Secretariat broke last and was running last at the first turn. On his way to a still-standing track record, 1:592⁄5 (at that time the Derby was timed to the 1/5 of a second rather than 1/100 of a second), Secretariat ran each quarter-mile segment faster than the one before it. The successive quarter-mile times were 251⁄5, 24, 234⁄5, and 23. This means he was still accelerating as he ran the final quarter-mile of the race. Only one other horse, Monarchos in 2001, has run a sub 2.00 Derby.
From TIME:
Though exact numbers may not always be available, the larger trend is clear: this numerical division between traditionalists and revisionists is also seen around the world. It’s the stricter Christian churches that typically have stronger and more vibrant congregations — as has been documented at least since Dean M. Kelley’s 1996 book, Why Conservative Churches Are Growing.
![Around-the-Horn[1]](http://treadinggrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Around-the-Horn1-150x150.jpg)
The Presidential Wheel Turns
All this felt like an antidote to Obama—to the imperious I, to the inability to execute, to the endless interviews and the imperturbable drone, to the sense that he is trying to teach us, like an Ivy League instructor taken aback by the backwardness of his students. And there’s the unconscious superiority. One thing Mr. Bush didn’t think he was was superior. He thought he was luckily born, quick but not deep, and he famously trusted his gut but also his heart. He always seemed moved and grateful to be in the White House. Someone who met with Mr. Obama during his first year in office, an old hand who’d worked with many presidents, came away worried and confounded. Mr. Obama, he said, was the only one who didn’t seem awed by his surroundings, or by the presidency itself.
All In Good Fun
At an annual art school parade, a female student dressed up as the pope, and was naked from the waist down while she passed out condoms. Even more, witnesses say the woman had shaved her pubic hair in the shape of a cross. “It’s all in good fun and it’s not meant to harm anyone,” Ivy Kristov told KDKA’s Andy Sheehan.
Playing Politics With The Sacraments?
The Eucharist is a gift, it is not an entitlement. There’s no right to the Eucharist. It has always been the food of the faithful, and there has never been an open invitation. In the ancient church the unbaptized were not even allowed to witness it. To hear of people demanding the sacrament violates the very spirit of it. It’s something received with thanksgiving, not seized like a union benefit.
’42′ And Us
When the packed crowd in that Minneapolis theatre burst into applause at the end of the movie a few weeks ago, I didn’t read it as an endorsement of Methodist theology or piety. Rather, it seemed to me welcome evidence that, amidst vast cultural and political confusions, Americans still believe in moral truths, moral absolutes, and moral courage—and yearn for opportunities to celebrate them. There’s an important lesson in that for the country’s religious and political leaders.
George Jones: Troubadour of the Christ-Haunted Bible Belt
I’m not sure whether Jones sought repentance with tears, but he certainly sang of the longing for it with a quavering voice. In that sense, Jones communicated exactly what Flannery O’Connor wrote of when she spoke of a “Christ-haunted South,” a region with a ubiquitous gospel, but without the ubiquity of gospel power.
The Socially Acceptable Sin
Most Christians today like to say that all sins are “equal” in the eyes of God, that there is no scale of less or worse sins, that a white lie or a homicide alike would have been enough to require Christ to die on the cross. We say this in theory, but in practice, we know that a white lie won’t get you kicked off the church leadership team. And a homicide likely will.
“Happy Birthday, Willie! 80 and still a pilgrim. All the best … Bono, The Edge, Adam & Larry”
Willie Nelson turned 80 yesterday and U2 decided to mark the occasion with the release of a previously unseen video of the song ‘Slow Dancing’ featuring U2 and Willie Nelson.
From The Cripplegate:
I would contend that calling out false teachers is not only the most loving thing you can do for the sheep, it is also the most loving thing that you can do for the false teachers themselves.
Referring to false teachers in Titus 1:13 Paul says, “reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith”. The “so that” indicates that part of the reason we are to reprove false teachers is for their own spiritual health! To be “sound in the faith” speaks of spiritual health and wholeness. Far from being unloving, it is actually to the false teachers’ advantage that they be reproved.
From Carl Trueman. Provocative.
This month, I thought I would use this column to indulge in a little thought experiment. What, I wonder, if the conservative evangelical church world came to be dominated by a symbiotic network of high profile and charismatic leaders (think more Weber than Wimber), media organisations, and big conferences? What if leadership, doctrine, and policy were no longer rooted in the primacy of biblical polity and the local church? What if, in other words, all of this became a function of an Evangelical Industrial Complex?
It is an important question. It is probably a year or so since I raised the question of the impact of celebrity on evangelicalism. As I was told then, celebrity either does not exist in the evangelical subculture or is of no real importance there. Thus, I suspect the Evangelical Industrial Complex either does not exist or exerts no influence; but it is entertaining to imagine what would the signs be that it was a real issue (which, I am sure you will agree, it is not).
The aesthetics of success would subtly and imperceptibly supplant the principles of faithfulness or would indeed come to be identified with the same. The rhetoric of faithfulness would be retained, but the substance would be less and less important. Thus, the key leaders would be the men at the big churches or with the ability to pack a stadium or to handle media with slick sophistication. Fruitfulness and faithfulness would be rhetorically opposed in a way that would be ridiculous if we were talking marriage, but which somehow seems plausible in a church context . . .
The key books on pastoral ministry would be written by men who either have no real experience of anything approaching normal pastoral ministry or have not had such for decades. Students at seminaries would rarely, if ever, name their own pastors as the most influential preachers in their lives. Multi-site video churches would spring up, as the desire to be connected to success and to the Top Men, rather than to serve as part a local body, would become a significant factor in church life. The pastors held up as models of ministry would have little personal contact with most people in their churches . . .
Ordained office would be of little significance in the world of the Evangelical Industrial Complex. Character, personal orthodoxy, a transparent, stable, loving family life embedded in a particular congregation, prioritisation of hard work in the local church setting (evidenced by far more Sundays serving in your home church than anywhere else), ability to teach the local church, accountability to a local session, elder board or presbytery – these things would be at a discount. One might even come across key leaders who had left their local calling precisely to further their ‘ministries.’ Paul’s list of elder qualifications in the Pastorals would be of secondary interest compared to the ability to handle communications media, to attend board meetings, to attract a crowd, to sell a title, and to network. And the average age of the key movers and shakers would slowly but surely decrease.
Tyler Burns writes:
Chris Broussard is officially a villain. Yes, he is an outcast, the latest in a long line of social pariahs deemed to be unworthy of the dignity of his own opinions. On Monday, Chris was called upon by his network ESPN to do his job, and was asked a series of questions in response to Jason Collins becoming the first openly gay athlete in any of the major sports.
As is his reputation, he answered them openly and honestly. What flowed from his mouth were not statements of hatred or anger, but rather a simple yet nuanced explanation of disagreement based upon his beliefs. What promptly ensued was a tirade of social media venom that few of us can rightfully say we have ever experienced. “Bigot,” “homophobe,” “discriminator,” “idiot” and other more profane verbal mortars were lobbed from afar behind the safety of smartphone screens and laptops alike.
“Tolerance” has indeed devolved, huh? It’s sunken into an equivocal, ever-shifting term that only applies to who agrees with the user’s worldview. So, what is our response when the tolerant decide to no longer tolerate us?
Good question. Read the rest.
Fun article from Pyromaniacs. And, you’ll see that our own Danny Gardner makes a few appearances #dannygardnerwickedfunny
Last Sunday (because: Sunday) I launched a new hashtag with this:”Look, if you can’t find a church as perfect as you, just stay home and read or listen to recordings or something” #GodNeverSaid
From Stephen Altrogge:
Kermit Gosnell is currently on trial for the twenty-plus years of atrocities that took place in his abortion clinic. The details of what actually happened in that clinic are enough to make you vomit, scream, and want to punch a wall. The more I read about the case the more it becomes clear that Kermit Gosnell was an evil man who did tremendously evil things. Horrific, holocaust-like things. Demonic things.
How should we Christians respond to this kind of evil? After all, Jesus commanded us to pray for our enemies and to do good to those who mistreat us. So how do we respond to a man who has killed babies, hurt women, and committed other untold wicked deeds? We respond in two ways.
Excellent article:
It struck me the other day that one of the reasons I have returned to mainline religion is because it’s so, well, adult.
Contrary to what I hear around me so often, I want my grandfather’s church.
I know, I know… there are characteristics of that old, traditional church that are not desirable: many had a narrow, parochial spirit, many were characterized by pervasive judgmental attitudes. They could be exclusive, racist, uncreative, and stuck in their ways. This I readily admit and abhor. A congregation that replaces a living, thriving, growing tradition with anemic or dead traditionalism is of no interest to me.
But I want a church where I know and feel that the adults are in charge, where wisdom trumps enthusiasm, where historical perspective is considered, where depth is valued as much as breadth, where stories have shaped us for generations.
I want a church building made of stone and wood, quality materials, with natural light and symbolic significance and a certain level of aesthetic excellence upheld in architecture, art, furnishings, music, liturgy, and preaching and teaching. I don’t want to be snobbish about it, as though these things are there to represent and satisfy my good taste. That is not the point. Rather, they should communicate weightiness, solidity, permanence. Those who come among us should think: “This is a place where life and love and God and people are taken seriously.”
I’m done with an approach to the faith that flies by the seat of its pants and calls it “spiritual.” Gatherings that feel like pep rallies, youth conventions, or pop concerts hold no appeal. I need to be humbled, not enthused; to know my place in a diverse, multi-generational community of ordinary people who are learning to “walk and not faint,” nourished by spiritual leaders and institutions that have gravitas and maturity.
Give me the neighborhood church on the corner, not the big box church on the suburban highway; the robed pastor in the pulpit, not the hipster who preaches from his iPad or the superstar on the video screen. Give me candles and altarware, you can keep the stage lights. Walk me through the Church Year, and help me teach my kids the Catechism. Keep things simple and meaningful. Don’t program us to death with something for everyone. Let us learn to love our neighbors by participating in the community through being involved in the schools, the sports and recreation leagues, the Scouts, the arts and in charitable causes. Give us time to have evening meals with our families and Sunday afternoons at the park or visiting with friends.
