Blog - Page 277 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Ashes and Turning Away from Sin

By John Armstrong|2007-02-21T17:06:54-06:00February 21st, 2007|Categories: Church Tradition|

Today is Ash Wednesday in the West. Catholics, Anglicans and Lutherans, as well as some other groups, follow this tradition each year. Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, which is the six-week period before Easter. It appears to have originated in the 8th century. It is a day to be characterized by a penitential service during which Christians receive ashes on their foreheads with the exhortation: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel." Another formula used in the application of the ash says, "Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return." In the Catholic Church this is an obligatory fast day. In the Roman rite the day was chosen because Sundays were excluded from fasting so to make up for the six Sundays before Easter the day fell on Wednesday. Lent ends on the Thursday before Easter and was also a time for adult catechumens to prepare for baptism and their first Eucharist.

What does all of this have to do with evangelical faith and practice? I suppose it all depends on your perspective about […]

The Prayer Appointed for the Week

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:46-05:00February 20th, 2007|Categories: Spirituality|

As readers of this blog know I have used The Divine Hours:A Manual for Prayer (Phyllis Tickle) for many months now. I have repeatedly found it a fruitful guide to daily fixed-hours of prayer and devotion. I do not follow the prayers every hour, or half-hour, using the guide. I try, and still fail, to follow the four designated times each day, if possible. These are: The Morning Office (between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.), The Midday Office (between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.), The Vespers Office (between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.) and Compline (before retiring for bed in the evening). The word office came into modern English useage via the Latin word opus, which meant "work." When we think of the word office we think of the place where we work. But it also refers to an activity, such as running for "office" or holding an "office." Thus the word still carries the idea of an activity.

For St. Benedict the fixed-hours of prayer were "the work of God," or "the offices." The idea behind this was that the striking […]

Anglicanism and the Pope: Is Reunion About to Happen?

By John Armstrong|2007-02-19T10:33:54-06:00February 19th, 2007|Categories: Roman Catholicism|

The Times of London reports in today’s edition (www.timesonline.co.uk) that proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church are to be published later this year. Senior bishops of both churches are involved in these proposals and have written a 42-page statement through an internal commission of both churches. The statement urges exploration. Catholic bishops, according to The Times, are preparing a formal response.

The issue that presently divides the worldwide Anglican communion is gay ordination. This issue reflects a long downhill slide in the Western church that has led toward radical rejection of both biblical and historical authority. There is a deep longing among many conservative Anglicans for some form of churchly authority that can stop this awful slide.

There are 78 million Anglicans worldwide and over one billion Catholics. The Anglican Church’s credibility is being undermined in a world that many believe, and I include myself, needs a strong witness to historical Christian unity. This new report comes from the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, begin in 2000 by Archbishop […]

Tranfiguration Sunday & My Junk

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:46-05:00February 18th, 2007|Categories: Church Tradition|

I have grown to love the church calendar for numerous reasons. Perhaps the simplest reason is that it takes me through the high points of the Christian story every single year. As Epiphany moves into Lent, and we approach the great celebration of Easter, many Western traditions celebrate Transfiguration Sunday on this date. As a Baptist evangelical in my first forty years or so none of this stuff was ever mentioned. The closest we ever got to a service intentionally linked to the transfiguration was if the pastor was preaching through a gospel text and that text fell on this event, which never happened at any special time of the year. It was always odd to me that we still celebrated Christmas and Easter, which seemed quite artificial to me. (Consistent Puritans, where they still exist, celebrate none of these days at all. Even the great Puritan-Baptist preacher Charles H. Spurgeon spoke about these dates having no significance to the church’s life and then preached sermons at Christmas and Easter that fit the occasion!) In my background our worship was generally one of two […]

The Changing Face of the Abortion Debate in America

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:46-05:00February 17th, 2007|Categories: Marriage & Family|

The cover of the week’s Time magazine has a picture of a human hand with four replica fetuses at various stages of early development resting in the hand. It is a powerful image and worth more than a thousand words. The story is titled: “The Abortion Campaign You Never Hear About.” It reveals how crisis pregnancy centers are working to win one woman at a time to not undergo an abortion and thus to give birth to her baby. The writer, Nancy Gibbs, asks: “But are they playing fair?”

What follows is a story about the growth and operation of countless pregnancy centers (one group says there are 2,300 but the number is seemingly low) around the United States. These centers are typically Christian and often operate under the umbrella of one of three national groups: Care Net, Heartbeat International and the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates. What surprises me is that it took the mainstream media this long to even pay attention to this movement. The reason they are paying attention now is that the rate of abortion is […]

The Gospel and the Harvest of India

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:46-05:00February 16th, 2007|Categories: Evangelism|

By all accounts a great harvest of the Holy Spirit is going on in India at the present moment. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has a project in India called My Hope which recently reported over 4 million responses to the gospel over the past few months! Effective evangelism in India is spreading and millions of lay Christians are being equipped to share Christ powerfully in this growing harvest season.

I visited India twice in the 1980s and saw a marvelous work of the Spirit in the south, in the state of Andra Pradesh, one of the larger Christian population centers in India, with over 10% of the state professing faith. I preached to thousands, baptized hundreds, dedicated church buildings, layed hands on the sick, and particpated in times of deliverance. What I saw changed my life. I have longed believed that India was ripe for an even bigger harvest. Hinduism has failed India and Islam is not the leading force for change in a modern democracy like India, which is an increasingly open society.

The Indian church uses […]

The Jesus Prayer

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:46-05:00February 15th, 2007|Categories: Spirituality|

The apostle Paul commands believers, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, to "Pray without ceasing (continually, TNIV). It seems apparent that we cannot be in the continual posture of prayer, or in the place of prayer, at all times. But can we live a life of prayer that keeps us in the continual practice of prayer while we do a hundred other things throughout a busy day?

The Eastern Church developed a monastic practice that was rooted in the Greek word hesychia, which meant silence or leisure. This practice developed whereby the monks learned to pray monological prayers in order to experience elements of the mystery of the Christian faith deep within. Aspects of mysticism followed, some good and some a bit removed from what seems to be biblical spirituality. Hesychast practice focused on the concentration of attention within, first verbally, and then in the depth of one’s being, using what was called The Jesus Prayer.

The Jesus Prayer is: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Variations exist, with some forms omitting the last two words, but […]

Marriage & Abortion: There is a Link

By John Armstrong|2007-02-14T21:23:35-06:00February 14th, 2007|Categories: Marriage & Family|

For some time I have believed that there had to be a clear link between marriage and abortion. Yesterday I heard a commentary on Relevant Radio (Catholic) that showed there was an obvious connection. Unmarried couples are four times more likely to have an abortion than married couples. And single mothers are also four times more likely to have an abortion than married mothers. Further, children growing up in homes without married parents are far more likely to have an abortion as well.

We recently heard that the number of unmarried adults in America now exceeds the number of married adults, with almost 51% of adults not married. This stastic is a bit misleading in several ways, including how the data was gathered. Yet I would have to guess that things do not bode well for either marriage or the pro-life movement over the long term unless we see a new generation arise that is deeply committed to a culture of life. Except for a religious awakening of major proportions this seems quite unlikely.

One things is certain. The church […]

The Prayer of Compline

By John Armstrong|2007-02-13T07:31:21-06:00February 13th, 2007|Categories: Spirituality|

In the fixed-hour prayer tradition, which I spoke about last week, the final hour (the fourth) is called compline. Here one prays prayers that are for retiring for an evening to sleep. Last evening “The Reading” (always short) for compline was from Thomas a Kempis. This reading went with me into my dreams (literally) and I arose today still praying it.

We should renew out purpose daily, and should stir up ourselves to fresh enthusiasm, as though this were the first day of our conversion, and we should say, “Help me Lord Jesus, that I may persevere in my good purpose and in Your holy service to my life’s end. Grant that I may now, this very day, perfectly begin, for what I have done in time past is as nothing.”

Compline is designed to be the hour of rest and is thus structured. I found myself dreaming of how I could be stirred up to “fresh enthusiasm” through the evening, or at least in the moments before awaking today. “The first day of our conversion . . . life’s end.” What […]

A Postmodern U2 Worship Experience

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:46-05:00February 12th, 2007|Categories: Postmodernity|

Like it or not, U2 and lead singer Bono, are a huge success. They are not only a huge media success, and have sold millions of CDs, but they are having an even bigger impact upon the world for the cause of social justice and AIDS awareness in Africa. This phenomenon is not just about the music of U2, though their music has a power and an appeal that is unique.

Last evening my local congregation in Carol Stream, The Lutheran Church of the Master, hosted a U2 Eucharist. This service was the first of a new postmodern congregational gathering called Nexus, which will meet once a month on the second Sunday evening. The context for this “journey” was the music of U2 combined with many ancient practices of the Christian Church. And the band, a local Chicago group called Vertigo, was a pretty good U2 knock-off group.

This U2 Eucharist included strobe lightning, very loud music and the popular songs of Bono’s famous band that speak of deeply spiritual themes: “Pride,” “I Don’t Know the Way,” “I Still Haven’t Found […]