Life Before and After Winter

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter again. It was Winter '07 when Al Groves left us. His wife, Elizabeth, or Libbie if you know her, chose those headings for sections of the story. The book is called grief undone, A Journey with God and Cancer, published by New Growth Press, and you will need some tissues nearby as you read this heart-breaking but somehow comforting tale. It is heart-breaking because it hurts to read of  this loving, happy, busy family as they deal with incurable illness. And it is both sad and comforting to know they are leaning on God, the Father; Jesus, the Good Shepherd; and the Holy Spirit, who guides us through each new day. This book is incredibly sad. But if you read it, I am sure you will be incredibly glad you did.

It was in the winter of '06 that Al was told that there was "a spot" on his chest X-ray. They had many scares before that and he had been through many doctors' appointments, exams, tests, biopsies, and X-rays. They were unloading groceries from the car when he told Libbie. They continued with the unloading while they were both thinking of the possibilities and not wanting to scare each other.

After talking it over, they decided to tell their children. "It's hard to tell your kids that their father has something that might turn out to be terminal cancer," Libbie wrote later. The younger two were twelve and fourteen. The older two were one in college and one graduated, married, and at work, both in other parts of the country.

I'm not sure when Libbie decided to write this book but early on she kept detailed notes and she tells us in mostly two-or-three-page-chapters all of the difficult, heart-breaking, and beautiful moments and days. A friend helped them start a blog and Al often wrote to friends in their local neighborhood and church and around the world to tell them what was happening, how they were dealing with it, and asking for prayers. More than seven years have passed since Al went to be with the Lord in the Winter of 2007. Libbie continued her education and is now a lecturer and teaching assistant at a nearby seminary and she has several grandchildren to love and enjoy. Thanks be to God.......

---Lois Sibley,
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Remembering Mister Rogers

"War isn't nice," said Mister Rogers. ;He went on to explain his feelings about war and peace as he talked with the children in his Neighborhood of Make Believe on television. There is a new book, Peaceful Neighbor, Discovering the CounterCultural Mister Rogers, by Michael G. Long,who is associate professor of peace and conflict studies at Elizabethtown College, and author of several books on civil rights, religion, politics, and peacemaking. This book is published by WestminsterJohnKnox,

Many of our children grew up watching Mister Rogers on tv, listening to his opinions and stories, content in his Neighborhood of Make Believe, I wonder what those children who were watching remember and how it affected them as they grew up facing problems of their own day. One of those who remembers told me that her dad, as he was leaving for work, asked her to be sure to watch Mister Rogers and they would talk about it when he came back. So she did, and she remembers they sat down and talked about what Mister Rogers, with his puppets and friends, had been talking about that day.

"Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister....who believed in a God who accepts us as we are and loves us without condition, who is present to each person and all of creation, and who desires a world marked by peace and wholeness," writes Long, as he takes Fred Rogers and his Neighborhood seriously. "And why not? For more than three decades, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was a national powerhouse that reached more than 3.5 million viewers weekly." 

Author Long has been digging through Rogers' papers at the Fred Rogers Archive at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Penn; reading his speeches at the Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Archive at the University of Pittsburgh; studying numerous episodes of the tv run of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968--2001), listening to many interviews Rogers gave, and talking with people he knew well. Long calls him "a powerful, storytelling peacemaker, who taught us to practice deep listening, deep thinking, and deep understanding," antidotes to violence in any form,

Long says Mister Rogers "was a radical Christian pacifist, fervently committed to the end of violence and the presence of social justice in its full glory. The time has come to pull him out of the shadows so we can celebrate him just as he was---a fierce peacemaker."

---Lois Sibley, ireviewreligiousbks

Psalms as Hymns of the Church

"The book of Psalms is not a theological textbook," writes Tremper Longman III in his author's preface for his new book  Psalms, which is volume 15 and 16 of the new version in Tyndale's Old Testament Commentary (TOTC) now available from IVPress. But rather, Longman writes: it is "the libretto of the most vibrant worship imaginable." He claims that the Psalms "not only want to inform our intellect, but to stimulate our imagination, arouse our emotions and stir us on to holy thoughts and actions." Is he right? Could 150 poetic hymns and songs, with laments firmly imbedded in their contents, do that for us? I wonder.......

Longman, who is Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA, quickly tells us that "even though the laments outnumber the hymns, the predominant note is praise." O.K., that caught my attention and he goes on to explain that each one has a title, Many of the titles include the name of the author, but some titles refer to historical events or liturgy or tunes, or for teaching. The 150 are offered as 5 books, each book having its title and purpose. Longman refers to Psalms 1 and 2 as the beginning or introduction with the closing 5 of the 150 in a doxology. He thinks that stepping back and looking at the way it begins with laments but ends with the last 5 poems in praise may bring us to think that God is "turning our wailing into dancing."

Longman studies each Psalm under the headings of Context, Comment, and Meaning. Readers may follow him through their favorite, maybe Ps. 117, the shortest; or the longest, Ps. 119; or perhaps Ps. 22 with its special application to the death of Christ, often remembered during Lent. Choose a favorite and you will soon be caught up in the lure, mystery, and love of God for his people.....

Tremper does believe there is theology in the Psalms but, as poetry they "arouse the readers' emotions, stimulate their imagination, and appeal to their will. For these purposes, poetry is most effective." He reminds us that as early as the fourth century, Athanasius was saying. 'the Psalms are an epitome of the whole Scriptures,'" And "Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, noted that 'the Psalms are a compendium of all theology.'" Some of today's theologians are following in the way.

A point that I like is that Longman thinks the "prominent mention of tora in Psalm 1 signals that the Psalter is to be read as tora [the 5 books of Moses]." In other words, David's tora is to be read "alongside the tora of Moses" and "this prompts the reader to expect tora in the rest of the Psalter and to be guided by it." Perhaps one could or should mentally fast-forward and think about possibilities for someday.....when Christians and Jewish believers  may be worshiping God together.

---Lois Sibley,
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Joni prays, but still in pain...

This is not a new book. Copyright date is 2010, but it is such an important book, I cannot skip by it. Many of you will remember Joni Eareckson Tada and her diving accident, which is now old news. It happened in the 1960s and she has survived to this point though still a quadriplegic---more than 40 years in a wheelchair! Joni has spoken to thousands of groups, written many books, started and continues to manage an organization that began as Joni and Friends, and now includes the International Disability Center, located in California.

Joni has strong faith in the Lord and his ability to heal and she knows the Bible stories to prove it. She prays often for herself and others who need and want healing, but so far it hasn't happened for her. In her new book, A Place of Healing, there are also two subtitles: Wrestling with the Mystery of Suffering, and Pain and God's Sovereignty. Published by David C. Cook, those subtitles will give you hints of what she is going to write. First, quadriplegics cannot wrestle, can they, and second, what does sovereignty mean anyway?  Joni knows the answers and she tells them, using Bible stories and the stories of people she knows and their struggles with pain, and especially her own struggles over the last five years when she has dealt with increasingly unbearable pain. Yes, this book is about pain, but once you start reading it you won't be able to stop until you read the last page. 

As you read through the book and learn more about the challenges and the happenings she has been going through, there is news of a new challenge and what it means for Joni and husband Ken Tada. Then, she remembers her growing up years in the Reformed Episcopal Church back east, and she picks up the BCP and finds the Psalter reading for the day. It's about kneeling, Psalm 95:6. And Joni cannot kneel. It says "Kneel before the Lord, your maker...." so she asks the reader to kneel for her. And she writes: "while you are down there, if you feel so inclined, thank Him for being so good to a paralyzed woman named Joni." It's an amazing, scary, comforting, leaning on Jesus book. Read it...

---Lois Sibley,

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How to Understand the Atonement

Donald Macleod is probably a common name, both in the U.K., and in Canada and the U.S, and maybe other countries as well. The Donald Macleod whose book I am reviewing here is the one who, from 1978--2011, was professor of systematic theology at the Free Church of Scotland College in Edinburgh, Scotland. His new book, called Christ Crucified, Understanding the Atonement, is published by InterVarsity Press and available at ivpress.com/media. Now that he is retired from teaching, maybe Macleod will honor us with more books in future.

His book is laid out in two parts: Part 1: The way of the cross, which is not a chronology of the life of Christ, but rather Macleod reports on what the Gospel writers describe as they focus on Christ's suffering and death, under these three headings: 1) A man of sorrows; 2) From the third to the ninth hour; and 3) The divine paradox: the crucified Son. Macleod reminds us that  while the teaching of Jesus was important it was not where "his primary significance lay. It lay in his death." Macleod points out that earlier the Gospel writers showed little interest in chronological happenings in Jesus' life, but now, from the Last Supper to his burial, only 24 hours, there is a detailed account of his last few hours and we read about what was happening at the 3rd hour (morning), the 6th hour (mid-day), and the 9th hour. Macleod says "such detail is remarkable, and serves to underline the evangelists' [Gospel writers] concentration on Jesus' death." Part 1 closes with Athanasius (c. 296--373), Augustine (354--430), Anselm (c. 1033--1109) and Aquinas (1224--74) all attesting to Christ's vicarious sacrifice with his death on the cross.

Part 2 is called The word of the cross, and it is longer and consists of 11 sections, each beginning with a theological word and phrase. For example: Substitution [Christ dying for us]; Expiation, Propitiation,  Reconciliation, Satisfaction, Vicarious, Redemption, Victory. But, after all that, Macleod says "The linguistic arguments are secondary. This is not a debate about words. It is a debate about something absolutely fundamental: the Christian doctrine of God." And Macleod brings up A.A. Hodge, who in his book The Atonement said that "the words 'expiation' and 'propitiation' represent the same Greek word and as far as he is concerned [Hodge] each has the same legitimacy." Sometimes it's fun to listen in on these discussions. I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Macleod imagines thoughts and conversations as we walk through Holy Week with those who were there, as well as the opinions of theologians from Paul on down to Warfield, McGrath and many others.

---Lois Sibley
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Instead of Worrying...?

Mindscape, What to Think About Instead of Worrying is by Timothy Z. Witmer, who is Professor of Practical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, and pastor of a church in the area. Witmer is also author of several books on pastoral ministry. Mindscape is published by New Growth Press and is available at www.newgrowthpress.com. Witmer says his book is "written for everyone who has ever worried about anything." That would be quite a few of us, I think. And, being who Witmer is, it's also "written from a biblical perspective." He reminds us that the Bible is "not irrelevant to our current worries, struggles and desires." Lately I've been noticing that almost any story we read in the Bible sounds very much like struggles that are going on now. Anywhere in the world we might hear of similar struggles. That surprises me, and I am ready for some encouragement.

Witmer asks us to think about the "landscape of our minds---mindscape he calls it---and asks how do you deal with day-to-day anxieties? Do you worry? "Your condition is not hopeless," writes Witmer. And he has answers that may help. Witmer suggests that the Holy Spirit gave the Apostle Paul the right words we need so that we will not be worrying. Those words come from Paul's Letter to the Philippians, and in English they sound like this: "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable---if anything is excellent or praiseworthy---think about such things. (Phil. 4:8, NIV, 1985). Paul isn't saying "stop worrying," he is saying change directions. "Be anxious for nothing." Instead, stop, when something is worrying you, and bring it to God in prayer. Prayer, about everything, sounds like it is the answer.

In the next chapters Witmer discusses each of the qualities Paul has offered and meditation on each is suggested. Witmer claims a new mindscape will result. As you "think on these things," and practice, you will be changed. It will take time, but the Holy Spirit will guide if you ask. Witmer concludes that you will see progress in your mindscape, as you "replace worry with peace, as you replant hope in place of discouragement, as you weed out doubts, and as you grow in faith in the Gardener who is determined to transform you."

---Lois Sibley,
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One More for Lent...

Meeting God in Mark, Reflections for the Season of Lent,was  written by Rowan Williams when he was Archbishop of Canterbury. Actually, these are part of a short series of talks he gave at Canterbury when we were in Year B in 2010. I'm glad for the privilege of having them now and will enjoy them through the rest of this season of Lent. Published by WestminsterJohnKnox, the book is available at www.wjkbooks.com. By this time in Lent, as usual I have gathered quite a collection of readings for Lent and I don't want to miss anything so I try to squeeze them all in.

Williams, who is now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, reminds us that Mark is a bit different from the other Gospels. Mark doesn't tell us much about "Jesus' early life nor his teaching ministry and resurrection appearances." But Mark does offer "deeply theological perspectives," and he includes "these insights in skillful storytelling techniques and turns of phrase." Williams says that "offering simple stories requires enormous skill, and Mark is a great artist in this respect."

Meeting God in Mark begins with "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God...."  and tells the stories of John, coming as an important messenger, and Jesus, who came to John to be baptized,while God himself introduced his beloved Son, with whom he was "well pleased." Williams says that Jesus came to bring "change." "Someone's new reign was about to be inaugurated," writes Williams. So in Mark's Gospel, suddenly Jesus is there---and he is bringing great change.

Williams cautions readers to read slowly and he hopes we will "go back and let it work afresh" on us so that we will find that Mark gives us "the sense of a living Presence at work," that is, Jesus. May it be so.

---Lois Sibley,
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