prairie (w)hole

Pictures

2011-05-11T14:49:00.003-05:00

Since the birth of this blog however many years ago now most (maybe all) of the pictures have been from around The Farm and several from Missy's grandparents' place (including the header). It's not just because I like this place (although I do) and it's not just because I'm here and this is what I have to photograph (although that's true too). No, there is a certain significance (maybe even "

Assignment

2011-05-10T14:54:00.003-05:00

It's a beautiful day here. Hot, but beautiful. I've been eagerly anticipating (and noting to Missy how eagerly I have been anticipating) the coming of Spring. We've lived here on The Farm before during all three other seasons - but never Spring. Not such a big deal to Missy since she grew up here and has experienced many a beautiful Spring day here.Yesterday was sunny and hot, too. And the

Towards a Theology of Farming

2010-12-09T15:39:00.002-06:00

A person could write volumes on the intersection of Christian life and farming – and on the vast and various theological perspectives that would robustly support and uphold our care for farming and food production as Christians. There are numerous points and sub-points that one could argue from, but I would like to briefly mention five that I think lay a quite substantial

Journal Entry: A New Life on the Farm

2010-10-13T14:29:00.002-05:00

A new life on the farm. Financial needs being met by the Lord through the provision of a job. Without that job and weekly paycheck the Lord would have led and provided otherwise - but we are amazed at the way these things have come together.And yet the central thrust - the whole and purposed life to which we are called - is yet mysterious to us. It is yet unshaped and ill-defined - however

Reflection on Grace - Sunday, July 25, 2010

2010-07-28T12:52:00.001-05:00

Today I would like to offer maybe more of a personal reflection than a sermon perhaps. You note-takers out there can put down your pens and paper and just listen. Just listen. Listen with your ears and your hearts to a simple story of a simple woman who has simply transformed the lives of many by the grace-filled story that she allowed herself to be spoken out of, breathed into, and acted from

Boy, wouldn't I love to...

2010-07-21T10:10:00.001-05:00

"...dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods." Ezekiel 34:25b

Confession

2010-06-16T10:09:00.003-05:00

I'm too often a hot-head. Frustration is another word for anger. Where then is peace, patience, love, and long-suffering? How foolish of me to become frustrated (angry) when people don't understand the depth and profundity of the Gospel, the radical life-changing nature of Grace, and the beauty and love inherent in all that God has made. Instead of frustration - patience. Instead of anger -

The proverbial head against the wall...

2010-05-21T10:40:00.002-05:00

My head encounters the wall when I daily realize that the thrust behind much "Christian Education," "Discipleship," and what passes for the "Christian Life" is undergirded by the desire for:more, when I think we need lesswork, when I think we need restknowledge, when I think we need slow wisdomexcitement, when I think we need joyprogress, when I think we need peacestrength, when I think we need

Sabbath, Gospel, and Rural Iowa

2010-05-20T09:22:00.006-05:00

In the past year of ministry I have seen in greater detail and clarity the "relevance" of wilderness, the necessity of silence, the profundity of prayer, and the transformative power of rest. Perhaps it's that in all these practices Grace is evident. In all these practices there is a certain stopping, resting, waiting, yielding. If you cannot rest then you cannot know Grace. If you cannot

This dream I dream with open eyes and it goes something like this…

2010-05-04T15:14:00.003-05:00

I see a barn and an acreage that haven’t been attended to for some time. They have been occupied – but the corners and the edges of the place have not been filled out. I see the years since the life of the place and the lives of its people have been intermixed and intertwined. I see a time when it was difficult, if not impossible, to separate the life of the place with the lives of its people

The liturgy of consumption and the gospel

2010-04-27T11:09:00.009-05:00

"It we bring this liturgical notion of 'religious' to our analysis of the mall, if we shift to the left a bit and see through its everyday appearance (like those louvered blinds), we'll see the mall with new eyes. We'll begin to see that the rhythms, rituals, and spaces of a mall are loaded with meaning; and more specifically, they are loaded with a particular vision of the kingdom, a particular

There is no lyric

2010-04-23T22:19:00.003-05:00

There is no lyricin my soul todayand I fear thatmy theologymy churchmy religionare shovels of dirtthrown down and overmy lyrical soulas we talk aboutevidences and truthexplanations and outlines.Mystery is summarily executedand faith is a wordlobotomized and defined.The hope in a lonely sparrowtracing the rooftops,the mystery and depthof wilderness and wildness,the flash of colorglimpsed through

I am Unable

2010-04-23T13:35:00.002-05:00

I am unableto be what I preachbut perhapsthat is the point.Don't feign blindnessor pretend myselfto be the distributorof grace.However unworthyI think myselfto be - the situationis actually much worse.But the grace is bothfreer and greaterthan I couldever suppose.

The Centrality of the Gospel

2010-04-21T14:18:00.003-05:00

It is very common in the church to think as follows. "The gospel is for non-Christians. One needs it to be saved. But once saved, you grow through hard work and obedience." But Col. 1:6 shows that this is a mistake. Both confession and "hard work" that is not arising from and "in line" with the gospel will not sanctify you--it will strangle you.Tim Keller"The Centrality of the Gospel"

The Cost of Discipleship

2010-04-19T16:47:00.005-05:00

"Man-in-revolt" imagines that there is a relation of cause and effect between work and sustenance, but Jesus explodes that illusion. According to him, bread is not to be valued as the reward for work; he speaks instead of the carefree simplicity of the man who walks with him and accepts everything as it comes from God.Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 199.

On the Horizon

2010-04-15T13:26:00.003-05:00

On the horizonyet long ago,or perhaps yetto come, Iglimpsed twotrees with branchesbroadly bentacross the skyand wind. AndI wished that Imight visit theirshade and drinkfrom the coolstream upon whosebanks they stood.This desolate prairieof heat and timeis simply unable toshield and shade - but those two trees(Burr Oaks, I believe)are there uponthe horizonand their presenceoffers to my mindthe

Discipleship

2010-04-15T13:16:00.004-05:00

Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend - it must transcend all comprehension. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your own comprehension, and I will help you to comprehend even as I do. Bewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge.Martin Lutheras quoted in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.

Brooks Canaan Jensen

2010-04-13T14:27:00.005-05:00

The brooks of Canaansmooth and clearflow from his throne and of the Lamb.Come see the trees.Come taste the bees.Come drink the milk and wine.Come sit and rest(for rest you need)but then let's stand and stretch.And then let's goboth You and Ilet's see this place,this Life.Let's climb the treesand paddle seasand dirty hands and knees. And then let's find one quiet Pine who gladly yields her

Do you see?

2010-04-13T14:00:00.000-05:00

Do you seeover the hedgesand pews?Will you peek with meinto theoft spokenbut never visitedland of beautyand grace? thatplace sizedand excisedby foot-notedsermons offact and banality.Third hand accountsof beauty.

Her Open Hand Extends.

2010-04-13T13:59:00.003-05:00

Her open hand extendsin eternal invitation.And yet I hurry pastwith a smile and a nodtoo embarrassed and ashamedof my own failures and insufficienciesto meet her eyes or allowmy hand rest in hers.And yet she never asksme to justify myselfor to prove myself worthyof her rest. She does notseem to mind my unworthinessor filthy rags (for I am both filthyand unworthy).And yet I rush past her every

Part of a sermon on Isaiah 55

2010-01-26T14:06:00.003-06:00

Isaiah 55"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.

Poem

2009-11-23T09:58:00.002-06:00

When Peace is Like a Tree He is unaffected by the restlessness of waiting and yet he waits in patience and peace he endures and yet stays open to possibilities and contingencies of fence posts and windmills and sidewalks he reaches over them and past them and through them in branched accommodation in a rooted silence he waits in peace.

Russell Quote

2009-11-02T10:20:00.000-06:00

"People are zealous for a cause when they are not quite positive that it is true."Bertrand Russell

L'Engle Quote

2009-11-02T10:19:00.001-06:00

"We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it."Madeleine L'Engle

A Question and Three Answers

2009-10-21T11:49:00.007-05:00

The Question is Raised: "What does the church do when it sees the culture crumbling around it?"Common answer 1: Sell out. Seek relevancy.Common answer 2: Beat the culture over the head with a club labelled "Truth."(un?) Common answer 3: Die for Truth in prophetically relevant and radically self-giving love.

Schmemann Quote

2009-10-15T09:19:00.000-05:00

"To be truly man means to be fully oneself. The confirmation is the confirmation of man in his own, unique "personality." It is, to use again the same image, his ordination to be himself, to become what God wants him to be, what He has loved in me from all eternity. It is the gift of vocation. If the Church is truly the "newness of life" - the world and nature as restored in Christ - it is

Living Faithfully in a Fragmented World

2009-10-14T08:50:00.004-05:00

"...the only way for the church to recover faithful living is for the church to disentangle its life from the culture. That is, if the church is to recover faithful living in Western culture, we must recognize the restricted cultural and social sphere within which such a recovery will take place.However, we must be very careful in describing our reason for disentangling the life of the church

Tolkien Quote

2009-10-09T10:52:00.003-05:00

"All that is gold does not glitter,Not all those who wander are lost;The old that is strong does not wither,Deep roots are not reached by the frost.From the ashes a fire shall be woken,A light from the shadows shall spring;Renewed shall be blade that was broken,The crownless again shall be king."J. R. R. Tolkien[Thanks to Denis Haack, in his publication "Critique," for turning me again to these

L'Engle Quote

2009-10-08T10:06:00.003-05:00

"We live under the illusion that if we can acquire complete control, we can understand God, or we can write the great American novel. But the only way we can brush against the hem of the Lord, or hope to be part of the creative process, is to have the courage, the faith, to abandon control.For the opposite of sin is faith, and never virtue, and we live in a world which believes that self-control

Berry Quote

2009-10-07T14:57:00.002-05:00

"...such religion as has been openly practiced in this part of the world has promoted and fed upon a destructive schism between body and soul, Heaven and earth. It has encouraged people to believe that the world is of no importance, and that their only obligation in it is to submit to certain churchly formulas in order to get to Heaven. And so the people who might have been expected to care

Sunday Morning Reflection

2009-10-07T14:08:00.002-05:00

Within the realm of righteousness there is abundant freedom - freedom to be most fully and completely who God has created us to be. Preaching "black and white" and "either-or" Christianity can be life crushing. Not that Jesus isn't the only way, or that we aren't called to follow the way of Christ wholeheartedly. We certainly are. But what does following Christ look like? "Holy Living" can

Musing on the Way

2009-09-22T14:10:00.003-05:00

My struggle is not with being "all in for Jesus" or with truly desiring to be his disciple. I am a believer - help my unbelief, yes - buy I do desire to believe and to follow. Yet my ambivalence and uncertainty comes because I'm not always all that sure of what faithfulness looks like. What are a disciple's disciplines? What path does a follower follow? I quickly become suspicious when the

Blessed

2009-09-12T14:22:00.001-05:00

Greed

2009-09-12T14:16:00.002-05:00

Forced Sabbath

2009-09-10T15:48:00.002-05:00

I believe Sabbath to be one of the qualities most sorely missing in rural Iowa (Okay, perhaps much of America - and the industrialized world too. It's just that I live in rural Iowa.). Sabbath. Real rest. The rest that you orient your days and weeks around. Rest that is enabled because of God's work - because all does not depend on my ability to work hard and get things done. To prioritize,

Jotted Thoughts

2009-09-04T08:17:00.002-05:00

Can the transforming power of the Gospel transform when delivered in an industrial and programmatic way?At what point do the means so impinge on the message so as to effectively make the message something else? The Gospel is a Way, not a disembodied message. Our truth manifests itself in a person. Means and message merge.

prairie(w)hole

2009-08-28T09:13:00.003-05:00

Our community has holes and cracks throughout. Many are visible because of the tornado that swept through and destroyed a third of the town about a year and a half ago. Those are visible cracks. Visible holes. Visible brokenness. But there is an underbelly - a hidden and sheltered brokenness and vulnerability that few show and fewer share. The tears and fears that sweep through on the dark

Vacation Journal

2009-08-25T14:52:00.003-05:00

I'm suspicious that you can't understand redemption well if you don't understand creation well. I don't primarily mean "theology of creation" or "theology of redemption" - although that may be true as well. No, I mean that if we don't know, haven't experienced, and aren't gripped and fascinated by the givenness of the world - the givenness of our place in all its multi-faceted dimensions and

The Way

2009-08-12T15:50:00.000-05:00

How is it that this earthen path became so industrial?

Rural Missional Church: Theology of Redemption 3

2009-06-30T15:35:00.000-05:00

The redemption of rural Iowa (see "Theology of Redemption 2") begins and ends with the redemption of people from the clutches of sin and death. We must share the Good News of forgiveness, acceptance, and new life in Christ with our human neighbors. But how do we pray for and participate in the redemption of all things in rural Iowa? How do we work towards redemptive dominion over all of

Just one word today

2009-06-30T09:01:00.000-05:00

Resurrection.

Rural Missional Church: Theology of Redemption 2

2009-06-29T15:32:00.000-05:00

But we are not called to be “lone ranger” followers of Christ or individual agents of redemption. We do not go at this redemptive dominion (see "Theology of Redemption 1") alone. It is the church (Eph. 1:22-23, 1 Cor. 12), through the presence of the Holy Spirit, that incarnates our redemptive Savior. It is the church as the body of Christ through

Rural Missional Church: Theology of Redemption 1

2009-06-28T15:30:00.000-05:00

In Jesus Christ the whole of creation is being restored from its brokenness. His mission is to seek out all that has fallen and redeem all that he has made. In the resurrection we see that Jesus is the beginning of this redemption of all things. He is the firstborn from the dead of a fallen creation and through him all things are made right (Col. 1:18-20). The good news

Rural Missional Church: Theology of Fall 2

2009-06-27T15:29:00.000-05:00

What does this look like in rural Iowa (see "Theology of Fall 1")? We all recognize some of the effects of sin in the lives of many people that we know in rural Iowa. Aren’t depression, loneliness, spiritual emptiness, pride, arrogance, suicide, drug abuse, hopelessness, and many other things some of the symptoms of a fallen world?But if the consequences of sin are seen through all things then

Rural Missional Church: Theology of Fall 1

2009-06-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

The disobedience of our first parents brought sin into the world (Gen. 3). Sin shatters and perverts the goodness of creation. But it was not just Adam, Eve and their descendants who would suffer the consequences of this turning from God. Our relationship to all of creation was infected by sin as well so we have caused all of creation to groan under the weight and

Rural Missional Church: Theology of Creation 3

2009-06-25T15:26:00.000-05:00

If we are then members of creation, membership ought to inform, shape and situate our calling to be members of creation wherever we are. But, what would this look like in rural Iowa?Wouldn’t this mean understanding that our neighbors are more than just the young family next door or the older man in the next section over? It seems to me that the placed neighborhood of all created things in rural

Rural Missional Church: Theology of Creation 2

2009-06-24T15:23:00.001-05:00

These two human callings of “membership” and “dominion” (see post "Theology of Creation 1") have often been held in distinction from one another as if they were different and competing claims. But actually, we are to serve as God’s representatives within the whole of creation. God instructs Adam and Eve to nurture and care, to cultivate and create, to rule and serve all that God has made in

Rural Missional Church: Theology of Creation 1

2009-06-23T15:18:00.002-05:00

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). This vast and interconnected creation was good (Gen. 1:10, 25, 31) and flourished in united fulfillment of the purposes for which God has set in the grain of all that he has made (Gen. 2:1). The biblical account presents humans as being members of this greater creation. We come about within the sequence of

Lilies and Loneliness

2009-06-22T14:43:00.003-05:00

Considering the lilies of the field seems like an easy task. Just think about them, right? Lilies around here are apparently allusive and I feel just about incapable of considering them. I'm new here, maybe I just don't know where the lily-patches are.This job - this calling (if there is such a thing) - is hard. I am surrounded, but unable to see my foes. He's hardly a foe, but my small

Words I Like

2009-06-05T08:15:00.002-05:00

In Wendell Berry's Jayber Crow, Jayber occasionally tells us the reader of his affinity for certain words. If I remember right one of those words was "neighbor." Once in a while - probably prompted by Jayber - I jot down my favorites. The list isn't always the same. But, today this is my list:

Rural Missional Church: Funerals

2009-05-26T16:05:00.005-05:00

(Iowa Burr Oak)Small, rural communities have aging populations of folks rooted, raised, and nourished in one place. Home has never been plural to many of these oaks of righteousness. As our communities and churches continue to age funerals become a regular rhythm of life. A young local pastor has performed the funerals of 15 parishioners in the past two and a half years. I've been a part of

Rural Missional Church: Frosted Windows and Silk Flowers (a poem)

2009-05-17T18:35:00.004-05:00

Let the heavens be glad,and let the earth rejoice;let the sea roar, and all that fills it;let the field exult, and everything in it!Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joybefore the LORD, for he comes...Psalm 96:11-13aFrosted windows andsilk flowers.The Word become earthbut we worship in suchun-earth-y placeswith hands washed clean of it.Do the heavens rejoice behind frosted windows?

Rural Missional Church: Pastoral Theology in Poem

2009-05-11T09:08:00.002-05:00

The itinerancy of preachersproclaim truncated gospel.Because redemptionis dirty with the earth of Creation.Are we?Landmarks, remembrancesof brokennessare the same stuff of Redemption.Redemption takes placein Creation:in dialects and placesin families and farm fieldsin grown vegetables and at tablein names and memories.The itinerancy of preachersremoves them from theplacedness of a place.And makes

Rural Missional Church: Slow-Talker-The-Wise

2009-05-08T11:09:00.000-05:00

Clumsy tongue and untrained words that trip and stumble from 80-year-old farmer's toothless mouth. Slurry spoken landmarks and three sentence stories remembered by stroke-stricken 90-year-olds. Circling recounts of painful family events absent beginning, end, or any real point told by uncomfortably exposed and crimson faced father whose thick, stained fingers speak of a trust that he does not

prairie(w)holes

2009-05-07T11:07:00.001-05:00

Monday, May 4, 2009 12:02 PM CDTCedar Valley air quality gets a 'C' By JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD, jens.krogstad@wcfcourier.comWATERLOO --- An air quality report released last week gave Black Hawk and Bremer counties passing but mediocre grades.The American Lung Association gave Black Hawk a 'C' for its level of fine particulate matter, tiny airborne pollutants created by dirt and soot that lodge in

Rural Missional Church: Long Learning Curve

2009-04-30T16:31:00.004-05:00

Knowing is not just about facts.That's what I'm learning as I try to find my way through the thickets of this new life as a young pastor in rural Iowa. I could (and am trying) to retain all sorts of facts about people. Who is he related to again? Where does so-and-so live again? What is her name again? So, why we do it this way? How is she your third cousin? Learning these facts is a steep

prairie(w)holes

2009-04-24T12:54:00.000-05:00

prairie(w)holes

2009-04-23T11:54:00.003-05:00

Do I believe this?

2009-01-22T08:25:00.003-06:00

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Towers and Tomatoes

2009-01-02T14:33:00.003-06:00

Great sermon by Rob Bell on technology and food here. It's called "Towers and Tomatoes." Here's some of it:"There is something about eating locally grown that I'm far more connected to this tomato. I'm far more aware of the provision that is food and the source of that food which is the God who made everything.""When you grow your own you are connected with the mystery that is food. You're

A Christmas long ago.

2008-12-27T16:43:00.002-06:00

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” We were all around the big wood burning stove in the living room. I was lying down on a large, orange and black, plaid

One more night of darkness.

2008-12-24T16:00:00.002-06:00

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,for he has visited and redeemed his peopleand has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,that we should be saved from our enemiesand from the hand of all who hate us;to show the mercy promised to our fathersand to remember his holy covenant,the oath that he swore to our

Rural Missional Church: Belonging/Place

2008-12-22T08:00:00.003-06:00

It seems that one way to move a church towards a more full understanding of life and faith before God would be to tie what they are already doing back into The Story. In sermon illustrations tie their hard physical work back into what Jesus came to do – and what it means to be a Christian. Preach relentlessly about vocation (without using that word) and the true honor and dignity of their hard

Rural Missional Church: Thoughts

2008-12-21T08:00:00.001-06:00

These are just 3 examples of care for widows, orphans and the poor – but this church is caring (and has cared) for its local community in a very real and thoughtful way over many years. There are not Sunday School classes on how to be a missional church. There are not campaigns emphasizing the needs of those around the church. These are just very practical and hardworking people who take their

Rural Missional Church: Poor

2008-12-20T08:00:00.000-06:00

The poverty rate is not high in this county. But there are not many who are well-off. There are many, many folks who get by – but that’s about it. A doctor who recently moved into town noted how amazed she was at the low levels of income that were the norm throughout the community.There are two large factories in town. Gomaco makes paving equipment. Midwest makes boat trailers. Midwest

Rural Missional Church: Orphans

2008-12-19T08:00:00.002-06:00

There aren’t many orphans in this part of rural Iowa. But there are many rough homes, many single mothers, many alcoholic and distant fathers, and many troubled families. For many years our local church has been providing a safe place with fun activities, caring adults, and the message of the Gospel on Wednesday nights. Many of the kids who show up come from the homes that I described above.

Rural Missional Church: Widows

2008-12-18T08:00:00.002-06:00

There are many, many widows (and older folks) around here. Many more than there are young people. The elderly are remnants of another way of life – a way of permanence and a certain settled-ness. A family in our local church saw the many widows in the area and began a widow’s ministry that is supported wholeheartedly by the church. Four times a year the church basement is turned into a

Rural Missional Church: Intro

2008-12-17T14:39:00.002-06:00

The Church is the central agency and body through which the Spirit of Christ continues His work in the world today. Surely many of us have experienced imperfect and painfully misguided efforts in many of our churches. In a broken and wounded world the church is broken and wounded too. But that does not excuse Her abandonment. Instead, that ought to cause me - and those cynical and discouraged

It is finished...

2008-12-16T20:57:00.002-06:00

Done.I am done with the paper for my final seminary project. I sent it off this afternoon at 3:48 pm to my supervising professor.But, it's not just the class. I started taking online classes from Covenant Seminary right after graduating from ISU in the winter of 2004/2005 - and started on-campus in St. Louis in the Fall of 2006. Now I'm done. Four years later. M.A. in Theological Studies."

Odebolt Nursing and Rehab Center - November 20

2008-12-01T20:41:00.003-06:00

I met the woman who was to become my future wife while I was using a table saw to cut two-by-fours for a home improvement project. I was rather innocently helping my dad on a building project on our house in Creston, Iowa. We were adding a deck onto the front of our house and - as I remember it - I was using a table saw to cut some pieces of lumber.Well Missy – my wife -

2008-11-22T14:01:00.000-06:00

"There is another way to approach power. Rather than seeking to build our way up to the pinnacle of power, we can make the move that God invites us to make: to see ourselves, in relationship to the world's Creator, as in possession of more power than we could ever dream. Exodus and the resurrection, the most dramatic divine interventions in history, both declare that there is a grace-filled

The cup of blessing that we bless.

2008-11-21T13:32:00.000-06:00

"...culture at its best, which is to say culture in the hands of Christ: the sheer delight and joy that comes when Jesus takes the most basic stuff of the world, breaks it, blesses it and offers it back to us, made whole and made new. We may taste that kind of joy at weddings; we may taste it at funerals. I have tasted it in a village in India, in the form of a freshly cracked coconut offered

Ruach/Pneuma/Spirit

2008-11-20T13:17:00.001-06:00

"...it would have been a dramatic and depressing turn of events if the Spirit's work suddenly disappeared from history into the realm of the merely and purely 'religious' matter of private worship and inward sensations. God's plan for history had never been to escape from history. Our word spirit has acquired connotations of bodilessness, leaving modern Christians with the impression that the

Culture is what we make of the world.

2008-11-19T12:50:00.008-06:00

(Evan thinking "worldviewishly." A philosopher?) "The risk of thinking 'worldviewishly' is that we will start to think that the best way to change culture is to analyze it. We will start worldview academies, host worldview seminars, write worldview books. These may have some real value if they help us understand the horizons that our culture shapes, but they cannot substitute for the creation

The Intersection

2008-11-18T12:24:00.003-06:00

"...our callings do mean that we will find ourselves at the places of pain, offering new creation in the midst of brokenness and forsakenness. We cannot expect to be in those places without being touched and even broken by their pain. We can expect that even there abundance will be germinating under the ground, ready to bring fruit for which we can only say thank you. So where are we called to

Dirt Road

2008-11-15T18:11:00.000-06:00

Spatial Sabbath: Chicken Coop

2008-11-13T18:01:00.002-06:00

Local Creation, Local Redemption

2008-10-31T13:45:00.005-05:00

Lecture, Iowa L'Abri Conference (11/10/07)(Sorry no text.)

What's Your Ambition?

2008-10-31T13:37:00.004-05:00

Sermon, Arthur Evangelical Free Church (07/27/08)(The text is here.)

Odebolt Nursing and Rehab Center - October 23

2008-10-31T09:17:00.000-05:00

Sermon: John 1:19-34When I was young my dad told me that I could be anything that I wanted to be – except a weatherman. He didn’t want me in a profession where you could be so wrong so often about the weather forecast and still have a job.But we all know what it’s like to have expectations on us to pursue a career or to get into a certain profession. Up until fairly recently, the best

Prayer for the Harvest of Lands and Waters

2008-10-29T21:39:00.002-05:00

O gracious Father, your open your hand and fill all things living with plenteousness: Bless the lands and the waters, and multiply the harvests of the world; let your Spirit go forth, that it may renew the face of the earth; show your loving-kindness, that our land may give her increase; and save us from selfish use of what you give, that men and women everywhere may give you thanks; through

The Mission of God

2008-10-29T10:25:00.003-05:00

I’ve just about finished my self-imposed reading list for the semester. It’s been good…lot’s of pages. I’m going to try and deliberately return to portions of many of these books and interact with an extended quotation or section – with the view of placing a certain idea or concept within The Overlap that I have mentioned in previous posts (that being the overlap of Holistic Mission, Rural Iowa

Spatial Sabbath: Julia's

2008-10-27T22:24:00.004-05:00

Jeremiah 29:4-7

2008-10-18T08:59:00.000-05:00

"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the

A Conversation: Cal DeWitt

2008-10-14T15:47:00.005-05:00

Calvin DeWitt is one of the grandfathers of creation-care in evangelical circles. He helped found Au Sable Institute, a Christian environmental science study center in northern Michigan. He is a longtime professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. If you start pursuing questions about stewardship, creation-care, and environmental awareness from a Christian

Another day at the office...

2008-10-14T14:56:00.006-05:00

(Those brown dots in the lower right are the cows that I get to take care of once in a while.)(Sheep grazing near the cow herd.)

Cultural Mandate and Rural Iowa

2008-10-14T13:05:00.004-05:00

Rest and Sabbath are balanced by Work. Following my previous post on Spatial Sabbaths - I worked. As have the landed contours and flowing fields. We're in the middle of harvest around here and there is work in the air. I did this:And loaded-out these:Iowa is not a "natural landscape" no matter how rural. Everything is worked and harnessed. "The water towers and grain elevators; houses, barns

Spatial Sabbath: Kaslow Prairie

2008-10-01T10:00:00.002-05:00

"No living man will see again the long-grass prairie, where a sea of prairie flowers lapped at the stirrups of the pioneer. We shall do well to find a forty here and there on which the prairie plants can be kept alive as species. There were a hundred such plants, many of exceptional beauty. Most of them are quite unknown to those who have inherited their domain." (A Sand County Almanac, Aldo

Spatial Sabbath: Into

2008-10-01T09:08:00.006-05:00

My brother Andrew coined the phrase in a conversation on wilderness areas. But this series - labeled "Spatial Sabbaths" - is an exploration of the places and times, landscapes and landforms that have been given Sabbath. I think this may be particularly important in Iowa where "for all its rural appearance...is not a 'natural landscape.' It is almost entirely a human-made one: measured and

So, what exactly are you doing here?

2008-09-30T11:27:00.004-05:00

There's no easy answer to that question. We don't know the answer either. The best I can do is say that I have a real sense of calling to the the overlap in the diagram below. That's what I'm trying to explore a little of in this academic project (and blog) through December 2008.If I've learned anything from our 2.5 months here it's that this is less about an academic project and much more

Dirt Road

2008-09-30T10:59:00.005-05:00

Over the past weekend we took 3 different trips down "the dirt road." It's less than a mile straight north of our hole in the prairie. Missy grew up sledding down the steep hills that ice over in winter. I got a chance this past winter - on runner sleds you really fly (and can really get hurt, right Luke?).Anyway, the road is dirt because it is not graded anymore and it has, over the years,

The Whispery Witness of a Mulberry Tree 3

2008-09-26T16:28:00.007-05:00

Q: God make-a-the barn, daddy?A: Well no, but...Q: For his glory?A: Well...yeah, maybe...

Matthew 6:31-34: A Picture

2008-09-23T14:59:00.003-05:00

The Whispery Witness of a Mulberry Tree 2

2008-09-22T07:35:00.006-05:00

"Like all real treasures of the mind, perception can be split into infinitely small fractions without losing its quality. The weeds in a city lot convey the same lesson as the redwoods; the farmer may see in his cow-pasture what may not be vouchsafed to the scientist adventuring in the South Seas. Perception, in short, cannot be purchased with either learned degrees or dollars; it grows at home

The Whispery Witness of a Mulberry Tree 1

2008-09-20T21:00:00.010-05:00

Evan is my son. He is 2 years old. We've been able to spend so much more time outside now that we're on the farm. Most evenings consist of trampoline jumping, garden checking, chicken coop playing, playground swinging, cat chasing, mulberry eating, or campfire watching - all with my whispy-haired, tow-headed son.But as we've been exploring this new soil under our feet and fingernails we've

Sioux City Gospel Mission - September 15, 2008

2008-09-18T16:23:00.016-05:00

So... This sermon was probably a little too theologically dense for my audience on this particular night. Oh well. God is faithful regardless. But next time I'll probably try and keep it a little simpler.Sermon: Exodus 20:2 (sort of)Bobby’s dad had made the farm out of nothing. It was just washed-out and sandy hills of land that were no longer fertile. No one wanted to buy the farm so

A Conversation: Fred Stewart*

2008-09-18T16:23:00.009-05:00

Fred is an old farmer. I work with him occasionally at a small, family-owned and operated shop. He is one of the handiest guys (I've never seen his hands without grease all over them.), most intelligent characters, and conversational storytellers that I know. Fred's just one of those guys who you like to listen to when he talks. There's just kind of a lyrical and measured rhythm to the pace

A Conversation: Tom Caulfield*

2008-09-18T16:23:00.004-05:00

We had lunch one day the other week with Tom Caulfield and his wife Sarah*. Tom and his wife are fairly newly returned to the area following an absence of around 40 years. For 5 years - 40 years ago - Tom was pastor of the Arthur Evangelical Free Church. The church where we now gather for worship. Since that time Tom and his family have served for many years as missionaries in Congo and then

Grainary to Office

2008-09-12T16:20:00.004-05:00

One of the posts below has a picture of a big white barn. The lower left window is my office window. I cleaned out the old grainary and moved in some old furniture. It's a nice office. I like it.

Project 1912

2008-09-12T16:10:00.003-05:00