25 Years Ago

Twenty-five years ago Corky and I were adjusting to the news that Keith Green had been killed in a plane crash. The news rocked us. We were in the middle of adjusting to life as new parents, and to the joy of having brought Hope home from the hospital (miraculously healed!) about two months before. In fact, we had taken Hope on a trip to Stone Mountain, Georgia to see her Aunt Judy and Uncle Jerry and her cousins, Todd, Troy and Trent. We woke up hearing the terrible news via a phone call.

There was no greater influence on us and our ministry than Keith Green. We never saw him in person but eagerly waited each month for the Last Days Newsletter and knew and sang each of his songs. Keith and the Last Days team paraphrased and printed articles written in the 19th century by Generals William and Catherine Booth, Samuel Logan Brengle and Charles Finney. They published current sermons by David Wilkerson and Leonard Ravenhill (their neighbors in Lindale, Texas).

More than anything, I was influenced by Keith's prophetic passion for the Kingdom of God. His songs are still my "First Love Music", always drawing me back to a more consecrated life for God. I will never forget worshiping in chapel at St. John's in England and singing with the congregation, "There Is a Redeemer". For me, it was a moment of true worship in the Hollis Gause sense: rapture, rapport, proleptic.

I've often thought that had Keith Green lived, he would have been so consumed with zeal for the Lord that he wouldn't be able to exist. The present state of the church in America is so far from the Holy Church for which Keith Green interceded.

'My eyes ard dry, my faith is old
My heart is hard, my prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me!

So what can be done for an old heart like mine?
Soften it up with oil and wine.
The oil is You, Your Spirit of Love
Please wash me anew in the wine of Your Blood."

Summer Reading

Reading is my life. Reading is my ministry. Reading is my career. I actually get paid to read and talk about it.

When I was a child I was a bookworm. My sister (who is now an avid reader) and I would have the dilemma of what we were going to play for the day: Barbie, school, with babydolls, a game or reading. At some point we came up with the lottery approach. We would write all the choices on slips of paper and draw them out of a hat. When "reading" was drawn out, my sister was always suspicious...as she should have been. It probably meant I had stuffed the ballot box with many slips which said "reading".

Now, because reading is what I do professionally, I have to ration out my own reading of fiction and novels. Reading fiction is reserved for holidays and summer. I get so enrossed in a novel that I can't put it down and everything else is neglected.(By the way, that is the only clue I've ever had to the "evil" of Harry Potter. If children are reading 800 pages, without stopping, in one day, it may mean there's something supernatural going on there! Or it could be it's just great writing!)

So, this summer, though it's been amazingly busy with horse shows, reunions and trips I've been able to do a little reading (not as much as I'd have liked). I started out by going to McKay's and buying two other Kingsolver novels, as I'd enjoyed The Poisonwood Bible so much. Alas, I've only been able to read one of those: Pigs in Heaven. The other (can't remember the name of it) was loaned to the daughter of Leslie's barrel racing trainer who had read The Poisonwood Bible in Honors English at her high school and I've not gotten it back. I enjoyed Pigs in Heaven but in no way does it compare to The Poisonwood Bible. Kingsolver has definitely matured as a writer. By the way, I recommended Poisonwood to my colleague Ayo Adewuya a Nigerian. He read it on his trip to the Philippines and quite enjoyed it, seeing it as a hyperbolic, but fairly accurate description of the Congo at the time of its independence from Belgium.

In honor of the NY trip, I read The Devil Wears Prada, borrowed from my mom. Fun but shallow and a little bit disturbing.

In England, while I was studying, often I was alone at night, without television or any other form of entertainment. I always bought last year's Grisham bestseller (because paperbacks pack lighter) and a few others. I used to read all of Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta novels, though they sometimes are too sordid. (When you're alone in a foreign country you don't won't to dwell on the depths of human deptrivation). After I'd read those, I'd scramble to find something to read in the weeks left! The library there was a theological one but had some fiction. I read quite a few Father Caedfel mysteries (a medieval monk who is also a sleuth) which I found at St. John's. Then I'd often buy a magazine which would be packaged with a "summer reading" novel. I also read some Dorothy Rendel novels while there and some Dorothy Sayers ones.

Anyway...fiction is escape but also like travel for me. It takes my mind to places I can't go physically.

I've learned about people and cultures through the creations of novelists and you'd be surprised at how often that has been helpful to me. For instance, England was fairly easy for me to navigate partially because I had read all the Miss Marpel novels and people still live in that fairly simple way in many parts of England. I never stumbled upon a dead body however.

As we near the beginning of the semester, I get excited and can't wait for Fall and cooler weather. But I also grieve a little because I know I can't just sit around and read about ordinary (but generally glamorous) people who find themselves in suspenseful or extraordinary situations. That will have to wait till Christmas break.

Historical Theology

For the last two weeks, I've been back in the classroom and back in the office. It's definitely a comfort zone for me. I can navigate this. I know where things are (most of the time...though I could use some help with filing right now!). I know what comes next in the course I'm teaching. I know what to say.

But history, and historical theology, is not about routine and predictability. History is made by those who are adventurous and take risks and by those who are brave enough (or naive enough) to say things that need to be said.

Today, we talked a little about John Chrysostom, who was called a great preacher, but was exiled for it! Sound familiar? Nevertheless, it's Chrysostom I'm reading about today, not the Emperor and Empress who exiled him. He was "rehabilitated" and given the title "Doctor of the Church" but only after he and his accusers were dead.

I've been contemplating John 17 of late. How does the church's unity prove that Jesus is the Son of God? I think it has to do with community in God and community in the church as a witness of that.

Many of us, including my students this week, are concerned about disunity and compromise. Some seem to be able to laugh off the junk we see and the political moves we hear about or witness (or are victim to) but I've been placed in a particular setting within the Kingdom and so I believe it must all be taken seriously. So did Chrysostom.

At least the next generation apologized.

"Do you wish to honour the body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. Do not pay him homage in the temple clad in silk, only then to neglect him outside where he is cold and ill-clad. He who said: "This is my body" is the same who said: "You saw me hungry and you gave me no food", and "Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me"... What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well."

A Tennesseean in New York

We're home, back in Tennessee; so "home" that I began teaching my summer class today.

What we saw and did:

1. Rode the train round-trip from Charlotte, NC to Penn Station, NYC.
2. Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at night, ate at Grimaldi's Pizzaria and Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.
3. Shopped till we dropped: Sak's, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany's (actually, you can't call it shopping, just browsing).
4. Saw Rachel Ray in Herald Square.
5. Drank lots of Starbuck's (iced and hot).
6. Afternoon tea at Tavern on the Green.
7. Sat in Bryant Park.
8. Saw "Mary Poppins" on Broadway and got autographs and pictures of the stars.
9. Did Grayline tours of uptown, downtown, Brooklyn and a tour of the city at night.
10. Paid homage at Strawberry Fields in Central Park.
11. Went to the top of the Empire State Building, or at least as far up as the $20 admission allows (the 86th floor).
12. Rode the ferry to Liberty Island.
13. Ate cheesecake at Junior's in Brooklyn.
14. Really shopped on Canal Street (fake purses).
15. Ate a canoli in Little Italy.
16. Ate Chinese in Chinatown.
17. Went in the Trump Tower (not that impressive).
18. Bought make-up at Sephora.
19. Took pictures in the 2-story Barbie House in Toys-r-Us.
20. Bought "Wilbur" for Lex at F. A. O. Schwartz.
21. Ate a giant red-velvet cupcake in Central Park.
22. Shopped at Century 21 and Daffy's.
23. Visited St. Paul's Chapel at Ground Zero.
24. Got caught in the rain on top of a double-decker bus.
25. Bought cheese, bread and fruit at Chelsea Market.
26. Ate unbelievable pasta at Carmine's on the upper west side.
27. Tasted a bagel from Tal.
28. Walked and walked and walked.
29. Navigated the subway system.
30. Sang "You're Just Too Good to Be True" with a singing waiter at "Ellen's Stardust Diner".
31. Watched New York movies in New York: "An Affair to Remember"; "Moonstruck"

Thanks to Leslie for the photos!

Greetings from NYC. Most of you know that my sister Michele and I have brought our daughters, Hannah, Emma and Leslie, to New York for a vacation. I didn't bring a camera so I won't be able to post pictures till the girls, out of the goodness of their hearts, email some of theirs to me.

We traveled by train from Charlotte (12 hours). This was my first long distance train trip in the US. The experience was pretty good other than the fact that it was delayed by over an hour. The seats were very comfortable, fairly wide with leg rests that could be extended and plenty of leg room between seats (an improvement over an airplane!). The bathrooms were gross as the train had traveled from New Orleans before arriving in Charlotte. We ate lunch in the dining car which was fair.

We're staying at the Wingate Inn on 35th which is very nice. Sunday night we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate a Grimaldi's Pizzaria (possibly the best I've ever had) and Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. Delicious and guilt free considering the long, long walk. The skyline at night was out of this world.

Yesterday was a shopping day. Toys R Us with a ferris wheel and 2-story Barbie house; Sephora cosmetics; MTV store (just t-shirts); Saks; H&M; Battery Park for knock-off purses; Century 21. We ate lunch at Ellen's Stardust with singing waiters. When the waiter came to our table singing "You're Just Too Good To Be True", we dazzled him with our harmony!

Last night we watched "An Affair to Remember" (ohhh!) in anticipation of going to the top of the Empire State Building today.

Vote for Corky's Band

Click on the banner above and vote for Corky's band to play with Eric Clapton!!

Listen to the 2 tracks and click on "vote" below.

We all know Corky is Eric Clapton so he should at least be able to open for him in Chicago at the Crossroads Festival.

Thanks!