Blog - Page 222 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Ministry in San Francisco

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:37-05:00August 8th, 2008|Categories: Personal|

I am in San Francisco this weekend, or north of the city to be more precise. I am speaking to the elders and pastoral staff of City Church in San Francisco. City Church is one of the truly great churches in the U.S. It began about 13 years ago as a church plant right in the center of the most secular city in the United States.

It has been noted by one recent poll that less than 4% of the people in San Francisco attend any kind of religious gathering even twice monthly. I can’t believe that any major city in the U.S. could compare to that low number, and the figure includes the practices of many who are not Christian in any sense of the term. Put into the equation the numbers of people attending churches that are not even remotely orthodox, and the percentage of people actually attending confessional churches could be less than 1%. Anyone who thinks about […]

The Shack

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:41-05:00August 7th, 2008|Categories: Books|

I think I have been asked one question more than any other, at least in terms of popular culture, in 2008: "Have you read The Shack yet?" The Shack, for those of you who are not paying attention, is the number one best-selling novel in America right now and it is written by a Christian author with an overtly Christian storyline. This in itself is amazing. Perhaps more amazingly, the theme of The Shack is not prophecy, or some strange speculation about the modern world, but rather it is story, a "parable" as the author describes it, about the nature of God as Trinity. Regardless of what you think about the book and whether you have read it or not, tell me, when was the last time a book dealing with the nature of God, that sought to reveal biblical truth in the process, became a number one bestseller?

Even more astounding is that The Shack is not published by a mainstream […]

A Compelling Story

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:41-05:00August 6th, 2008|Categories: Film|

There is a whole genre of films that one critic has called “the inspiring-teacher-as-unappreciated-martyr” movie (e.g. Dead Poet’s Society, Mr. Holland’s Opus and Mr. Chips). The Emperor’s Club, starring Kevin Kline as Mr. Hundert, a professor of Greek and Roman history at a boys’ prep school, fits this category. As much as I enjoyed the other three films mentioned I think I enjoyed this one slightly more.

Kline is a dedicated and selfless teacher, though a bit too moralistic for my tastes. The prestigious East Coast school holds an annual “Mr. Julius Caesar” contest in which the boy who can survive the competition and prevail wins the honor of being the campus Caesar for the year. The conflict in the story comes when Cedric Bell, a 15-year old son of a West Virginia U.S. Senator, appears in Mr. Hundert’s class. Bell is both smart and humorously rebellious, so he decides to change the school one way or the other.

The […]

Weigh the Issues When You Vote

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:41-05:00August 5th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

The Wall Street Journal recently compiled an extremely useful series of charts that deal with the major ideological and political positions articulated by the two major candidates for the presidency. In an attempt to promote non-partisan discovery of the actual positions of both candidates I encourage you to look at these charts. You will learn a lot if you haven’t studied the views of the two men.

I am never surprised to find I agree with one candidate at a certain point that I would not have expected, at least based on stereotypes, while at another I am radically opposed to his views. Neither one, in this race, lines up my views on several issues but there are striking differences between them that anyone can see if they bother to look
at the candidates carefully. I would predict that very little you now see in their views will change significantly before November 4. While the rhetoric
will heat up, and the debates will take place, these views are likely to
remain the positions of the two men. Rather than get caught up in
election […]

Who Is Governor Bobby Jindal?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:41-05:00August 4th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

Governor Bobby Jindal has been mentioned, usually at the end of a long list, as a possible running mate with John McCain in November. Governor Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) was born on June 10, 1971, which makes him less than two years older than my own son, who was born March 26, 1973. That also makes it hard for me to think of him as a Vice-President, but then my son is the kind of bright young leader that I could vote for in a heart beat.

The most frequently mentioned reason for John McCain to not choose Bobby Jindal is his age. But Bobby Jindal has just as much experience as Senator Barack Obama, at least if you look at his experience objectively. And he has already accomplished far more as a real leader than Obama could imagine. Like you, I have heard Jindal’s name a great deal in the news recently so I decided to check him out. Would McCain shock […]

Preaching Is in My Heart

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:42-05:00August 3rd, 2008|Categories: Homiletics/Preaching|

The apostle Paul writes of preaching:

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believe in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

When I was ordained, back in August of 1970, the text my pastor used was 1 Timothy 5:17:
"The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching." I still recall him saying this means we should support, both personally and financially, those who labored in preaching. I knew almost nothing then but I was sure I was called to preach. There was, in my soul, that sense that said, "Woe is me if I do not preach the gospel."

[…]

Why I Am a Conservative

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:42-05:00August 2nd, 2008|Categories: Politics|

I often consider the ways in which conservatives and liberals think about what they see in the world. They do reflect two rather dramatically different ways of seeing the world, at least in general. Someone has said that a conservative is a person who has been run over by reality. I like that. The hard core facts of human nature, human wars, and human institutions and how they change, all tend to make conservatives want to preserve and care for the future by not radically altering the present. Change is welcome but we must have a carefully thought out prospect for true success.

The problem with this philosophy is that conservatives can become reactionary and oppose progress when it is needed. They can develop a complete aversion to change and this, in the end, is not good. Movements for American civil rights, to cite one important example in my lifetime, required a more progressive vision of how things could be truly different or real change would not have come. So conservatives will always need a big dose of this reality to balance […]

Alabama's Christian Govenor Gets It Right

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:42-05:00August 1st, 2008|Categories: Separation of Church & State|

Alabama’s Governor Bob Riley has asked the churches of his state, in a May 20 address, to shoulder the burden of caring for the newly released inmates of the state. He says the state of Alabama lacks the funds and flexibility to do the job. Leaders from churches and other non-profit groups were asked to assist in housing, employment assistance, clothing, health care and cash. He made an interesting appeal when he said churches rose to the occasion when Hurricane Katrina
hit the region and if they had the will they could rise to this occasion as well. Speaking to a group of some 500 leaders Riley said, "If we can motivate the faith-based communities in the state the way we do during an emergency then we can make a difference." The state releases 11,000 prisoners each year.

This is an issue […]

The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:42-05:00July 31st, 2008|Categories: Unity of the Church|

One of the very finest books written by Joseph Ratzinger, who would later become Pope Benedict XVI, was titled: The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1993). The original German edition was published in 1960 when Ratzinger was still a young man in his thirties. Thus this book is also pre-Vatican II. And it happens to be one of the most important things Ratzinger ever wrote, so far as I am concerned.

Ratzinger’s treatise argues that a true Christian brotherhood exists between all were believers in the one Christ. He gives us the biblical grounds for real cooperation and does it in a way that remains Roman Catholic at the same time. Many Catholics and Protestants would do well to read this precious little book.

Ratzinger establishes a Christian brotherhood from the perspective of salvation history by opening up both the Old and New Testaments on the subject. He shows that there is a distinctively Christian sense of brotherhood […]

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:42-05:00July 30th, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

The well-known American song, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," is 100 years old this year. It trails only "Happy Birthday" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the most frequently performed song in America, at least according to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. (I wonder where "Amazing Grace" is on this list. I would think it has to be the highest ranking religious song!)

What most people do not know is that this song was not always sung at baseball games and it was most certainly not a seventh inning ritual, as it now is, until much more recently.
It was in 1976 that the infamous Harry Caray, while working for
Bill Veeck and the Chicago White Sox at that time, decided to sing it in the seventh inning stretch. Harry could not sing at all and that seemed to make […]