Blog - Page 229 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Telling Our ACT 3 Story

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:50-05:00June 6th, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

At our May 12-14 ACT 3 board meeting we decided to produce a video version of our story. This will likely come in three formats. One will be a short You Tube version for as wide an audience as possible. A second will be a 5-7 minute version designed for groups and churches to see in mission conferences and other public settings. People who invite me to speak can use this shorter version to introduce me and to tell our story. The longest version, ten to twelve minutes, will be for individual use on DVD. We want to make and distribute these copies as widely as possible. All three will, of course, be available online.

As we discussed our mission at the May meeting we realized that we do not have an effective way of telling people our story. We want to tell people why we exist, what we do and how effective the mission is in fulfilling our God-given mandate. Our goal is not publishing, writing blogs, or preaching/teaching. It is changing lives and churches. It means mentoring and equipping. It means […]

Cardinal George's Response to Father Pflegler

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:50-05:00June 5th, 2008|Categories: Separation of Church & State|

I have made the point numerous times on this site, and in my ACT 3 Weekly E-zine columns, that ministers ought to avoid partisan political positions and speech. I also argued that Governor Huckabee would have been wise to give up his ordination when he ran for office, as I would say for any other minister. The radically different roles of minister and political servant of the state are too easily confused. We ought to work very hard to correct this confusion.

We got a great reminder of how this can be done when Father Michael Pflegler spoke out on May 25 about Hillary Clinton and turned a sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ into an endorsement of Barack Obama.
The swift response of Francis Cardinal George of Chicago was beautiful and correct. He reminded Father Pflegler that his role was to serve his parish as a priest, not to engage in partisan politics. Pflegler has done this for many years and […]

An Orthodox and Evangelical Conversation

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:50-05:00June 4th, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

This Friday evening, at 7:00 EDT, I will take part in a public dialog with Father Jon Braun (Orthodox), at All Saints Orthodox Church in Bloomington, Indiana. Anyone near Bloomington is welcome to attend. Information is available from All Saints Church. The host pastor is Father Peter Gillquist, the son of the Orthodox evangelist and church-planting leader who was a major leader in Campus Crusade for Christ when I was in college. In fact, Jon Braun was also a leader in Campus Crusade for Christ in those days and had a wonderful influence upon my life personally.

We will each present our journey of faith in ten minutes and then we will each speak of the strengths of the other person’s position and then conclude with three weaknesses. Response will follow and questions will be taken. I look forward to this evening and hope friends in Indiana who can come will attend. If a tape is made I will get it on the ACT 3 site as soon as possible. You will also find, on the ACT 3 Web site, […]

How We Define Race and Why

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:50-05:00June 3rd, 2008|Categories: Race and Racism|

When Father Michael Pflegler, a white Catholic priest serving a Chicago South Side back congregation, railed on Hillary Clinton nine days ago people were rightly appalled. (By the way, Father Michael Pflegler has been around quite awhile and has had a very effective ministry that looks and feels like a charismatic black congregation, not a typical Roman Catholic parish in the city!) His silly tirade of May 25 created a whole new media buzz about Obama and Trinity Church. It then led to Obama’s withdrawal from his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ. What Pflegler said, as he adopted a mock voice to represent Clinton, was (in effect): “I am white. I’m entitled. And a black man is stealing my show.” When this clip made it to You Tube it became instant news. (How much has You Tube changed the way we get the news and how fast we respond to it? This is another case of how techne squeezes out thought and […]

Why Do So Many Young Voters Love Barack Obama?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:50-05:00June 2nd, 2008|Categories: Politics|

Whether you like Barack Obama or not there are multitudes of young voters who are energized by his candidacy. We have not seen this for decades. (In my lifetime I can think only of George McGovern, who energized the young powerfully during the Vietnam era because of his anti-war stance, and JFK back in 1960, with his idealism, youthful looks and the image of a profile in courage with new vision.) Barack Obama not only appears vigorous and youthful but he seems to offer new ideas that energize the youngest voters and give them hope.

A lot of pundits have offered a lot of reasons for his appeal. Some of this magnetism is to be linked to "Bush fatigue" and the Iraq War. But something about Barack Obama has appealed to the young with or without these negative factors.
It can not […]

Peggy Noonan on Scott McClellan's Controversial Book

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:50-05:00May 31st, 2008|Categories: Politics|

Peggy Noonan’s thoughtful and fair perspective on contemporary politics often amazes me. I read her "Declarations" column in the Wall Street Journal every Saturday, always with real anticipation. Such was the case when she responded to Barack Obama’s famous speech given after the first Jeremiah Wright controversy. She was quite moved by the speech and took a lot of heat for saying so. (Astute readers will also recall that Peggy Noonan wrote a personal memoir on Ronald Reagan, for whom she worked, and a biography of Pope John Paul, whom she loved deeply!)

Well, Ms. Noonan did it again today. She wrote a piece titled, "But Is It True?" Her response is to Scott McClellan’s newly released memoir,
What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and the Culture of Deception. Again Ms. Noonan surprises many by asking the question that really matters. (I should noted, that I have not read the book and may not take the time to do so. Ms. Noonan […]

Take the Warnings About the Sun Seriously

By John Armstrong|2008-05-30T05:00:00-05:00May 30th, 2008|Categories: Personal|

I have had my share of sunburn over the course of my life. In the South we grew up out-of-doors and I worked in the heat and sunshine and generally was careful, though sun screen was not very macho in my time. I did get an occasional burn and felt it for a day or so.

On Monday I walked in a Memorial Day parade and then went to a minor league baseball game (it was cloudy when we left home and we were sure it would rain) where I sat outside another three hours. By the end of the day I was toast. I clearly experienced heat exhaustion and have not completely recovered yet. Symptoms include muscular discomfort, dehydration, sleeplessness, headaches, fever, chills and, worst of all, severe nausea. Combined with my not all that robust health situation I have had it pretty tough this week. Please pray for me that I might recover and preach this coming Sunday at First Reformed Church in South Holland.

While I am at it would you also pray for the John Fawcett family. […]

What is the UCC and Should We Care?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:50-05:00May 29th, 2008|Categories: The Church|

The United Church of Christ (UCC) has made the news of late. The primary reason for this interest has been the long time association of presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama with Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Trinity is atypical of the UCC in several ways.

It is one of only a small handful of African-American congregations in the UCC. The UCC was only birthed in 1957 and was the result of the merger of several different strands of Protestantism into an ecumenically inclined new entity that was inclined toward a liberal stance from the beginning. And from the beginning the UCC has been a predominantly white denomination.

But Trinity does fit the UCC perfectly in other ways. It is politically and socially liberal. It also embraces a wide array of theologically liberal positions, especially on the acceptance of same-sex marriage. The UCC accepted a number of prominent gay/lesbian churches into membership a few years ago.

[…]

The True Spirit of Sport

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:51-05:00May 28th, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

My readers know that I truly love baseball. I grew up on the game with my dad. I have come to see so many parallels between this great game and life itself. It was once said, about professional baseball: "Baseball is on the wane. Salaries must come down or the interest of the public must be increased in some way. If one or the other does not happen, bankruptcy stares every team in the face."
This prophecy sounds just like some I heard in the 1980s. It was actually made by Albert Spalding in 1881. The game lives on and still attracts people in large numbers. There are problems but the game is healthy.

One of my friends sent me an ESPN video clip on a college women’s softball game from a few days ago. Even if you do not like baseball (or softball) you can truly appreciate this amazing story. Watch it and see it you are not moved by […]

The "Confessional" Debate

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:51-05:00May 27th, 2008|Categories: Unity of the Church|

Several responses to my blogs have recently underscored the very reason why ACT 3 is committed to the mission of the whole Church. Various comments you can read reflect the older "Reformed" or "Lutheran" confessionalism of the kind that divided evangelical churches over the "proper" theological understanding of the Lord’s Supper.

If you want to see specifically what I am talking about then read some of the comments from several Lutherans, of the LCMS family, that were posted last week. These are obviously fine people holding to a view that is still held by many such Lutherans. The issues they address are serious (especially to them) because they threaten the unity of a large and conservative Christian family. The LCMS has experienced turmoil over these issues before and this has gone on for many years.

Some yeas ago I spent […]