of one’s skin color his perspective. He could objectively evaluate situations based upon foundational principles of justice.

Born a free black man in 1808 in Maine, at age 33 Northrop was kidnapped and spent twelve years enslaved near the Red River in Louisiana. A learned man and a successful businessman, he penned his own story in 1853. In his narrative, Northrup had no problem condemning cruel slave owners such as John M. Tibeats, describing his repeated brutality and malice.

However, Northrup could see beyond the color of one’s skin and even beyond religious hypocrisy and social injustice. Though recognizing the inconsistency of his white master, William Ford, a slave-owning Baptist preacher, Northrup still could note, “It is but simple justice to him when I say, in my opinion, there never was a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford.” Northrup detailed page after page of Ford’s encouraging preaching and caring personal ministry to him and to other black men and women.

Solomon Northrup displayed the wisdom of Solomon that the people of Jena, Louisiana, and of all America, could use today. He had the discernment to recognize evil and call it such unashamedly. But he also demonstrated the ability to recognize good in others—even in others who were imperfect, even in others who were of a different hue, even in others who were treating him unjustly.

Nationally, pundits, people, pastors, and politicians are taking sides, pitting themselves against each another, claiming to have cornered the market on the truth of the “Jena Six” case. Yet, everyone seems to see the truth through colored lenses filled with preconceived notions, personal ideologies, and cultural baggage. Can’t someone step back, and see the big picture with the eyes of Solomon—of Solomon Northrup?

Reasons to Believe

Reasons to Believe

If you’ve visited Amazon.com or a major bookstore lately, then you know that all the rage in publishing is raging atheists raging against God.

Fortunately, Christians are not silent. Nor are the Scriptures.

Consider some of the following books to help you share and defend your faith.

Lay Level Books

1. The Twilight of Atheism, Alister McGrath.

2. The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel.

3. The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel.

4. The Case for a Creator, Lee Strobel.

5. The Case for Easter, Lee Strobel.

6. Reason to Believe, R. C. Sproul.

7. Christ Among Other Gods, Erwin Lutzer.

8. Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias.

9. The Return of the Village Atheist, Joel McDurmon.

10. Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis.

11. The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell.

12. More Than a Carpenter, Josh McDowell.

13. Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton.

14. Who Made God, Ravi Zacharias.

15. Letter to an Atheist, Michael Leahy.

16. The Real Face of Atheism, Ravi Zacharias.

17. Atheism Versus Christianity, Willow Creek.

18. Twenty Compelling Evidences That God Exists, Kenneth Boa.

19. The Dawkins' Delusion, Alister McGrath.

Going Deeper

1. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, J. P. Moreland.

2. Scaling the Secular City, J. P. Moreland.

3. Reasonable Faith, W. L. Craig.

4. There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind About God, Antony Flew.

5. What's So Great About God, Dinesh D'Souza.

6. The Dawkins Letter: Challenging Atheist Myths, David Robertson.

7. Faith of the Fatherless, Paul Vitz.

8. Letter from a Christian Citizen, Douglas Wilson.

9. Atheism Is False, David Stone.

10. God the Evidence, Patrick Glynn.

11. The Creator and the Cosmos, Hugh Ross.

12. The Fingerprint of God, Hugh Ross.

13. I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Norman Geisler.

14. Darwin on Trial, P. E. Johnson.

15. Hard Questions, Real Answers, W. L. Craig.

16. The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, F. S. Collins.

17. The Hidden Face of God, G. L. Schroeder.

18. Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, N. T. Wright.

19. Intelligent Design, William Dembski.

A Clay Pot Named Paul Potts

A Clay Pot Named Paul Potts: To Dream the Impossible Dream

Paul Potts' mania has swept over Britain and most of the world. In case you’ve been sleeping this summer and are asking, “Who in the world is Paul Potts,” here’s an overview.

Simon Cowell, famous for his biting criticisms of contestants on American Idol, launched a British version this past year called Britain’s Got Talent. One of the first contestants was a gapped-tooth, portly, shy, unassuming middle-aged man dressed in a cheap suit named Paul Potts who works as a car phone salesman.

The Nervous Man in the Cheap Suit

In the video (view it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA) of his initial performance, the audience sees a nervous, shuffling, under-confident Mr. Potts waiting his turn. As he arrives on stage and nervously announces that he is there to sing opera, Cowell’s raised eyebrows and look of dismay advertise the fact that he and his fellow judges expect Paul to bomb big time.

Then . . . then Paul Potts opens his gap-toothed mouth and the sounds that flow out are unbelievable. Passion, melody, beauty—they all come tumbling out of this “jar of clay, this clay pot” named Paul Potts.

As the camera pans the audience, disbelief, shock, and awe can be seen on their faces. Similarly, as the camera shows Cowell and his two fellow judges, one begins to sense that something unexpected is budding.

Potts’ brief performance is marked by gasps and clasps from the crowd and highlighted by a lengthy and enthusiastic standing ovation as he concludes with a killer-wonderful hitting of the final note.

The Clay Pot Blossoms

A UK newscaster had this to say. “The audience saw a chubby little man in a cheap suit. Then he started to sing.”

The usually vicious Simon Cowell said it simply. “I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you were absolutely fabulous. And you’re selling car phones?”

Cowell’s sidekick noted, “What we have here is a lump of coal that is about to turn into a diamond.”

Potts moved swiftly through subsequent rounds of the competition and with a rousing, full-length operatic singing of Nessun Dorma he was crowned Britain’s best amateur talent. However, he’s an amateur no more. Cowell himself fronted the money to produce Potts’s first album, appropriately named One Chance.

And Potts himself, what’s his take? His back story includes being mercilessly bullied throughout his school years as the shy, fat kid, working dead-end jobs, and a serious accident four years ago. Then, in early 2007, he flipped a coin to decide if he should compete in Britain’s Got Talent. That one coin flip, that one chance, catapulted Potts to the top.

As Potts’ noted, “Before this, I felt so insignificant. After that first night I realized I am somebody. I am Paul Potts!”

And Who Are You?

What’s your impossible dream? What did God design you to be, to do?

What are you waiting for? A flip of a coin?

According to another Paul, this one the famous Apostle Paul, we are all cracked pots. But we have the treasure of the image of God in earthen vessels—and that treasure is waiting inside you ready to be unleashed.

Unleashed the hidden opera singer. Unleashed the hidden Sunday school teacher. Unleash the hidden poet, the hidden writer, the hidden . . .

Unbelieving Atheists

Unbelieving Atheists

Mother Teresa, a decade after her death, is all the rage now. Where? None other than with atheists of all people.

What’s All the Buzz About?

And why? Because of the publication of an innocuously titled new book Mother Teresa: Come to My Light (Doubleday, September 2007).

Consisting primarily of correspondence between Mother Teresa and her confessors and superiors over a period of 66 years, the book offers insight into the inner life of a believer known mostly through her external works of mercy. The letters, many of them preserved against her wishes (she had requested that they be destroyed but was overruled by the Catholic Church), reveal that for the last nearly half-century of her life she experienced the absence of the presence of God. As the book’s compiler and editor, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, writes, she experienced Christ’s presence “neither in her heart or in the Eucharist.”

Extravagant Dissonance of Supernatural Candor

Time Magazine labeled these new revelations, in contrast to what previously we knew of Mother Teresa, “extravagant dissonance.” The new breed of missionary atheists, such as Christopher Hitchens, is even crueler and more mistaken than Time.

Hitchens, author of the atheist manifesto God Is Not Great, recently sought to do the work of a soul physician on the soul of a believer now dead a decade. His scathing polemic claims “she was no more exempt from the realization that religion is a human fabrication than any other person, and that her attempted cure was more and more professions of faith could only have deepened the pit that she had dug for herself.”

Hitchens and his ilk make for poor psychologists, destitute historians, and bankrupt soul physicians.

Stages of Faith

From a psychological perspective, research into the nature of faith, such as that done by James Fowler in Stages of Faith suggest the opposite about Mother Teresa than what Hitchens summarily proposes. Rather than exhibiting hypocrisy or being bereft of faith, Mother Teresa, in continuing to serve Christ by serving others while experiencing the absence of the presence of God was revealing the highest level of faith. Hers was not the trust of a child, nor the blind faith of those at lower levels of belief, but the highest, deepest, and most dependent reliance.

Historical Precedence

From a historical perspective, Mother Teresa’s experience has been so common for so long that it has its own name: “the dark night of the soul.” Great believers of the past, of all shapes and sizes, types and denominations, have experienced lengthy bouts of agonizing doubts.

Amongst Catholics, to name a few, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Saint Teresa of Lisieux (from whom Mother Teresa took her religious name) all endured the absence of God’s presence.

Of many representative Protestant believers, Martin Luther is a primary case study. So intangible was Luther’s Christ, that Luther developed an entire “theology of the Cross” to explain the paradox of a God who is most present in His very absence.

Thus, if unbelieving atheists wanted to harp on believing doubters, they’ve missed the boat for the past 2,000 years. If they think Mother Teresa is the first test case, then perhaps they should read not only Church history, but, heaven forbid, the Bible. Talk about candor! Historical biblical characters (think Abraham, Moses, Solomon, Thomas—the Patron Saint of Doubters—among many others) all lived lives of faith even while doubting.

Soul Physicians’ Diagnosis

So what diagnosis would or should a physician of the soul offer concerning Mother Teresa? First, it is important to recall that she did have soul physicians—her Confessors and Spiritual Directors to whom she wrote this now debated letters. Funny that they did not expose her as a hypocritical heretic.

Funnier too, that her own biographer/complier (Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, a Senior Missionaries of Charity member responsible for petitioning for her sainthood and collecting the supporting materials) gathered these letters in support of her case for sainthood.

Time Magazine put it like this. “Kolodiejchuk sees it (the characteristic stage of faith known as the ‘dark night’) in St. John's (of the Cross) context, as darkness within faith. Teresa found ways, starting in the early 1960s, to live with it and abandoned neither her belief nor her work. Kolodiejchuk produced the book as proof of the faith-filled perseverance that he sees as her most spiritually heroic act.”

Funniest of all, that the Catholic Church, attacked by Hitchens and his crowd of hateful doubters of those who doubt, did not seek to hide these letters. In fact, against her dying wishes, the Church chose to preserve these testimonies of doubt as evidence of faith.

Clinging to Christ

One need not be a Catholic, nor a Catholic apologist, nor even a Mother Teresa backer to acknowledge the psychological, historical, and spiritual realities behind the inner spiritual life of the former Agnes Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa’s birth name).

Personally, rather than taunt her for her torment, I applaud her. More than that, I identify with her. Her candor combined with her tenacious clinging to Christ gives me hope that my doubts are a severe mercy of God designed to harpoon me to His Spirit while the irrepressible tsunami of God’s absence batters my soul.

African American Christian Faith

Her clinging faith reminds me once again of the clinging faith of enslaved African American Christians. Nellie, a former slave from Savannah, Georgia sounds like a modern-day Mother Teresa with her startling candor.

“It has been a terrible mystery, to know why the good Lord should so long afflict my people, and keep them in bondage—to be abused, and trampled down, without any rights of their own—with no ray of light in the future. Some of my folks said there wasn’t any God, for if there was He wouldn’t let white folks do as they have done for so many years”.

When her mistress questions her about her faith, a slave known to us only as Polly explains her hope. “We poor creatures have need to believe in God, for if God Almighty will not be good to us some day, why were we born? When I heard of his delivering his people from bondage I know it means the poor Africans.”

Integrative Faith

Mother Teresa’s faith was not a case study in self-contradiction. Instead, she placed her faith in Christ rather than placing her faith in her faith. Entrusting her soul to an invisible Savior, the world saw Christ in her even when she could not see Christ in the world.

All the Colors of the Rainbow

All the Colors of the Rainbow

Why do we find multi-cultural worship so difficult. Here we are in the first decade of the 21st century, and yet Sunday mornings are still the most segregated hours in America! What a shame. What a sin. What are we going to do about it?

1. Be Proactive: Connect personally with someone of a different ethnic background.

2. Be Intentional: Influence your church leadership and members to purposefully build cross-cultural bridges.

3. Be Educated: Read excellent works on multicultural churches like those of David Anderson.

4. Be Brave: Don't expect everyone to support you. Do expect some to subvert you.

5. Be Thrilled: Nothing thrills the soul more than worship of every tribe, nation, and tongue. Just ask God in Revelation 5!

Ministering in My Home Town

Ministering in My Home Town

What an amazing chain of events. Let me walk you through the history and show you something of God's majesty even as He works in mystery.

1. Forty-eight years ago I was born at Methodist Hospital in downtown Gary, IN, and raised on 11th and Hovey in the Heart of Gary. At the time, Gary was one of the most integrated cities in America.

2. Fast forward thirty-some years and God leads me to chair the counseling and discipleship program at Capital Bible Seminary in DC--one of the most integrated Evangelical seminaries in the world.

3. Move back in time two years ago and see God orchestrate my co-authoring, with Karole Edwards, an African American graduate of our MA in counseling/discipleship, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.

4. Moving closer to present-day, I move "back home" to Crown Point, IN, just 15 minutes from my birthplace. I continue to work full-time in DC (that's another story for another day!).

5. Soon after moving back, I read a fascinating article about Pastor Charles Floyd, III, Senior Pastor of New Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church on 23rd Avenue in Gary. Seems he teaches a Moody Bible Institute distance education course. Having many connections myself with Moody Bible, I contact Pastor Floyd.

6. Pastor Floyd invites me to attend one of his evening classes. I go, thinking it will consist mostly of members of his congregation. Little do I know that most of the 20 men and women in attendance are leaders at 20 different African American Churches in downtown Gary.

7. By the end of the night, so wonderfully orchestrated by God over the course of forty-eight years, doors open for ministering at a score of churches in Gary, IN: my hometown. God does indeed work in mysterious ways!

Interviewed on the Bob Dutko Show

Interviewed on the

Bob Dutko Show

I was interviewed August 7th on the Bob Dutko Show. Dutko is a conservative Christian radio host on FM 103.5 WMUZ ("The Light")--the most listened to Christian radio show in Michigan. The focus was the release of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.

Bob focused on the relationship of past African American life to current issues in the African American church. What is unique about the African American church? How have African American Christians learned to deal with suffering? What does forgiveness look like? His penetrating questions helped to highlight how valuable it is to understand a group's history in order to understand a group's current ministry.

For Such a Time As This

For Such a Time As This

Today marks the launch of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. We offer this book with the prayer that God would allow all readers to:

1. Be empowered to apply proven ways to help people find healing hope in the midst of deep pain and sorrow by identifying with past African American believers who ministered in the crucible of suffering.

2. Be equipped to minister more effectively in cross-cultural settings by uncovering the buried treasure of wisdom about soul care and spiritual direction as seen through the eyes, experienced in the souls, and told from the lips of past African American Christians.

3. Be enabled to skillfully practice the historic soul care arts of sustaining, healing, reconciling, and guiding which are distinctively grounded both in the Word of God and in the legacy of African American believers.

4. Be encouraged to build healing communities where Christians find courage and comfort in God and each other.

5. Be enlightened by the founding fathers of the African American church about how to be a godly male leader who leaves a lasting legacy of love.

6. Be enthused by the heroic sisters of the spirit of the African American church in how to be a powerful female spiritual friend.

7. Be enriched by past African American husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers concerning how to nurture and enjoy godly living in the home.

Quiet Strength

Quiet Strength: Book Review

Super Bowl championship coach Tony Dungy writes a tell-all book that the entire family can read. In fact, Dungy would not start his own bio with "super bowl championship coach." Instead, he would begin it with "Christian," then "husband," "parent," and "friend." Even when talking about coaching, Dungy's philosophy is on coaching the entire person--mentoring. Quiet Strength is one part autobiography, one part thrilling sports biography, one part coaching technique, one part dealing with suffering, one part family life narrative, one part social commentary, and one part Christian living teaching. Woven together seamlessly, the subtitle accurately provides the beautiful tapestry that results: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life.

Caucasian Writer Co-Authors Book on African American Ministry

Caucasian Writer Co-Authors Book on African American Ministry

*Note to My Blog Readers: Please feel free to forward this news release to your local newspapers.

The Elephant in the Room

When Bob Kellemen offers seminars on his new book Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, he starts by addressing the proverbial “elephant in the room.” “Why did a white guy write a book about African American church life?”

As Kellemen explained, “First, I didn’t write it, I co-wrote it with Karole Edwards who is a wonderful African American friend and a graduate of the seminary where I teach. Second, we like to say that we didn’t co-author the book as much as we co-edited Beyond the Suffering. We wove together first-hand accounts of the amazing narratives concerning how African American Christians found courage and comfort in God and each other to move beyond the suffering of slavery to a place of healing hope.”

Kellemen continued, “But that still doesn’t address what prompted my interest in this fascinating topic. I grew up on 11th and Hovey in downtown Gary, IN. I’ve spent my whole life in a multi-cultural environment. Currently I teach at a school (Capital Bible Seminary in Lanham, MD) with no majority culture. God has called me to a life-long, multi-cultural ministry.”

A Mutual Passion

Kellemen’s co-author, Edwards, shared her own passion for Beyond the Suffering. “For me the journey began as I delved deeper into historical African American stories and discovered a cavern of invaluable truth. As I was being changed by the story unfolding before me, I wondered how others might also be changed by seeing God’s story unfolding through our history.”

Baker Books

According to the publisher, Baker Books, “Beyond the Suffering is the African American story told by African Americans for the benefit of all Americans. The African American Church has always helped hurting and hardened people through personal and corporate ministry. Beyond the Suffering uncovers the great spiritual riches of this African American Christian tradition.”

Kellemen concurred. “Beyond the Suffering desires to inspire today’s generation as they hear the voices of past African American Christians speaking through its pages. By listening to its historical narrative, readers learn to speak to today’s world with relevance. Beyond the Suffering assists African American and non-African American lay people, pastors, and Christian counselors to become more spiritually aware and skillful by deriving modern implications from these recovered resources. And it equips all believers for more effective cross-cultural ministry.”

Pulling the Rope in Unison

Of the 100s of real-life vignettes recorded in the book, Kellemen shared one story (“Pulling the Rope in Unison”) illustrative of the practical nature of the entire book. “Venture Smith was born in Guinea about 1729. Kidnapped at age eight, Robertson Mumford purchased him a year later. After living with Mumford for thirteen years, Venture married Meg at age twenty-two. They remained together for over forty-seven years, through many trials and tribulations, until parted by death.”

“Venture’s narrative contains an explanation for their marital faithfulness. On the occasion of their marriage, Venture threw a rope over his cabin and asked his wife to go to the opposite side and pull on the rope hanging there while he remained and pulled on his end. After they both had tugged at it awhile in vain, he called her to his side of the cabin and by their united effort they drew the rope to themselves with ease. He then explained the object lesson to his young bride. ‘If we pull in life against each other we shall fail, but if we pull together we shall succeed.’” According to Kellemen, “premarital couples, newlyweds, and seasoned married spouses would all do well to heed Venture’s guiding wisdom.”

Dr. Tony Evans

Internationally-known African American pastor and author, Dr. Tony Evans, in his Foreword to Beyond the Suffering noted that “Most students of history focus on the pain of the African American experience in America. There was a lot of pain! And we should not minimize that pain. However, as the title suggests, Beyond the Suffering goes further. It shows us how the pain experienced by people from the African American culture can be redeemed to give life to people from any race or culture. The captivating true stories and first-hand narratives have a therapeutic and healing quality for the reader and those they serve. After you read Beyond the Suffering, you will have a deeper understanding of how God forged character in people through their suffering and be able to apply many valuable insights to your personal life and future ministry.”

So About That Elephant?

So, about that elephant in the room? Kellemen said, “Regardless of the color of our skin, we are all human beings with similar struggles and suffering, hopes and dreams. Beyond the Suffering listens to the voices of a people who ministered in the crucible of suffering. Everyone, from every race, can benefit from hearing these voices, from reading and applying these courageous stories.”

To Order

Beyond the Suffering is available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles, Wal Mart, and other bookstores and bookselling websites.

Dissecting the Controversial High Court Decision

Dissecting the Controversial High Court Decision[i]

Should society be color-blind? Is the US Constitution color-blind? These are the questions debated by the US Supreme Court in their controversial June 28, 2007, decision striking down two school integration programs. With its emotional and splintered decision, the Court wrestled with a question that has dogged the long fight over integration: "When will the nation be able to disregard an individual’s race entirely?"

A Conservative View

Some conservatives, citing Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s hope that people will one day be judged not “by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” and former Justice John Harlan’s opinion that “our Constitution is color-blind,” have long argued that the time has come to set aside racial preferences of any kind. The way to remedy discrimination against minorities, they insist, is not to endorse discrimination against whites.

Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., joined by the court’s three other conservatives, gave some hope Thursday to advocates of that approach. “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” Roberts wrote in perhaps the snappiest sentence of his opinion.

For decades, some conservatives have argued fiercely against atoning for the nation’s racial sins by explicitly favoring minorities, whether through affirmative action, contract set-aside programs, or desegregation plans. Society should be color-blind, they have contended, and perpetuating racial classifications is highly destructive.

A Moderate View

On the other hand, the moderate-conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy noted that a color-blind society may be a wonderful goal, but it ignores reality.”The enduring hope is that race should not matter; the reality is that too often it does,” Kennedy wrote. “As an aspiration, Justice Harlan’s axiom must command our assent. In the real world, it is regrettable to say, it cannot be a universal constitutional principle.”

A Liberal View

Liberals have argued with similar passion that after centuries of slavery, discrimination and racism, simply treating everyone equally now will not alleviate the inequality still suffered by blacks in housing, education and other areas.

“The Constitution cannot plausibly be interpreted to rule out categorically all local efforts to use means that are ‘conscious’ of the race of individuals,” Justice Breyer wrote. “The context here is one of racial limits that seek, not to keep the races apart, but to bring them together.”

The Constitutional Issue

The impassioned dispute that played out among the justices in the pages of their opinions often touched on what is generally regarded as the grandest civil rights case of all: Brown vs. Board of Education, the 1954 case that outlawed segregation and the doctrine of “separate but equal.”

Both sides Thursday claimed the mantle of Brown. Roberts and his camp claimed that Brown’s principle, that students cannot be discriminated against on the basis of race, was the one they were following.”When it comes to using race to assign children to schools, history will be heard,” Roberts wrote. “Before Brown, schoolchildren were told where they could and could not go to school based on the color of their skin. The school districts in these cases bear the heavy burden of demonstrating that we should allow this once again—even for very different reasons.”

That argument seemed to particularly anger the court’s four liberals, who reacted strongly against the notion of comparing the school districts in Louisville and Seattle, struggling for racial balance, to the racists and bigots of the nation’s past. “It is a cruel distortion of history to compare Topeka, Kan., in the 1950s to Louisville and Seattle in the modern day,” Breyer wrote.

Justice Stevens used similar language. “There is a cruel irony in the chief justice’s reliance on our decision in Brown vs. Board of Education,” he wrote. “It is my firm conviction that no member of the court that I joined in 1975 would have agreed with today’s decision.”

Not every case so visibly stirs the justices’ emotion. In most decisions, those in the minority conclude their opinions by writing “I respectfully dissent” or simply “I dissent.”Breyer’s dissent Thursday seemed impelled by a stronger force. “This is a decision that the court and the nation will come to regret,” he concluded his opinion. “I must dissent."

[i]Excerpted and edited with personal commentary by Bob Kellemen from the Chicago Tribune, June 29, 2007, by Naftali Bendavid, Washington Bureau Tribune staff reporters Michael J. Higgins, Carlos Sadovi, and Gary Washburn.

A Son Marries

On Saturday, June 23, 2007, Shirley and I had the joy of celebration the wedding of our firstborn son, Josh to his new bride, Andi.

Memories. Nostalgia. Josh's birth, first months in Winona Lake while completing seminary. Move to Elyria, OH and nine years of family and ministry there. K-4th grade. Moving to MD and a dozen years there in the pastorate and seminary with Josh in 5th-12th grade and college, wrestling, studying, friends. A year back in Indiana as Josh completes his Sr. year of college.

Meals together. Playing. Devotions. Vacations. Long walks. Great talks. Best friends. Story telling. Church life. Friends. Holidays. Holy days.
Cheers and tears. Love, faith, hope, grace, peace.

Where did the time go?

Fortunately, we made and by God's grace kept, the commitment to enjoy every moment, to focus on the family, to resist the tendency to allow ministry to drown out family.

Would we do anything differently? Well, of course, with 20/20 hindsight, there are always changes that could have been made. But, regrets? No, not really. Together, we lived life to the fullest. We were, and are, family.

The next step? Loving our adult son and our new adult daughter-in-law. New memories. New nostalgia. New commitments.

Three Books for My Birthday

Three Books for My Birthday

What more could I want for my next birthday than three books--especially if they are my own books! On August 1, my birthday, Beyond the Suffering will be released by Baker Books. That same day, BMH Books will release the revised third editions of Soul Physicians and Spiritual Friends. Quite the birthday present.

All three books, though unique in their own way, have one guiding theme: using the Word of God and the history of the Christian church to relate God's truth to our daily lives and ministry.

Soul Physicians provides a unique theology of Christian living.

Spiritual Friends builds upon this theology by offering a training manual for developing 22 skills of biblical counseling.

Beyond the Suffering highlights how lay and pastoral African Americans practiced soul care and spiritual direction to move one another beyond the horrible suffering of enslavement to a place of healing hope through Christ's resurrection power.

Yep, a pretty nice birthday present!

Tennis and Life

Tennis and Life

In the women’s fourth round of the 2007 French Open, Maria Sharapova saved two match points but drew jeers while beating Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-4, 9-7.

Spectators turned on Sharapova at 7-7 in the final set, when she won a disputed point while serving at 30-love. Schnyder watched a serve land in, then complained she had held up a hand to call for time.

Mother Teresa As a Tennis Player

The chair umpire ruled the point would count, giving Sharapova her first ace of the tournament. Sharapova said later she didn’t see Schnyder’s hand until after hitting the ball—and had no regrets about what happened.

“It’s pretty hard being a tennis player and Mother Teresa at the same time,” Sharapova said. “You’re fighting for every single point out there.”

Sharapova As a Philosopher

By Sharapova’s reasoning, one might also conclude that it’s pretty hard being a human being in the world today and living like Jesus at the same time.

Actually, according to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus would agree—it is hard to live a godly life in a godless world.

Of course, Jesus’ definition of “success” is worlds apart from Sharapova’s. Wasn’t that the whole point of His Sermon on the Mount? To turn the world upside down. To turn upside down our perspective on how we live and on why we live.

A Spiritual Friendship Pact

A Spiritual Friendship Pact

St. Teresa looked upon human friendship as a joint journey, a spiritual pilgrimage to the fatherland. To four trusted friends she extended this invitation:

“I should like the five of us who at present love each other in Christ to make a kind of pact that since others in these times gather together in secret against His Majesty to prepare wicked deeds and heresies, we might seek to gather together some time to free each other from illusions and to speak about how we might mend our ways and please God more since no one knows himself as well as others who observe him if they do so with love and concern for his progress. I saw we should gather in secret because this kind of talk is no longer in fashion.”

Not Only in Her Day

It was not only in her day that gathering for spiritual friendship was no longer in fashion. How seldom we gather for such purposes in our day.

What does it take? According to Teresa:

1. A Pact: A communicated commitment.

2. A Plan: A gathering together. Connecting.

3. A Purpose: To free each other from sin's deceitfulness, to mend our ways, and to please God.

4. A Passion: To know each other deeply enough and with enough care and concern to be able to provide loving feedback leading to self-awareness.

5. A Person: Jesus Christ. Human spiritual friendships always point to the ultimate Spiritual Friend--God.

Ministerial Abuse

Ministerial Abuse

In our current church climate, we often read of ministers abusing parishioners in one form or another. Less often, we read and ponder the abuse of ministers by their own parishioners and by outside critics.

History is replete with such accounts. The famous Baptist pastor from London, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, faced vicious criticism throughout his ministry, and it often led to severe bouts of self-doubt and spiritual depression.

Life and Death Are in the Power of the Tongue

Early in his ministry, his preaching became so famous, that his church could not hold the crowds. So his congregation rented the Surrey Music House. The first night someone yelled “Fire!” Some in the crowd fled in panic, with seven dying and dozens injured. Spurgeon urged everyone to stay and continued to preach, unaware that several people had already been crushed to death. Moments later, another panic arose. This time Spurgeon fainted and had to be carried away. Many even thought that he had died.

Experiencing guilt, and battered in the local press, Spurgeon plunged into depression. His wife, Susannah, wrote about their resultant mutual despair. “I wanted to be alone, that I might cry to God in this hour of darkness and death! When my beloved was brought home he looked a wreck of his former self—an hour’s agony of mind had changed his whole appearance and bearing. The night that ensued was one of weeping and wailing and indescribable sorrow. He refused to be comforted. I thought the morning would never break; and when it did come it brought no relief.”[1]

The ensuing days were no better, as Susannah recounts. “The Lord has mercifully blotted out from my mind most of the details of the time of grief which followed when my beloved’s anguish was so deep and violent that reason seemed to totter in her throne, and we sometimes feared he would never preach again. It was truly ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ through which we then walked; and, like poor Christian, we here ‘sighed bitterly’ for the pathway was so dark that oft times when we lifted up our foot to set forward, we knew not where or upon what we should set it next.”[2]

Recuperation and Healing from Spiritual Abuse

Friends took Spurgeon to the country town of Croydon where he stayed in the house of Mr. Winsor, one of his deacons, with Mrs. Spurgeon and their one-month-old twin baby boys. Mrs. Spurgeon’s biographer writes, “It was hoped that the rest and change of scene would aid in the restoration of his mental equilibrium, and although at first his spirit seemed to be imprisoned in darkness, light at last broke in.”[3]

Susannah shares her account of her husband’s recovery. “We had been walking together as usual, he restless and anguished; I sorrowful and amazed, wondering what the end of these things would be; when at the foot of the steps which gave access to the house, he stopped suddenly, and turned to me, and, with the old sweet light in his eyes (ah! how grievous had been its absence!), he said, ‘Dearest, how foolish I have been! Why! what does it matter what becomes of me, if the Lord shall but be glorified? And he repeated with earnestness and intense emphasis, Philippians 2:9-11.”[4] By an amazing inner working of the Holy Spirit, Spurgeon was able to take his eyes off his own agony, placing them instead on God and His glory.

Though Spurgeon began to recover his mental and spiritual equilibrium, upon his return to London even more critics began to write even more critical articles about him and his ministry. Spurgeon actually collected every critical article into a book, on the cover of which he wrote the title Fact, Fiction and Facetiae.
Of these, Susannah said years later: “At the time of their publication what a grievous affliction these slanders were to me. My heart alternatively sorrowed over him and flamed with indignation against his detractors.”[5] Every ministry spouse can relate.

Spiritual Healing through Scriptural Enlightenment

Caring deeply for her husband, Susannah set about the task of ministering to his soul. “For a long time I wondered how I could set continual comfort before his eyes, till, at last, I hit upon the expedient of having the following verses printed in large old English type and enclosed in a pretty Oxford frame: ‘Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you’ (Matthew 5:11-12). The text was hung up in our own room and was read over by the dear preacher every morning, fulfilling its purpose most blessedly, for it strengthened his heart and enabled him to buckle on the invisible armor, whereby he could calmly walk among men, unruffled by their calumnies, and concerned only for their best and highest interests.”[6]

Amazing. What men meant for evil, God wove into good.

How do ministers (pastors, counselors, teachers, missionaries, lay leaders) survive sadistic slander? Through confidence in God and God’s Word. Through the supernatural empowering and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit who teaches them that these falsehoods and lies result in great reward in heaven. Through spiritual friends who use scriptural insight to create a glowing neon sign reminding them that their present suffering is not worth comparing to their future glory.


[1]Charles Ray, “The Life of Susannah Spurgeon,” in Susannah Spurgeon: Free Grace and Dying Love, Carlisle PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, p. 165.
[2]Ibid., pp. 165-166.
[3]Ibid., p. 166.
[4]Ibid., pp. 166-167.
[5]Ibid., p. 168.
[6]Ibid., pp. 168-169.

Put Up the Cross for Your Sail

Sail On

Have the winds of life ruthlessly railed against you, blowing you like straw in a tornado?

Sail on.

Amma Syncletica left a life of luxury in the third century to face a life of storms in the desert. Known as one of the "Desert Mothers" of the ancient Church, she was born in Alexandria into a well-respected Christian family of Macedonian heritage. Well-educated, Syncletica had a reputation for her beauty.

Her two brothers died at a relatively young age and her sister was blind. At the death of her parents, she sold her possessions, giving them to the poor. She then moved with her sister to the family tomb outside Alexandria where she lived into her 80s.

Put Up the Cross for Our Sail

Offering sage spiritual direction toward the end of her life, Amma Syncletica provides us with fortitude for our journey.

“If you have begun some good work, you should not be turned from it by the enemy’s attempts to hinder you, indeed your endurance will overthrow the enemy. Sailors beginning a voyage set the sails and look for a favorable wind, and later they meet a contrary wind. Just because the wind has turned, they do not throw the cargo overboard or abandon ship; they wait a while and struggle against the storm until they can set a direct course again. When we run into headwinds, let us put up the cross for our sail, and we shall voyage through the world in safety”

Sail on!

The Day(s) After Easter

The Day(s) After Easter

After Easter, then what?

For Thomas, the disciple most like some of us, doubt.

Yes, even after Easter, Thomas doubted.

Even after being told by at least a dozen (ten disciples, two Marys), Thomas still doubted.

Even after the Old Testament Scriptures prophesied the resurrection.

Even after Jesus predicted His resurrection.

Thomas, like some of us, admitted his doubts.

Is Doubt Sin?

We chastise Thomas.

We think Jesus chastised Thomas.

Jesus did not.

Challenge him. Engage him. Invite him. Yes.

“Then Jesus told him [Thomas], ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed’” (John 20:29).

For Thomas, “seeing is believing.” In fact, “touching is believing.” He required tangible evidence that demanded a verdict.

Jesus gave it to him. “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” (John 20:27).

For Thomas, and those like him, empirical evidence is part of the wrestling match of faith.

Those who can believe without any empirical evidence, they truly are blessed. That childlike faith is wonderful.

Not all have such faith.

The Welcome Mat Out

Jesus understands.

He offers evidence that demands a verdict. He welcomes intellectual seekers. He invites exploration. He does not chastise doubt; rather, He enters it.

The act of inviting Thomas to touch His side signals that Jesus is keenly aware of the place of doubt in faith.

Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote “There is more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds . . ."

Doubt is not the opposite of faith.

Why?

Because faith is not certainty, or it would not be faith.

Faith is committing to believing when other competing beliefs still exist, still abound.

The Christian life, this side of heaven, is, for some (like Thomas), an ongoing candid, honest, intellectual conversation between faith and doubt.

Don’t check your mind at the door marked “faith.”

Easter: Holiday or Holy Day?

Easter: Holiday or Holy Day?

Growing up, Easter was about coloring eggs, chocolate bunny rabbits, marshmallow eggs, and toys from my Aunt. For much of Western culture, that’s still the “essence of Easter.”

Easter Meaning

As holidays go, for Americans and most American Christians, Easter is simply second-rate.

For me, now as a believer, Easter has more meaning than even Christmas.

Easter is not a holiday. It is a Holy Day.

Journeying the Ancient Paths

Evangelicals would do well to engage more of the historical traditions around the “Easter Holy Day Season.”

Forty days of focused spiritual disciplines . . .

Palm Sunday . . .

Passion week . . .

Maundy (or Holy) Thursday solemnly commemorating the institution of the Lord’s Supper.

Good Friday and somber remembrance . . .

Holy Saturday and the day of waiting . . .

Easter Sunday and the day of celebration . . .

Hope.

Joy.

New life.

Eternal Spring.

The Chronicles

In The Chronicles of Narnia, the White Witch cast her spell and “it was always Winter but never Christmas.”

In The Chronicles of Christ, because of Easter, we live in anticipation of the day when “it is always Spring and forever Easter.”

Nameless Saturday

Nameless Saturday

We have names for days leading up to Easter from Wednesday to Friday.

Evangelicals don’t have a name for Saturday.

The in-between day.

The day of waiting.

The day of faith-testing.

Never Ending Saturday

Imagine it, for the first time all over again.

Your Saviour has been brutally crucified. Your hopes dashed. Your heart sick.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Time ticks away but time does not heal all wounds.

Friday ends.

Saturday comes. Saturday seems to never end.

Perhaps we could call it Never Ending Saturday.

Or at least it feels like it.

Saturday Living

Life on planet earth is Saturday living.

The day in-between.

The day we wait.

The day before we see the reality of our faith.

What's So Good about Good Friday?

What’s So Good about Good Friday?

Good Friday. The day Christians memorialize death. God’s death. Christ’s crucifixion.

What’s so good about that?

In Evangelical Protestant circles, Good Friday is rarely seen as “good.” In fact, it’s often ignored. No services. Nothing.

I can recall establishing the first ever Good Friday service in my first year as Sr. Pastor. The church had a continuous history of over 200 years. Not only did we start a Good Friday service, we ended it in somber silence.

People were shocked!

“What? Where’s the Resurrection!”

My response . . .

“Wait.”

Like the Apostles had to wait.

As Mary the mother of Jesus waited.

As Jesus waited.

What’s so good about Good Friday. The obvious answer is that without Christ’s death we would have no salvation.

The less obvious but equally biblical answer is Good Friday reminds us to wait in humble, sad, somber, convicted silence. It reminds us just how horrible sin is.

Quiet.

Wait.

In a Coffin in Egypt

In a Coffin in Egypt

Consider the contrast between the first five and the last five words of Genesis. “In the beginning God created” (Genesis 1:1a). “In a coffin in Egypt” (Genesis 50:26b). Life east of Eden and this side of Heaven is guaranteed to be replete with suffering.

Though we intuitively and experientially recognize this reality, for some reason we shy away from it theologically. Theologians have developed well thought through models of Creation (anthropology), Fall (hamartiology), and Redemption (soteriology). Notice what’s missing? Sufferology—a biblical theology of suffering.

Of course, a brief e-news snippet is not the place to present a fully developed theology of suffering. But perhaps it could be the place today to whet our appetite, to encourage each of us as biblical counselors and soul physicians to delve more deeply into a practical theology of suffering.

In the early 60s, British Christian psychiatrist, Frank Lake explained that “clinical pastoral care has, as its introduction, the task of listening to a story of human conflict and need. To the extent that our listening uncovers a situation which borders the abyss or lies broken within it, we are nearer to the place where the Cross of Chris is the only adequate interpretive concept” (Clinical Theology, pp. 18-19).

Is any place closer to the abyss than a coffin in Egypt? God creatively uses suffering, separation, dying, and death to form us into His image. Walter Wangerin, in his healing book, Mourning Into Dancing, expresses more insight into death than any mortician. “Death doesn’t wait till the ends of our lives to meet us and to make an end. Instead, we die a hundred times before we die; and all the little endings on the way are like a slowly growing echo of the final Bang! before that bang takes place” (p. 26).

So why would our Good Shepherd shepherd us with suffering and sorrow? What are these “guides” supposed to teach us? Throughout Mourning Into Dancing, Wangerin explains that suffering and death are meant to teach us our need again. All the mini-casket experiences of life are God-sent invitations to depend upon the One who is the Resurrection and the Life.

The Apostle Paul says its best. “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). Life’s coffins cause us to cling to Christ and to celebrate His empty tomb.

Reconciliation Triangle

Reconciliation Triangle*

On 9th December 1999, as its final act of the Millennium, Liverpool City Council unanimously passed a motion apologizing for the city’s role in the Slave Trade, linked to a commitment to policies that would end racism and work to create a community where all are equally valued.

International Conference

In December 1999, at the invitation of President Mathieu Kérékou of the Republic of Benin, an International Conference was held in Benin, attended by people from Africa, the Americas and Europe affected by the Black Diaspora, including representatives from Richmond, Virginia, and Liverpool. The President apologized for his country’s role in selling Africans to the slave traders.

Racial Healing

At the Benin Conference Lord Alton of Liverpool presented a small maquette of the large public sculpture ‘Reconciliation’ created by Liverpool artist, Stephen Broadbent, which already stands in Liverpool, Belfast and Glasgow along with a statement signed by the Liverpool’s Lord Mayor, Councillor Joe Devaney and the Leader of the Council, Mike Storey.

In April 2000 a ‘Ceremony of Racial Healing‘ attended by 4 Government Ministers from Benin, took place in Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A. The intention was to extend the process of reconciliation.

As a next step, with encouragement at senior government level in Benin, Liverpool and Richmond, it was decided to raise funds to donate to Benin a 4 meter high bronze edition of the ‘Reconciliation’ sculpture, with specially designed panels by young people in Liverpool, Richmond and Benin. It was also decided that a further casting of the Reconciliation sculpture would be made to be sited on the slave trail route in Richmond.

The site for the sculptures erection in Benin was identified, a specially designed ‘Reconciliation Garden’ in the city of Cotonou was to be built. President Kerekou said “that it would establish a meaningful international connection which would reflect the infamous slave triangle. The three statues would be a physical and symbolic manifestation of a process of bringing together in an expression of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation - the descendants of those that profited from the evil trade, those on the continent from which they were taken and those now living in the place to which many slaves were taken.”

Project chair, Joe Devaney was invited to an International Conference in Washington D.C. in the summer of 2001. The ‘Connecting Communities’ delegates welcomed the Reconciliation Triangle Project as a major initiative in the understanding and healing of slavery’s wounds.

Joe and artist Stephen Broadbent both visited Richmond in 2001, addressing the City Council and presenting the Mayor with a model of the original Reconciliation Sculpture. Representatives from Richmond visited Liverpool on three occasions. The city fully supports the project.

Broadbent, the sculptor, worked with fellow artist, Faith Bebbington, along with children from six of Liverpool’s inner city schools to incorporate new low-relief scenes on the four flat sides relating to the slave trade between Liverpool, Benin and the Americas.

The final sculpture, based on these designs, was finished by Liverpool artists Broadbent and Bebbington. The sculptures were then cast in bronze ready to be shipped to Benin and Richmond. In Liverpool it is hoped the bronze reliefs will be mounted and exhibited adjacent to the existing Reconciliation statue.

Beyond the Suffering

In October 2004, at a Civic ceremony hosted by the Maritime Museum on the dockside in Liverpool, a finished 'Reconciliation Sculpture' was handed over to representatives of the Benin Government, this significant event was also attended by a representative from Richmond. The leader of Liverpool City Council, quoted the words, ”the only way to bring reconciliation is to face the pain of history with courage, and then to change.” He went on to say, “We have begun that process of change, and this reconciliation initiative is one more step on that journey.”

*Article adapted from: http://www.reconciliationtriangle.org/#history

Under the Power of Melting Grief

Under the Power of Melting Grief

At times stringing together the words “grieving” and “ministry” can be oxymoronic. My mind recalls one pastor who lost his wife while she was giving birth to their second child. Because of congregational and peer pressure to “keep it together” and “be a good example,” outwardly he displayed no signs of grief. He even officiated at his own wife’s funeral.

Inwardly, privately, what a difference. He experienced ongoing hallucinations of his deceased wife and barely was able to care for his own needs, let alone those of his two children.

Where was this pastor, where are we, recruited into the unbiblical nonsense that grief is, well, unbiblical?

Biblical Sufferology

Many have developed splendid systematic theology models that counter this hideous idea that grieving is somehow less than Christian. Rather than duplicate their studies, in the brief space that we share together in this column, I’d like to share the true story of a prince of preachers and his response to the loss of his dear wife.

Many know the name Richard Baxter (1615-1691) as one of England’s foremost pastors, authors, and theologians. Fewer know of his wife, Margaret (1636-1681). Twenty-one years younger than her more-famous husband, Margaret struggled throughout her life as a fear-ridden, highly strung, overly-sensitive, painfully perfectionistic soul.

After nineteen years of marriage, Richard lost his soul mate when she passed at age forty-five after eleven days of delirium. Her reason had almost wholly left her, as she had longed feared it might.[1]

Less than a month later, her grieving husband—the world-renowned pastor—wrote to tell the world of his grief. First published as A Breviate of the Life of Margaret, The Daughter of Francis Charlton, and Wife of Richard Baxter, John T. Wilkinson reprinted it with the beautiful title Richard Baxter and Margaret Charlton: A Puritan Love Story.

Baxter prefaces his memorializing with the candid admission that it was, “. . . written, I confess, under the power of melting grief.”[2] Knowing the likely criticism for such openness, Baxter continues, “. . . and therefore perhaps with the less prudent judgment; but not with the less, but the more truth; for passionate weakness poureth out all, which greater prudence may conceal.”[3]

Did you catch his meaning? In our weakness, not only are we strong in Christ, we are all the more honest as Christians. In our grieving, we do not and should not conceal the truth of tears this side of heaven.

In Depth of Grief

Perhaps even more remarkable, it was not simply the shock and nearness of Margaret’s death that left her husband so frank. Years later in his autobiography, Baxter expresses how his wife’s death left him “in depth of grief.”[4] Interestingly, the original editor of Baxter’s autobiography suppressed this phrase. (Some things never changed.) Fortunately, truer historians have uncovered it—for the benefit of all who dare speak the truth about sorrow.[5]

Richard Baxter understood the truth that it’s normal to hurt—even for “full-time Christian workers.” His entire biography of dear Margaret is a tear-stained tribute to the affection they shared and the sadness he endured.

Mingled Hurt and Hope

Of course, Baxter also understood the truth that it’s possible to hope—for all Christians. Listen to his mingled hurt and hope.

She is gone after many of my choice friends, who within this one year are gone to Christ, and I am following even at the door. Had I been to enjoy them only here, it would have been but a short comfort, mixed with the many troubles which all our failings and sins, and some degree of unsuitableness between the nearest and dearest, cause. But I am going after them to that blessed society where life, light, and love, and therefore, harmony, concord, and joy, are perfect and everlasting.[6]

Perhaps one reason why we practice denial is our fear that entering our grief might so consume us that we will be overwhelmed with worldly sorrow. Baxter’s Christian experience reminds us that this doesn’t have to be the case.

We can look fallen life squarely in the eyes, admit the truth that it is a quagmire of pain and problems, and still live hopefully now if we also look toward life in our heavenly world to come.

In the last paragraph of his tribute to Margaret, Baxter succinctly combines these two realities. “Therefore in our greatest straits and sufferings, let us comfort one another with these words: That we shall for ever be with the Lord.”[7]

Shakespeare’s Romeo said, “He jests at scars, that never felt a wound.”

Baxter might add, “He fears facing scars who never embraces the truth that by Christ’s wounds we are healed.”


[1]J. I. Packer, A Grief Sanctified, Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1997, p. 13.
[2]Ibid., p. 56.
[3]Ibid.
[4]Richard Baxter, Reliquiae Baxteriannae, 1696.
[5]Packer, p. 197.
[6]Ibid., p. 57.
[7]Ibid., p. 149.

Mothers of the Church Fathers, Part 4

Mothers of the Church Fathers, Part 4

What have we learned and what can we learn from the mothers of the church fathers? We learn to listen to the silenced voices.

Listening to the Silenced Voices

When we listen to the silenced voices of the forgotten Church Mothers we lean back hearing a megaphone blaring, “Women are worthy!” Remember, this was nearly 2,000 years ago—not exactly an era perceived to be the height of the women’s movement. Yet again and again, the great Church Fathers consistently testified to their spiritual debt to the great Church Mothers.

When we listen to the silenced voices of the forgotten Church Mothers we lean over to hear a calm, quiet voice whispering, “Women are God-empowered.” We do not detect even a trace of arrogance or anger in these powerful women. In fact, it seems that they would blush at the word “powerful.” Rather, they would choose the word “empowered.” These Church Mothers saw themselves as God-called and God-empowered lights in the darkness. They reflected the light of hope coming from the Son of God as they journeyed gently yet confidently with other women and with men.